PM meets with dignitaries in Maan

AMMAN — Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, accompanied by a ministerial team, on Thursday visited Maan and met with dignitaries from the governorate as part of directives by His Majesty King Abdullah and to continue a programme of government visits to various governorates.

Khasawneh said that Maan suffers from poverty and unemployment just like other governorates, yet it is full of "competencies, manhood and patriotism", the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The prime minister also said that Maan enjoys a lot of nature reserves, where the Energy Ministry is conducting surveys to explore oil, gold and copper in some areas of the governorate as per scientific studies, voicing hope for the reserves to exist in commercial amounts.

He stressed that he directed the relevant ministers to meet the needs of governorate residents.

The premier stressed that the government cannot make promises for things that it cannot honour, stressing that the government will do all it can to serve citizens.

Khasawneh noted that the development zone in Maan has attracted investments worth some JD400 million, where more than 70 per cent of workers are local residents. 

The prime minister noted that this government has not imposed any new taxes since it assumed office, adding that the government reflects international oil prices in the local prices. 

In this regard, he said that maintaining the prices of fuel derivatives for several months, despite the international price hikes, has cost the Treasury some JD500 million that could have been directed to projects that serve citizens.

Khasawneh referred to a "serious study" being conducted by the ministries of finance and energy to consider providing industrial estates with natural gas in a bid to reduce industrial production costs.

The prime minister also stressed that having a high unemployment rate of up to 22.1 per cent, particularly in a country that hosts some 1.2 million refugees, is a "contradictory formula" that should be resolved.