PM, team start field visits to governorates from Salt

AMMAN — Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Saturday paid a field visit to Balqa Governorate to check on several developmental and service projects under implementation at a cost of JD143 million, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The visit came as an implementation of His Majesty King Abdullah's directives to the government in the Letter of Designation, and last week when he headed a Cabinet meeting, he stressed the importance of going to the field and reaching out to citizens to get acquainted with their needs. 

Accompanied by 12 ministers, Mulki checked on progress in various projects that include Salt Heritage House, the new Salt Hospital building, the Salt Industrial Estate, the Ring Road, the Uqba Bin Nafi Plaza and the Saltus Hotel, which also includes a vocational training facility.

All the money allocated to the projects will be spent in accordance with the priorities, the premier said, adding that there will be regular follow-up on the visits to check on the progress made. 

Mulki met with the president of the board of directors of the Salt Development Corporation (SDC), Senator Marwan Hmoud. During the discussion, the premier highlighted the importance of the Salt Industrial Estate project to attract investments and create job opportunities for the area’s residents.

The prime minister said that the cultural, service and industrial integration provides “uniqueness” of each governorate, noting that Balqa is rich in archaeological, tourism and religious sites. 

He added that the government would exert all efforts to support the project to develop downtown of Salt to render the town, 30km northwest of Amman, a tourist destination, highlighting the importance of developing the road leading from Salt to the Jordan Valley through Wadi Shuaib, as it connects the city to the Dead Sea and the Baptism site. 

It is equally important to benefit from the private sector’s experience in the tourism industry and involve the sector not only in funding and implementing tourism projects, but in planning aimed to boost the sector, the premier said.

For his part, Hmoud highlighted the efforts of the SDC, which was established in 1979. 

Mulki went to the Salt Public Hospital to check on the new building, part of which is designated for the medical school affiliated with Al Balqa Applied University, at a total cost of JD85 million.

The new medical facility is comprised of 11 floors and has a 350-bed capacity that can be expanded up to 450 beds, Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab said in a presentation during the visit, as quoted by Petra. 

The prime minister also checked on the progress of the Ring Road project in its second phase at a cost of JD25 million. The project is designed to ease traffic jams in Salt. 

The Salt Industrial Estate, which cost JD8 million in its first phase, is one of four industrial estates funded by Saudi Arabia; the others have been designated for Madaba, Tafileh and Jerash governorates in the central, southern and northern regions, respectively.

Mulki directed Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury to include the zone in the agreement of simplified rules of origin with the EU in order to attract investments, which will have easier access to European markets.

He was also briefed on the first stage of the estate, which includes 52 developed facilities designed to host investments worth JD100 million, which can provide up to 2,500 job opportunities. The project is expected to be completed in 2017.

At the Uqba Bin Nafi Plaza, which cost JD8 million, Mulki checked on the project that started under a Royal initiative that sought to preserve the town’s heritage and the “beauty of its architectural design”. 

Salt Mayor Khaled Al Khashman stressed the importance of the project, noting that a committee from UNSECO is going to visit Salt at the end of August to evaluate the Salt’s bid to join World Heritage List.