Royal Court chief inaugurates several projects in Karak

AMMAN — Royal Court Chief Yousef Issawi on Tuesday attended the opening of the Al Qasr Park in Karak and inspected several projects of Royal Initiatives.

Accompanied by Rania Sabeeh, CEO of Zaha Cultural Centres, Issawi, who is also head of the follow-up committee for the implementation of Royal initiatives, toured the park, which was rehabilitated as part of royal initiatives in cooperation with Zaha Cultural Centre.

This project is part of a series of dozens of parks established or rehabilitated under royal directives across the Kingdom, which include community training centres and branches of institutions focused on children to nurture talents and encourage creativity and positive thinking.

Issawi, along with Labour Minister Nadia Rawabdeh and Karak Governor Firas Abu Ghanam, also visited the Al Mujib region to inspect the Al Zay Clothing Company's ready-to-wear project.

The 3 dunnum project, which is part of the construction under the Productive Branches Initiative, which was launched in 2008 per Royal directives, is 75 per cent complete and expected to be completed by early next year to provide 220 jobs for local residents.

Issawi was briefed on the project's progress, infrastructure, production lines and future expansion plans.

This factory is one of 14 new manufacturing units being established across the Kingdom under the 2008 initiative to establish manufacturing units in various regions to provide employment opportunities for local youth after receiving training programmes.

Since the initiative was launched, 30 projects have been completed, creating over 9,100 jobs out of a target of 10,850.

In the Qatraneh's White Valley, Issawi and Minister of Agriculture Khalid Huneifat and officials from the Al Haq Foundation and the Hashemite Fund for the Development of the Jordan Badia (HFDJB), inspected an agricultural project covering some 1,500 dunams.

The project, which uses pivot and drip irrigation, has two planting seasons: July to October for feed maize and processing potatoes, and November to May for wheat and barley.

The project's water supply comes from the White (Phosphate) catchment, which collects about 3.5 million cubic metres of rainwater, and from a well operated by the Phosphate Mines Company.

A cooperative of 150 local members will be formed to benefit from the project. The Haq Foundation has completed 70 per cent of the project's infrastructure, including irrigation systems, and will manage and operate the project for two years, while training local beneficiaries in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture.

Issawi stressed that His Majesty King Abdullah prioritises sustainable development in all governorates, focusing on improving the lives of citizens, meeting their needs and enhancing the quality of services through development and production projects that create employment opportunities, especially for youth.

The Minister of Agriculture noted that the project, a collaboration between the ministry and the Haq Foundation, aims to cultivate 3,000 dunams of field crops and processing potatoes, providing employment opportunities for residents of Al Qatraneh. A local association has been established to manage the project with the HFDJB.

The Minister of Labour stressed that the establishment of the Zay factory branch is in line with a royal initiative to establish manufacturing units across the Kingdom, targeting areas with high unemployment and poverty to provide employment opportunities. This initiative also encourages investment in these regions by providing facilities to ensure the sustainability and expansion of these projects.