In a reply to His Majesty King Abdullah's letter instructing the government to allocate funds for programmes that enhance citizens' living conditions, the government will implement an ambitious project to provide civil servants from all governorates with housing units at subsidized prices, Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit said on Wednesday.

In his letter, Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit also said that a total of 33,000 housing units will be built over a period of five years under the project.

He added that the government will continue with the implementation of another project under which 1,500 units will be built annually by the Housing and Urban Development Corporation.

In the letter, Bakhit also said the Ministry of Public Works and Housing has started creating villages with recreational facilities as instructed by the King.

The premier added that the Labour Ministry, in cooperation with the Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) and the private sector, has started setting the general guidelines of a plan under which some 30,000 unemployed citizens will be trained by the JAF for jobs in the construction sector over a four-year period.

Bakhit said in implementation of the King's directives, the government has taken several measures to develop and determine national policies and guidelines on the higher education system. He said the government has accelerated efforts to establish new hospitals, adding that construction had already started on the Baqaa Hospital and work on the Zarqa Hospital would begin before the end of next month.

Expansion work on the Karak Public Hospital would also start early September, Bakhit said in the letter.

The Jordan Times