Jordan Times
Monday, March 15, 2004
King visits Wadi Araba urbanization project
By Rami Abdelrahman
WADI ARABA — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday checked on progress on an urbanisation project designed to improve living conditions of the bedouins of the Wadi Araba.The project, which the King called for two years ago on a visit to the underprivileged areas of Qureiqreh and Finan in the country's south, seeks to gather and settle bedouins, who have for decades lived isolated in the expansive environs of Wadi Araba, in one developed town.
Revisiting the areas yesterday, the King told reporters: “I am here to accelerate works on this project, and to be in touch with the less fortunate residents of this area.”
The JD2.7 million project is multifaceted, providing development schemes in the form of module farms for the bedouin farmers and shepherds, the installation of modern utilities, the construction of a highway connecting Maan and Wadi Araba, as well as housing units and schools for the resident community.
The installation of water and electricity networks and the highway construction each cost JD400,000.
According to Omar Rafie, head of the Ministry of Planning Social Productivity Programme — responsible for the implementation of the project: “A housing project was constructed according to His Majesty's directives. It comprised two schools and 56 homes for bedouins who used to live in tents.” Rafie said each 70-square-metre house is built on a one-dunum plot, which combined to form a developed module town.
King Abdullah toured the housing units and asked the residents if their needs were being met in the new environment. He also instructed officials to provide financial assistance to more than 129 families in the area and to speed up work on the project. Upon completion of the first phase, another set of housing units are to be constructed.
“We directed the government to strategically fight poverty and unemployment, and such projects help in the process,” the King said, adding: “I was in the military, and I was aware then of the conditions of this area and I want to fight the poverty it has experienced.”
“We have the ability, and the cost is not prohibitive,” the King stressed, promising to support anyone who proposes a viable development project in the area.
The King called for gathering more bedouins in the area into productive communities so that they may benefit from public services.
Minister of Planning Bassem Awadallah, who accompanied His Majesty yesterday, called for a study to determine how the area's citizens could become more productive.
The community already has two societies, cooperative farming and tourism, that is banking on the areas topographic assets — the mountains of Petra and Dana — to boost tourism. The area is also rich with 55,000 dunums of fertile soil and several underground water sources.
Meanwhile, King Abdullah also instructed that a computer lab be set up at the Wadi Finan School, computer training be provided to the school's seven teachers providing basic education to around 70 students, and a housing unit be constructed for the teachers.
Other components of the project are the establishment of a park and library for students and preschoolers, the building of a mosque and the opening of several roads leading to neighbouring towns and the main Aqaba-Ghor Al Safi Highway.
Also Sunday, King Abdullah met a delegation of US congressmen including John Warner (R-Virginia), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Ernest Hollings (D-South Carolina), who were on a regional tour, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The King and the US legislators reviewed efforts being exerted to revive the Middle East peace process and the situation in Iraq.
The two issues were also discussed as the King received visiting Austrian Interior Minister Ernest Strasser. The two sides stressed the need to bolster Jordanian-Austrian relations.
Earlier, Strasser met Prime Minister Faisal Fayez for talks on economic and political cooperation.
The Monarch also met Sunday visiting President of SOS Helmut Kutin, who is currently visiting Jordan to inspect the services provided at SOS villages and youth centres in Amman, Irbid and Aqaba.
The King expressed Jordan's deep appreciation of the organisation for the care it provides for the orphaned children.