Jordan’s National Urban Policy approved

Amman: Jordan's National Urban Policy was approved during its Steering Committee's meeting, which was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Administration, its Chairman, Tawfiq Krishan. The meeting was attended by Mayor of Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), Yousef Shawarbeh, Chairman of Petra Development and Tourism Region Authority (PDTRA), Fares Breizat, and Deputy Director of United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), Dr. Lubna Shaheen. The policy, which will be submitted to Council of Ministers, aims to form a national team from the steering committee's members to directly implements its content. According to a ministry statement on Sunday, the policy features an action plan for all sectors working in infrastructure, municipal services, GAM, public transportation, urban environment management and climate change at the local and regional geographical levels to achieve the desired national goals in this regard. In the long term, the policy aims to enhance opportunities for cross-sector inclusion and integration within an action scheme regulating proactive planning that shifts work in all sectors from service provision to the development dimesnsion. Additionally, the policy is a tool for implementing New Urban Agenda, reflects action goals at the national level and aims to launch action plans that make "pioneering" neighborhood plans, public transportation, and agriculture priorities as cross-government and sectors. During the meeting, the participants noted importance of the first national urban policy in the Kingdom and urged a "qualitative" plan to regulate all sectors' activities locally to reach the regional and national levels, which would be reflected in quality of services "quantitatively and qualitatively," noting need to amend some legislation to keep pace with this step and enhance its implementation on the ground. Source: Jordan News Agency