‘JD133.262m allocated for 2016-2018 Maan development projects’

AMMAN — The government is expected to spend JD133.262 million on the Maan Governorate development programme between 2016 and 2018, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury said Wednesday.

At a meeting with lawmakers, officials and local community representatives in the governorate, some 220km south of Amman, Fakhoury said the estimated cost of development projects for 2016 is JD48.922million, while it stands at JD38.511 million for 2017, and JD42.735 million for 2018.

The Maan development programme, he added, represents a strategic document and tool that entails studying and analysing the current situation of the governorate.

The most significant problems facing the governorate include the large distances between residential areas as well as the effects of the Syrian refugee crisis which pressures several sectors, according to the minister. 

Funding worth $1.5 million will go to projects in Maan, which has a population of over 126,900 people according to the Department of Statistics’ 2014 estimates, as part of the Jordan Response Plan 2015, Fakhoury said.

In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, the minister said Wednesday’s meeting was in implementation of Royal directives to prepare a plan for the development of governorates in partnership with civil society and the private sector, and in line with the competitive advantages of each governorate.

“We are meeting to accomplish a national effort,” he said, noting that the Maan 2016-2018 development programme will be in line with the goal of the decentralisation bill, embodying the practice of decision making at the governorate level.

Wednesday’s meeting, the minister added, will lead to the drafting of a development document that will be a reference for the government and various partners to identify development interventions over three years.

The document will also be a beneficial planning tool for future elected governorate councils once they assume their development responsibilities under the decentralisation law, Fakhoury noted.