Gov’t following up on Maan projects - Bakhit

Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on Thursday stressed that the government is following up on measures to implement development projects in Maan ordered by His Majesty King Abdullah during a visit to the governorate in April. The premier said the government has contacted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs-of-Staff to establish a military hospital in the southern governorate, noting that two locations were selected for the facility but authorities are still waiting for the technical opinion of the Royal Medical Services to determine the site. Once the site is decided, the government will immediately start to prepare the construction plans, he added. With regards to distributing land plots to Maan residents, Bakhit noted that the Department of Lands and Survey will start dispatching teams next week to identify state-owned lands and refer reports to the Cabinet in order to set a mechanism for the distribution. The government is intensifying its coordination with the Royal Court regarding granting pardons to detainees from the governorate, the prime minister said, in a statement to the Jordan News Agency, Petra. He noted that the government has set aside the needed allocations from the 2011 state budget to establish three schools in the governorate. "Establishing youth and sports projects in Maan are also among government’s top priorities," Bakhit added. The government will work to transfer JD2 million to the Development and Employment Fund to implement training programmes and to fund productive projects in the Maan Development Zone during the next two months, the premier indicated. Meanwhile, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Tawfiq Kreishan and Jordan Phosphate Mines Company Chairman and CEO Walid Kurdi agreed that the Maan governor along with deputies from the governorate will set up the proper mechanism to distribute the JD1 million extended by the company, and to nominate 200 young people from the governorate to enrol in its training programmes. Last week, MP Khaled Fanatseh (Maan, 1st District) called the government to accelerate the implementation of Royal initiatives in Maan.