King stresses value of Business Park expansion for attracting business

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday visited the King Hussein Business Park (KHBP) and checked on the progress of its expansion project, aimed at meeting the rising demand for office space at the KHBP from local and international companies.

Occupancy at the KHBP is currently at 100 per cent.

King Abdullah toured the park, stressing the importance of the expansion to enable the KHBP, as a regional innovation hub, to attract more local and global companies, a Royal Court statement said.

The expansion will extend over an area of 40,000 square metres, and will include five buildings. Construction work is due to conclude in 2021, with the companies expected to occupy the new space potentially providing around 1,500 job opportunities.

His Majesty was briefed on the KHBP’s master plan, covering 3 million square metres of buildings, and business, health, multipurpose, and entertainment facilities, according to the statement.

The KHBP currently houses 75 local and international companies, over 150 start-ups, and 4,500 employees in IT, health, and media companies. The park is also home to Al Hussein Technical University, as well as a German Jordanian University building for a master’s programme.

At the KHBP, the King also visited start-ups by young innovative Jordanians incubated at the Royal Scientific Society’s iPARK, which has incubated over 200 start-ups providing nearly 2,000 job opportunities, the statement added.

iPARK Executive Chairman Omar Maharmeh said the incubator has trained 3,500 entrepreneurs, enabled innovators to register hundreds of patents locally and internationally, and provided intellectual property support services to over 20 national institutions.

During His Majesty’s visit to start-up Hidden Flights, Founder and CEO Hani Saleh provided a briefing on the company, founded in 2018, noting that it is developing an application to promote tourist attractions in Jordan by enabling tourists to tailor a trip to cater to their interests.

The King also listened to a briefing by Monther Fadel, business development manager at DARB start-up, on his company, which provides fully automated solar cleaning solutions through locally produced high performing systems and products, according to the Royal Court.

During a visit to the start-up Sager, its founder and CEO, Yousef Amoura, briefed His Majesty on the services offered by the company, which specialises in customisation and maintenance of unmanned aerial vehicle drones.

The company is working with the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army on the licensing framework for manufacturing and programming drone software.

During the King’s visit to the KHBP, Electronic Health Solutions company Hakeem launched its Health Data Analytics platform that curates real time data to provide better healthcare services to patients, interpret health patterns and predict future trends, according to the statement.

Royal Hashemite Court Chief Yousef Issawi, Adviser to His Majesty for Communication and Coordination Bisher Al Khasawneh, Adviser to His Majesty for Policy and Media Kamal Al Nasser, Minister of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship Mothanna Gharaibeh, Health Minister Saad Jaber, and Royal Medical Services Director Maj. Gen. Shawkat Tamimi accompanied the King on the visit.