His Majesty King Abdullah on Thursday checked on progress of investment projects in Aqaba, stressing his support for investors and the need for a real partnership between the private and the public sectors.

During the visit, King Abdullah laid the cornerstone for the new port in the southern part of the city.

The first stage of the port project, to be set up at a cost of JD200 million, will provide logistic facilities and bring the port’s handling capacity up to international standards, thus turning Aqaba Port into a regional maritime hub.

Also Tuesday, the King checked on progress at the Ayla Oasis tourist project on the northern shores of the city and the Saraya Aqaba project, which has been put on hold recently due to financing problems.

At the Saraya site, the King was briefed by the company’s chairman, Ali Kolaghassi, on steps to complete the project, which entails the development of 634,000 square metres at a cost of around $1 billion.

The project will be relaunched before the end of this year, according to Saud El Srour, the company’s director. The firm’s board will convene this month to raise its capital to JD300 million, Srour added.

At the site of the Ayla Oasis project, His Majesty was briefed by the company’s CEO, Sahil Doudin, on the progress of work.

The Ayla Development project envisages lagoons on a total area of 750,000 sq.m., expected to add around 17 kilometres of shoreline to the port city of Aqaba.

The first stage of the project, including infrastructure works, costs around JD450 million, of which JD250 million has already been spent.