Maan: Prime Minister Jafar Hassan laid the cornerstone on Sunday for a natural gas supply project at Al-Rawda Industrial City within the Maan Development Area, at an estimated cost of 10 million dinars.
According to Jordan News Agency, the project is financed through an Emirati grant provided by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, which forms part of a broader nearly 50-million-dinar allocation dedicated to supplying natural gas to industrial cities across several Jordanian governorates.
Hassan laid the cornerstone ahead of chairing a Cabinet session in Maan Governorate. The project is part of the government's strategy to supply industrial zones across the Kingdom with natural gas, a move expected to reduce industrial energy costs by 35 to 60 percent.
The government has completed and inaugurated similar projects in South Aqaba, Quweira, Qastal, and Hashemiyah. Work is currently underway on the Al-Rawda and Muwaqqar projects, while studies are being completed for two new projects in the King Hussein Development Area in Mafraq and Zarqa.
Scheduled for completion within 18 months, the Al-Rawda project is expected to enhance the industrial city's competitiveness and attractiveness to investment, while supporting the industrial sector, national exports, and employment opportunities for the local community.
The groundbreaking follows a Cabinet decision granting Al-Rawda Industrial City investment incentives similar to those offered to the Karak and Tafilah industrial cities. The incentives include support for energy costs and wages of local workers, reduced container handling costs at the Port of Aqaba, and lower land prices.
Prime Minister Hassan, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mohannad Shehadeh, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Saleh Al-Kharabsheh, and Minister of Investment Tariq Abu Ghazaleh, was briefed on the project, which is scheduled for completion within 18 months.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Maan Development Company CEO Mohammad Abu Tayeh, Jordan Logistics Company for Oil Facilities Director General Ashraf Al-Rawashdeh, and Fajr Jordan-Egypt Company CEO Yasser Salah El-Din.
Prime Minister Hassan also inaugurated the new expansion at Maan Governmental Hospital. Spanning more than 5,000 square meters and costing approximately 5 million dinars, the expansion includes an outpatient clinic building and a blood bank.
During a visit to the facility with Health Minister Ibrahim Al-Badour, Hassan directed that the outpatient clinics be provided with specialized medical staff and that the hospital be fully supplied with the equipment and devices needed to provide services efficiently.
Hassan commended the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company for covering the cost of medical equipment, valued at approximately JD1.2 million, and the Arab Potash Company for contributing to some phases of construction as part of the companies' corporate social responsibility efforts to serve the local community.
The new building includes a spacious reception hall, pharmacy, and clinics for ENT, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, other specialties, general surgery, ophthalmology, psychiatry, and internal medicine, as well as radiology and laboratory services, a blood bank, and other service facilities.
The expansion is part of government efforts to modernize and develop healthcare facilities across the Kingdom. Maan Governmental Hospital, established in 1962, serves more than 190,000 people.