In yesterday's meeting, deputies agreed to Article 4 of the law, which renames the proposed agency the "Petra Region Tourism Authority", and defines it as a financially and administratively independent body with the right to own moveable and immoveable properties.

The authority is to be under the umbrella of the Prime Ministry and shall be headquartered in Wadi Musa, according to the article.

The second article agreed upon in yesterday's session, Article 5, outlined the agency's goals, mainly developing the region's, tourism, economic, social and cultural sectors, in addition to contributing to local community development.

The law, which will also be discussed in Wednesday's meeting, seeks to streamline authorities within the Petra region into one central agency.

Currently, the Petra Region Authority, the Petra Archaeological Park and the Tourist Police Department control decision making in the area, which often leads to overlapping jurisdictions, according to Deputy Hani Nawafleh (Maan, 3rd District).

The proposed draft law will combine authorities into one agency with five commissioners on its board and will focus on developing the area's infrastructure, Nawafleh told The Jordan Times in a previous statement.

Also yesterday, the House Energy Committee approved an oil shale agreement as referred from the government.

The government and ShellShell signed an agreement in May under which the company will explore and extract oil shale reserves.

According to the agreement, a local company "Jordan Oil Shale CompanyJordan Oil Shale Company B.V." was established as a subsidiary of ShellShell to implement the project.

The agreement has three major portions, each of which deals with one stage of the project's progress.

The first stage includes exploration and research operations, estimated to take 3-4 years. The second stage, which will depend on the outcome of the first, would focus on the assessment of the explored regions.

The company would then proceed with the implementation of the third and final phase of the agreement, in which ShellShell would establish at least three pilot projects in "sweet spots" - locations that can yield commercial quantities of oil.

ShellShell is expected to invest $340 million in the project and pay the government $150 million over the stages of the scheme, which entails the firm's patented In-situ Conversion Process, under which the ground is heated over several years, to extract oil shale in oil form.

At the end of each of the first two stages, ShellShell is expected to review the outcome and decide accordingly whether to proceed or halt the project.

By Khetam Malkawi

© Jordan Times 2009

 

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