PM calls for accelerating Gulf-funded projects

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Saturday chaired a meeting to review the progress made so far in the case of a host of largely energy-related projects funded by a Gulf Arab grant and study the amount spent in the ventures listed in the 2013 plans of various ministries. He told the ministers, secretaries general and representatives of institutions during the meeting held at the prime ministry to expedite the implementation to meet the deadlines set earlier, and urged for close coordination with entities implementing the projects to provide the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation the financial claims and the necessary budgetary allocations. The prime minister also called on the officials "to take contractors' interests into consideration and not to delay payment of their dues." Among the ventures addressed in today's meeting, estimated as being worth JD960 million, were two solar and wind energy projects in the south of the country as well as constructing a strategic oil storage facility in central Amman and a liquefied gas terminal in Aqaba, besides two rail roads in the country.