His Majesty King Abdullah on Monday chaired a high-level meeting, where top officials updated him on progress made in development projects designed for various districts.
The projects are being implemented in line with master plans for 15 areas targeted for development that take into consideration the potential of each district and the most feasible income-generating projects that are prone to change the socio-economic scene in these areas.
King Abdullah underlined the need to amend municipal regulations to conform with the master plan devised for each area.
The plans, the King said, are expected to improve the situation of Jordanian villages and support them with attractive tourism projects.
Outlining the core objective of the master plans, Prime Minister Nader Dahabi said the development schemes are meant to protect the targeted areas from random development, highlighting in this context the need for municipalities to commit themselves to the master plans.
Dahabi added that the development plans are expected to create jobs through a package of projects with a view to ease rural-urban migration.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs drew, in 2006, a land-use map that defines the functional role and the size of each town and village to bring an end to unchecked expansion of built areas. The project is expected to be completed by 2010.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Shihadeh Abu Hdeib reviewed the master plans for Al Koura District, the Jordan Valley, and Zarqa and Azraq, highlighting a project to facelift the town of Azraq, which he described as “Jordan's eastern gate”; the area, 89km east of Amman, lies on a crossroad leading to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The Zarqa City master plan, however, seeks to rehabilitate some of the neighbourhoods that suffer from high population density, according to Abu Hdeib.
Amman Mayor Omar Maani briefed the meeting on the 350-square-kilometre Amman Development Corridor Project, which is expected to be completed in February 2009. The roadway scheme partly seeks to link the northern parts and southern parts of the country while bypassing Amman. It is also designed to expand the capital's boundaries, envisaging investment and development projects to upgrade the Amman area.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali reviewed the master plan for the Dead Sea area.
She underlined a study the planning ministry conducted last month covering the needs of the area extending from the Baptism Site, north of the Dead Sea, to Zara, 42km to the south.
Based on the findings of the study, a land-use plan was developed for the northeastern coast of the Dead Sea and the surrounding areas. Environment Minister Khalid Irani outlined a comprehensive plan to develop the Ajloun Mountain area with a view to turning it into a tourism hub and enhancing the living standards in the area, which ranks among the poorest nationwide.
The plan covers Ajloun Governorate and parts of the adjacent Jerash and Irbid governorates, said Irani, adding that the scheme entails an economic strategy to carry out investment projects in various sectors while safe guarding the area's natural beauty.
Minister of Tourism Maha Khatib also presented the $75 million Third Tourism Project that targets the cities of Irbid, Jerash, Ajloun, Madaba, Karak and Salt. The project identifies environmental and archaeological sites that need to be preserved and heritage sites that will be rehabilitated.
Meanwhile, Minister of Public Works and Housing Sahl Majali reviewed progress in the “Decent Housing for Decent Living”, a national initiative that envisions the construction of some 120,000 housing units over five years, including 20,000 this year.