Murad lays cornerstone of Mafraq recycling plant

AMMAN — Labour Minister Samir Murad on Tuesday laid the cornerstone for a paper recycling plant in Djaniah area in Mafraq, which will provide some 250 job opportunities for the area’s residents, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The project, which is supported by the ministry’s Employment, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (E-TVET) Fund, aims at boosting employment for the local communities and providing training on paper, plastic and cardboard recycling.

Murad said that the project was established upon Royal directives aimed at enhancing investments into remote areas, where the initiative to establish productive branches emerged in early March 2008 under the direct instructions of His Majesty King Abdullah.

The initiative will be funded by the E-TVET and the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, he noted, stressing that the government has adopted a policy of “recruitment instead of employment” to address the problems of poverty and unemployment.

Murad pointed out the Labour Ministry’s commitment to supervise the field completion of successful projects, noting that the ministry has taken a number of measures and provided facilities to stimulate the investment environment in the Kingdom, in coordination with the relevant stakeholders. 

These decisions seek to open new horizons to better distribute development gains across all governorates and to grant investors encouraging incentives, he said, highlighting the ongoing efforts to set up additional productive branches in accordance with the agreed upon plans.

The minister added that the initiative aims to establish new productive plants in remote and disadvantaged areas of labour-intensive industries, with a specific focus on women, in order to provide training and employment opportunities for these communities.