Jordan Times
Monday, November 8, 2004
Phase one of Petra national park to be completed by year-end
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN — Work on establishing a national park in Petra is making headway with the
first phase set for completion by the year-end, a Petra Region Authority
official (PRA) said Saturday.
PRA Commissioner Shehada Abu Hdaib told The Jordan Times the park, to be
developed on 50 dunums of land, will hold a spectacular view of the area's key
historical sites.
“We began work on the park some four months ago and plan to ensure a
comprehensive venue with all the basic infrastructure and services for
visitors,” said Abu Hdaib.
“A key feature of the project is that the park will end up overlooking the main
tourist sites in the area such as the tomb of the Prophet Haroun, the Byzantine
Church and the site of Qasr Al Bint,” he added.
According to the PRA official, the entire project will take around three years
to complete.
Although one of the most popular tourism sites among foreign visitors, the
ancient city of Petra has faced a difficult past few years trying to recover
from the global tourism slump. The outbreak of the Intifada in 2000 and the
Sept. 11 attacks had brought tourist numbers down to a trickle.
However, the area has begun to see increased tourist activity, particularly from
foreign tour groups, as global tourism and travel indicators show positive signs
of recovery so far into the year.
Overall arrivals to the Kingdom increased by 30.8 per cent in the first half of
this year compared to the same period of 2003, according to official figures.
The ancient Nabataean city saw a 237.3 per cent increase in tourist numbers in
the first half of 2004 compared to 2003, according to the figures.
Abu Hdaib said the number of visitors to the ancient city of Petra had more than
doubled in October to 21,000 visitors compared to around 10,000 in the same
month of last year.
“There is definitely increased activity by foreign visitors, mostly tour groups,
which I believe is the result of the safety and security many feel when visiting
the country despite the instability in neighbouring countries,” Abu Hdaib
explained.
This is a promising sign for the PRA, which has been busy over the past four
years carrying out various infrastructure development and tourism-related
projects for providing quality services for tourists.
The PRA has also completed development of more than 45 kilometers of new roads
and paved around 75 kilometres of streets, in addition to erecting 500 road
signs.
Another JD400,000 project it is currently undertaking, financed by USAID, is
designed to use treated sewage water for irrigation.
The project, undertaken in the badia, is using treated water for irrigating
trees surrounding the water treatment facility, thus enhancing the environment
of the area.
In the first stage of the project, 1,069 dunums are to be planted with trees.
The project site, which is part of the authority's JD27 million sewage system,
is also financed by the agency.
In the meantime, the PRA is preparing to begin developing the Petra Panorama
Park early next year, one of several initiatives to boost tourism services and
encourage locals to benefit from tourism and tourism-related investments in the
area.