Desert Highway forestation project launched

AMMAN — Agriculture Minister Khaled Hneifat on Sunday announced the beginning of a project for the forestation of the Desert Highway, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The project, signed by the minister and International Labour Organisation (ILO) representative Maha Qattaa, comes as part of the ILO’s “Labour Intensive Infrastructure” project for Syrian refugees and Jordanians to curb poverty and unemployment, Petra  said.

During the signing ceremony, Hneifat noted that the five-month project will start from the undamaged sections of the highway.

The Environment Ministry will prepare the infrastructure and provide water sources before the starting of the tree planting, which will cover, in its first phase, the section from Amman to Maan, 220km south of Amman.   

He added that the ILO has agreed to fund the establishment of five international-quality nurseries in five governorates, with an area of 1,000 dunums each. The main nursery will be in the Baqaa region of Amman, at a cost of JD61,000, the news agency said.

The project also includes building 15km of roadside berms, installing 150 water tanks, installing an irrigation system that covers 1,000 dunums, maintaining 1,000 dunums of forestry land and employing 100 workers from each governorate of Ajloun, Jerash, Balqa, Karak and Tafileh.  

According to the project’s agreement, the work will include preparing for forestation in five governorates and drilling water wells, Petra concluded.