Cabinet endorses investment incentives at Tafileh Industrial Estate

AMMAN — The Cabinet, during a session chaired by Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, on Wednesday endorsed several investment incentives at Tafileh Industrial Estate.

The decision is the result of Khasawneh and a ministerial team’s visit to Tafileh last month, during which the government pledged to grant incentives to those willing to invest at Tafileh Industrial Estate, with the intention of providing new jobs for the governorate’s residents, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The decision also provides subsidies for electric power prices for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) at the estate, where the SMEs’ definition of the Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC) will be adopted for this purpose.

The decision allows for the launch of programme to be implemented by the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO) to subsidise electricity bills for institutions within the estate through the Industry Support and Development Fund, where a memorandum of understanding between JEDCO and Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation (JIEC) is scheduled to be signed to implement the programme.

The Cabinet decision also includes the estate in the production branches programme, where the Labour Ministry will cooperate with the Technical and Vocational Skills Development Corporation to support the programme and subsidise the salaries of local workers by 50 per cent. The Labour Ministry will also pay workers JD25 for social security subscriptions and JD25 in transport stipends.

The decision also included subsidising the cost of handling containers at the export container terminal at the Aqaba port. A memo is planned to be signed between JIEC, the Aqaba Ports Corporation (APC) and JEDCO to cover 50 per cent of handling costs.

This item entails the APC, awaiting a letter from JIEC, to confirm that a given company is located within the Tafileh Industrial Estate. The JIEC letter will show shipment data in order to lower the handling bill, as per the agreed-upon rate.

Meanwhile, the Council of Ministers approved an amended bylaw for private hospitals for 2022 in a bid to develop the partnership between the public and private sectors and promote private hospitals inside and outside the Kingdom.