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AMMAN — Since its launch in 2012, the Governorate Development Fund’s (GDF) has supported around 125 industry and service projects, with a funding volume of around JD60 million, according to a report released on Sunday.

The Cabinet reviewed the report, which gave an initial assessment of the GDF’s achievements in investments since July 2012 until July 2015, during a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The Council of Ministers directed the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation to continue the necessary measures to enhance awareness in governorates of the fund’s services and funding programmes. 

The council also instructed the GDF administration to communicate with the targeted segments and explain the requirements to benefit from investment opportunities, stressing the importance of empowering beneficiaries and training them on administering projects financially and technically.

The Cabinet also said that it is important for the GDF to adopt a proper mechanism to impose necessary assurances for borrowers, making sure they are financially sound, especially when it comes to large-scale projects.

Moreover, the council issued directives to encourage the private sector to contribute to the fund’s resources in underprivileged areas as part of corporate social responsibility. 

His Majesty King Abdullah ordered the creation of the JD150 million GDF in July 2011 to finance development plans for the country’s governorates.

The fund was launched in February 2012, and its legal framework was endorsed in May of the same year, after the King urged the government to accelerate development in the country’s outlying areas.

The GDF, which focuses on underprivileged areas with high unemployment, is financed by the government, the private sector, donor countries and international financial institutions

The King has asked the government to ensure the sustainability of the GDF, equality in the distribution of projects and that residents of governorates are aware of the fund’s mechanisms and facilities.

AMMAN — Seven people were injured on Sunday in a two-vehicle collision in Tabarbour, according to a Civil Defence Department (CDD) statement.

East Amman CDD cadres administered first aid to the injured and took them to Prince Hamzah Hospital where they were listed in fair condition.

Also on Sunday, five people were injured in a two-vehicle collision in Tlaa Al Ali, where west Amman CDD cadres administered first aid and took them to Ibn Al Haitham Hospital. They were listed in fair condition, the CDD said.

AMMAN — Last month, 1,727 tourists visited the tombs of the companions of Prophet Mohammad who died in the Mutah Battle, Osama Tarawneh, supervisor of the Southern Mazar shrines said on Sunday.

He told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, that 946 Muslim visitors came from foreign countries, 331 from Arab countries and 450 visitors were Jordanians. The shrines house the tombs of Jafar Bin Abi Taleb, Zeid Bin Haretha and Abdullah Bin Rawaha.

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Sunday approved measures to float a tender for the implementation of the new Amman customs centre to be located in Madouna area, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The project will extend over an area of 900 dunums, Petra reported, adding that a port for trucks will be established as well to reduce the number of trucks entering Amman.

Public Works Minister Sami Halaseh announced that before the end of April, a JD50-million-tender will be floated to establish the project, after which the ministry will take over the implementation.

AMMAN — The US wheat shipment that recently arrived in Aqaba is fit for human consumption, except for the contents of one container of 150 to 160 tonnes which showed signs of dampness and rottenness, Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) Director General Hayel Obeidat said Sunday.

The container was seized, Obeidat said, noting that the total amount of the shipment is some 47,000 tonnes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The shipment was allowed to unload its contents, except for the damp container, he said, adding that the Ministry of Industry has pledged to deal with the issue either by re-exporting the container to the country of origin or by destroying its contents, Petra added.

AMMAN — The Kingdom’s tourism revenues dropped JD220 million in 2015, which, according to an official, was mainly due to regional instability. 

Official figures on the Tourism Ministry’s website showed that tourism receipts went down from JD3.1 billion in 2014 to JD2.88 billion last year, a 7.1 per cent decline, as the Kingdom saw a drop in the number of overnight tourists by over 226,000, from 3.98 million to 3.76 million. 

The figures also revealed that same day visitors to the Kingdom went down from 1.3 million to around 1 million. 

The overall number of visitors in 2015 — overnight and same day — was 4.8 million, while in 2014 it was 5.3 million. 

As tourism receipts dropped, Jordanians’ external expenditure — on tourism, medication and education — increased by 1.6 per cent in 2015 to JD823 million, from JD810 million the year before, the figures showed. 

Tohama Nabulsi, media and communications director at the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB), blamed regional troubles for the drop in the number of tourists despite attempts to promote the Kingdom as a secure and stable country. 

“Foreign tourists, especially Europeans, look at the entire region as troubled. We try very hard to change this perception by trying to convince them Jordan is a safe and calm country, but they still believe it is not the right time to visit,” she added.

Citing the JTB’s promotion campaigns in France, Germany and Britain — under which advertisements featuring key tourist attractions in the Kingdom are placed on taxis, buses and trains — Nabulsi said 2015 could have been worse without the promotional campaigns authorities carried out.

One of the reasons the number of tourists declined, the JTB official said, is that many European tourists used to come to the Kingdom as part of package tours that included Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. 

For 2016, Nabulsi said the JTB will launch intensive campaigns targeting Arab tourists, particularly from the Gulf, as “they understand the region well”, adding that the promotion campaigns will be on TV channels and at shopping malls. 

“What we will do is encourage Arab tourists to go outside Amman to see historical and natural attractions across the country,” she noted. 

The lack of services, such as hotels and five-star restaurants in areas such as Ajloun and other northern sites are among the main factors why Arab visitors prefer to remain in Amman.

The ministry’s figures showed that visitors from Saudi Arabia topped the list of tourists to the Kingdom in 2015, despite a 16.4 per cent drop over the year before. 

In 2015, over 883,000 visitors came to Jordan from Saudi Arabia as overnight tourists and same day visitors, while in 2014 their number was over 1 million, the figures showed. 

Visitors from Arab countries, according to the ministry, were around 2.5 million last year, down from 2.9 million  

Visitors from European countries went down by 20.5 per cent, last year to 510,000 from 642,000, according to the figures, which showed that the number of visitors from the US increased, reaching over 161,000 compared to around 160,000 in 2014. 

The number of tourists from China also saw an increase of around 16 per cent last year, to over 23,000 from around 20,000 the year before. 

Around 234,000 Asian visitors came to Jordan last year, 16 per cent lower than the 279,000 visitors in 2014, the data indicated. 

Tourism in 2015

-2.5 million Arab tourists visited Jordan last year, down from 2.9 million in 2014

-883,000 visitors came from Saudi Arabia, compared with over 1 million in 2014

- Visitors from European countries went down by 20.5%, to 510,000 in 2015, compared with 642,000 the year before

-Number of US visitors increased, reaching over 161,000 compared to 160,000 in 2014

-Around 234,000 Asian visitors came to Jordan in 2015, 16% lower than the 279,000 visitors in 2014 

-Tourists from China saw around a 16% increase to over 23,000 from around 20,000 the year before

Source: Tourism Ministry

AMMAN — Jordanian prisoners in Israel are the only prisoners not allowed family visits, an activist said Sunday.

The media team supporting Jordanian prisoners in Israel, Fedaa, said that Jordanians imprisoned in Israel are in “extremely difficult” conditions, calling on the authorities to send medical teams in light of Israel’s “intentional” negligence of their medical conditions.

The condition of Mohammad Rimawi, who is being held at Rimon jail in Israel and suffers from familial Mediterranean fever, has significantly deteriorated due to the lack of medical attention, Fedaa member Shireen Nafe told The Jordan Times.

She added in a phone interview that families of all Jordanian prisoners in Israel demand arrangements for regular visits. 

While Akram Abu Zahrah was the latest to be freed after 16 years of imprisonment, Firas Nobani, who is facing a two-year-and-a-half sentence, is expected to be released “in months”.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities banned freed prisoners Mohammad Fuqaha and Munir Qasem from returning to Jordan, a matter that Fedaa urges the Jordanian government to address. 

There are currently 25 Jordanians in Israeli jails, including the youngest, 19-year-old Mohammad Mahdi, who was detained at the age of 16.

Six of the prisoners are facing life sentences, including Abdullah Barghouthi (67 life sentences), Marae Abu Saeedeh (11 life sentences), Munir Marae (5 life sentences) and Hisham Kaabi (4 life sentences), in addition to Rimawi and Hani Khamaiseh, each of whom is facing a life sentence.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old Jordanian engineer Thaer Hwaiti, who was detained by Israeli authorities last December while on his way to visit relatives, is yet to be formally charged, Nafe said. 

AMMAN — The army said on Sunday that Border Guards received 231 Syrian refugees during the previous 72 hours.

Border troops transferred the refugees to shelters and camps, and Royal Medical Services personnel treated the injured, according to an army statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

AMMAN — The Preventive Security Department has launched the “Jordan Knights” app, which enables the public to communicate with the department, send their notes, observations, videos and pictures, and report any suspicious behaviour, a department statement said Sunday.

Any information sent through the app will be dealt with confidentially and immediately, the statement said, adding that the sender will not face any legal repercussions whether the information is correct or not since it is the preventive security department’s job to check the information’s credibility.

The department thanked several citizens for reporting suspected drug dealers, who were arrested with support from the Anti-Narcotics Department. 

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday received the credentials of eight newly-appointed ambassadors to the Kingdom at the Basman Palace.

Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh, acting foreign minister and Tourism Minister Nayef Al Fayez attended the ceremony, according to a Royal Court statement.

The ambassadors are: Michael Desser of Austria, Nafsika Krousti of Cyprus, non-resident envoy of Denmark Svend Waever, Pan Weifang of China, Safiah Al Saheel of Iraq, Singaporean non-resident ambassador Shamsher Zaman, non-resident ambassador of Peru Hugo Portugal and non-resident ambassador of Belarus Aleksandr L. Ponomarev.