Gov’t seeks investments in industrial estates after EU deal

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Friday checked on the Desert Road, and was briefed by Public Works Minister Sami Halaseh on progress to revamp the street.

During a recent Cabinet meeting, Mulki directed stakeholders to carry out immediate maintenance of the road, which runs between Amman and Aqaba, within four weeks.

At a discussion with investors at Al Hussein Industrial Estate in Karak, around 140km south of Amman, Halaseh said work had already started to fix the most damaged patches of the road, before embarking on rehabilitating the 220-kilometre road at a cost of JD170 million.

A coalition of Jordanian and Saudi companies will carry out the rehabilitation within the next three months, the minister noted.

Regarding the economic situation, Mulki highlighted the importance of boosting cooperation between public and private sectors to develop the economic and industrial fields, providing jobs and attracting investments, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The premier said the visit to the industrial estate was a chance to look closely at investments there and to discuss measures that would attract more projects.

Investment in the Karak-based estate in the garment sector exceeds the revenues achieved in other estates, Mulki noted, adding that more efforts are needed to train the Jordanian workforce, in cooperation with factory owners.

The government will help implement training programmes in areas that house industrial estates, the premier said.

Turning to the Jordan-EU agreement on rules of origin, Mulki said the deal requires well-structured marketing programmes to benefit from the agreement that would render Jordanian products more competitive in EU markets, noting that Al Hussein Industrial Estate is part of the deal.

The rules of origin will be applied to exports of Jordanian origin that are manufactured in designated development zones and industrial estates in Jordan.

As for decentralisation, Mulki said the government hoped to make a qualitative leap in improving the level of services in governorates, by allowing local residents to prepare budgets and prioritise necessary projects.

He also urged jobseekers to look for employment in the private sector and to stop limiting their job search to the public sector, Petra added.

Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation Chief Executive Ali Madadha said the investment volume in the Kingdom’s industrial estates went up from JD1,039 million in 1999 to JD2,440 million in 2015, with an average annual growth rate of 14.6 per cent.