AMMAN (JT) - The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities on Tuesday announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the USAID/ Jordan Tourism Development Project (Siyaha) for expanded support in implementation of the Third Tourism Development Project. The $70 million project, financed by the government and the World Bank, seeks to upgrade five historical (tourism) districts around the country in partnership with the local municipalities in Madaba, Salt, Jerash, Ajloun and Karak, according to a Siyaha statement.
"In addition to enhancements in infrastructure in those cities, part of the investment will be directed towards grants to local businesses, an area in which USAID/Siyaha will assist us," said Ihab Ammarin, director of the ministry's technical department directorate, which is responsible for managing the project in partnership with the Ministry of Public Works and Housing.
USAID/Siyaha will assist the project in the design of its $1 million local economic development component, which will target CBOs and NGOs in the five cities, as well as providing assistance for the project's public awareness aspects.
"USAID is pleased to provide the Jordanian government with the needed support to ensure investment in the target cities is matched with investment in people and business," said USAID Jordan Mission Director Jay Knott, citing that USAID/Siyaha's efforts in Madaba have resulted in mobilising more than $2 million in private sector investment in hotels, restaurants, crafts and tourism services in the city.
The ministry noted that USAID/Siyaha has implemented a variety of successful initiatives, most notably in Madaba, which the project wishes to emulate in the other cities, according to the statement.
"The cities will undergo major physical and regulatory changes, which must be embraced by the local communities whose lives are likely to be disrupted during the construction and implementation period. In the long term, they will feel the economic and social benefits of the project," Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Osama Dabbas said.
Madaba, seen as the pilot project, has seen particularly close cooperation between the ministry and USAID/Siyaha.
The Madaba visitor centre, mosaic school, vocational training centre, Archaeological Park and Church of the Map are all undergoing development to complement the physical upgrade that the project will bring.
Construction for this will begin early next year, the statement said, adding that detailed designs for the projects are complete and various construction packages are due to be awarded this quarter for all five cities.
The Third Tourism Development Project aims to contribute to tourism development in the five key historically and culturally important cities, creating conditions for local economic development.
Its main components include physical and economic revitalisation of historic cores, preservation and regeneration of cultural landscape, and in Ajloun, natural landscape, and improving urban management, financial capacity, and financial autonomy of the five municipalities, according to the statement.
Construction is expected to commence in the first quarter of 2008.
The Third Tourism Development Project follows the first and second tourism projects which focused on Petra, Karak and Wadi Rum in early 2000. These projects provided needed infrastructure to support tourism, which is now over a JD1 billion industry - the largest in Jordan - that supports 10 per cent of the Kingdom's employment.
"We truly believe that tourism is the number one growth industry in Jordan, which can have a substantial impact on the quality of life of its citizens, not only in the capital and large cities, but also in the other governorates that desperately need job and income creation," concluded Dabbas.
© Jordan Times 2007
