PM lays cornerstone for Deir Alla housing project

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Tuesday laid the cornerstone of the Mallaha housing project in the Jordan Valley’s Deir Alla District to replace houses at the risk of collapse due to high soil salinity in the area.

The project, implemented under Royal directives, will be executed over two phases, with the first entailing establishing 400 houses, in addition to providing the necessary infrastructure that covers streets, pavements and wastewater services, at a total cost of JD16 million, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The second phase will include building of 374 houses. 

Public Works and Housing Minister Sami Halaseh said the designs of the housing units and the infrastructure were all carefully studied due to the area’s high soil salinity and the presence of underground water. 

The Mallaha area currently includes 804 buildings, 400 of which are dilapidated due to salinity.

The minister noted that each house will consist of two bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen and a bathroom, adding that some plots of land were allocated to build a school, public buildings, public parks, parking lots, pedestrian crossings and a market.

Mulki stressed the importance of having area residents operate the commercial facilities once the project is complete.

Halaseh said the ministry has recently finished constructing Mallaha and Arwa Bint Al Hareth schools, as well as building additional classrooms in Twal School at a total cost of JD4 million.

Moreover, construction work on Dirar Bin Al Azwar School has recently started, funded by a JD2.5 million-grant from Saudi Arabia, Halaseh said, adding that an agricultural research centre is currently under construction at a cost of JD1 million, which was secured through a Kuwaiti grant, according to Petra.