Jordan aims to cut poverty and boost employment

At last month's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Jordan, a number of deals were signed with prospective anchor tenants at the two zones, which will surely help the business hubs to hit the ground running. The government will be hoping the schemes in Mafraq and Irbid will receive the same level of interest that the Aqaba Special Economic Zone has generated, with the city having seen investments steadily pass the $8bn mark over the past six years.

Making more of Mafraq

Last November, King Abdullah revealed details of a new $750m development zone in Mafraq - the first of several planned for various regions in the kingdom where poverty is a major concern. The King Hussein bin Talal Economic Zone will be developed over a period of 19 years and focus mainly on logistics and light industry. It will cover an area of around nine square kilometres and look to serve not only the domestic market but also Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq.

Mafraq sits close to the Syrian border and the governorate as a whole comprises almost 30 per cent of the entire country. The special economic zone will be a vital addition to the region as, according to the Jordan Times, the area contains six of the kingdom's 20 'poverty pockets' and is merely 20 kilometres from the Zarqa governorate, the location of four more. The zone is expected to create 13,000 jobs in less than 10 years, while some 32,000 should have been generated by the time the SEZ is complete.

Boosting Irbid

Just over a month ago, a special economic zone was announced in a second northern governorate, when King Abdullah launched a project in Irbid, focusing more on the medical and scientific sectors. The SEZ will be located close to the Jordan University of Science and Technology and it is hoped partnerships will be fostered between several of the firms which set up at the zone and students at the university.

This zone should create around 23,000 jobs in various fields, but a number of hospitals and clinics will be established as the kingdom looks to ramp up its medical tourism sector. Research centres and medical training institutes are also part of the plan, in addition to hotels and conference facilities.

Signed and sealed

The ambitious projects lined up for Mafraq and Irbid may only have been rolled out recently, but already a number of deals have been inked. At last month's WEF by the Dead Sea, no fewer than seven contracts relating to the Mafraq SEZ were tied up, as were two agreements concerning the newly unveiled Irbid scheme.

Among the string of deals for Mafraq were a $49.4m modern cable manufacturing facility to be set up by MESC Specialised Cables in association with Japan's Fujikura, as well as a $28.2m shipping logistics centre to be built by Future Arab Investment and an investment of $20m by Emaar Industries and Investments' subsidiary MultiForms to establish an aluminium manufacturing plant.

Meanwhile, a deal has been agreed for a $35m nursing college at Irbid's special economic zone, while earlier this month the Jordan Telecom Group signed an agreement with the North Development Company, the firm managing the master plan and execution of the project, to provide a telecommunications network and other services to companies that set up within the SEZ.

The Jordanian government's policy of setting up industrial and commercial hubs in areas of deprivation will play a big role in its plan to bring down unemployment and raise living standards. Indeed, last year unemployment in Jordan fell by 0.8 per cent to 14 per cent as the impact of the kingdom's economic growth started to kick in. But with 37.2 per cent of Mafraq's population living in poverty and with Irbid's rate of unemployment comfortably above the national average, the two special economic zones will need to prove major successes.