Jordan PM orders launch of military hospital in southern city of Maan

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said on Saturday that orders had gone out to the armed forces and other concerned authorities, at the behest of His Majesty King Abdullah II, to start designs for a military hospital adjacent to the Al Hussein Bin Talal University in the southern city of Maan.Ensour also told dignitaries and local officials of Maan at a meeting in his office that the government would carry out the King’s makruma (royal gesture) under which a 70,000-dunum plot of state-owned land will be distributed to the residents of Maan, or one dunum per Maan citizen who bears a national number.He said the government was determined to provide all services to the Maan population, noting that the land distribution scheme is one of the royal gestures and a “very huge step.” He said that the location at Wadi al Aqiq would replace a 5,000-dunum plot of land designated earlier, which, he said, was not enough for all of the Maan inhabitants plus its rough terrain.The prime minister said the location on which the new city of Maan would be built will be provided with all infrastructure services, adding that the government was keen to put the project into implementation as soon as possible.“We are in a race against time to get such projects accomplished in implementation of His Majesty’s makrumas and as an expression of our love to the people of Maan and (in recognition of) their patriotism”, he said, adding that Maan should have its share of the dividends of national development on equal footing with other regions.During the meeting, attended by minister of municipal affairs Walid Masri and state minister for media affairs Mohammad Momani, Maan mayor Majed Sharari aired the southern city’s major grievances, including the issue of security, and demands, top of which are service and productivity projects.