‘Gov’t to spend JD166.382m on Mafraq development over three years’

AMMAN — The government is expected to spend JD166.382 million on the Mafraq Governorate development programme between 2016 and 2018, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury said Thursday.

At a meeting with lawmakers, officials and local community representatives in the governorate, some 80km northeast of Amman, Fakhoury said the estimated cost of development projects for 2016 is JD55.617 million, while it stands at JD53.609 million for 2017, and JD57.156 million for 2018.

Fakhoury said preparing the development programme in Mafraq is not limited to listing projects, budgets, needs, and priorities, but also covers aspect of sector planning based on data analysis and accurate information from different sources, according to a ministry statement. 

The minister said Mafraq, where around 313,700 people live according to the Department of Statistics’ 2014 estimates, is the most affected governorate by the Syrian refugee crisis, and it faces many challenges that require immediate development intervention, focusing on the sectors of poverty, labour and employment, health and education.

He noted that the poverty rate in the governorate stood at 19.2 per cent, while the unemployment rate stood at 15 per cent, one of the highest in the Kingdom, highlighting problems of rented schools, the ratio of which stands at 28 per cent.

Members of Madaba’s executive council are required to review the list of projects and select those ready to be implemented, organising priorities in coordination with the concerned ministry or institution, and with the governorate’s local team, Fakhoury said.

In the previous governorate development programme, several projects were implemented in Mafraq with financing from the Gulf Cooperation Council’s grant to Jordan, the ministry said in the statement. 

Projects implemented in the governorate through the grant between 2013 and 2015 cost JD131.34 million, according to the statement.

The Mafraq meeting — which brought together a local team representing various sectors of the governorate, including its municipal councils, civil society institutions, the private sector, and women and youth movements — was the second in a series of planned gatherings to discuss the draft for upgrading governorate development programmes for the years 2016-2018.