Fakhoury visits new Aqaba port

AQABA — Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury on Tuesday visited the new southern port of Aqaba, which includes energy terminals projects financed by the Gulf grant, a ministry statement said on Wednesday.

The minister was accompanied by the CEO of Aqaba Development Company Ghassan Ghanem, who briefed him on cargo movement and the readiness of the machinery to improve production efficiency. 

The port has become the focus of various international shipping lines, according to the statement.

Fakhoury stressed that the port, which includes the project of natural and liquefied gas ports, is considered one of the vital strategic projects in the Kingdom.

He stressed that Aqaba is one of the leading economic cities in the region, calling upon all the concerned bodies to enhance its regional and international competitiveness by improving its investment environment, in line with His Majesty King Abdullah’s visions.

 He said that the Jordanian ports will play an important role in the transit trade flow and that they will be “the region’s trade gateway”.

Regarding the energy terminals, they were established to address the shortage of supply of Egyptian natural gas, according to the statement.

The Aqaba Development Company (ADC) has started to develop an integrated system of energy terminals on the southern shore of Aqaba, based on a mandate from the Council of Ministers and in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

The terminals include the Liquefied Natural Gas Port, which was funded by the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Development with a grant of JD46 million to import LNG, and address the current and future gas demands.

Inaugurated in 2015, the project has made Aqaba Port “a regional centre for securing the various sources of energy for neighbouring Arab countries, which will put Jordan on the map of LNG worldwide”, according to the ministry.

The terminals also include the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Terminal, which was funded by the Abu Dhabi Development Fund with a grant worth JD23 million.

The project aims at establishing a specialised terminal for handling LPG that works within the best international safety practices and standards, according to the statement.