Zarqa, Dec. 29 (Petra) - Zarqa Governorate has received extensive royal and official attention during the current year, manifested in a number of inspection visits to its areas conducted by the Chief of the Royal Hashemite Court, Yousef Issawi, and Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan. These visits resulted in the announcement of a package of new projects, alongside the follow-up of the implementation of Royal Initiatives and numerous development projects across various sectors.

Zarqa is considered one of the Kingdom's most densely populated governorates, with a population exceeding 2 million people. It serves as a major industrial and commercial center, housing more than 52% of national industries. Its most prominent urban and industrial areas include the cities of Zarqa and Russeifa. The governorate comprises three districts and four sub-districts, covering an area of 4,761 square kilometers.

In the service sectors that directly touch people's lives, comprehensive maintenance was completed for 26 public schools in the Zarqa II Education Directorate. Thirty-two laboratories were prepared for General Secondary Education Certificate (Tawjihi) examinations, several inclusive schools for people with disabilities were rehabilitated, and seven laboratories and classrooms were equipped for the BTEC vocational education program.

Wael Abu Al-Foul, Director of the Zarqa II Education Directorate, said that work is focused on improving the educational environment and raising the academic performance of both students and teaching staff.

Meanwhile, the Russeifa District Education Directorate completed several classroom additions in its vocational schools to reach the highest level of equipment following an increase in the number of students enrolling in this vocational track, according to Director of the Russeifa Education Directorate Ahmad Shdeifat.

In the Zarqa I Education Directorate, Director Ayoub Mashaqba said the directorate will receive four new schools at the beginning of next year to be added to the classrooms created this year, along with significant additions witnessed by vocational schools to encourage students to join the vocational education path in accordance with royal visions.

In the municipal sector, the governorate's municipalities worked on improving services provided to citizens regarding infrastructure through road opening and paving projects and rainwater drainage networks. This ended years of suffering in some areas such as Russeifa, Azraq, and Berin, in addition to implementing development projects that contribute to increasing economic growth and empowering productive families.

In the Berin sub-district, the municipality has developed preliminary plans to establish a tourism cable car project in its forested areas to serve picnickers and constitute a qualitative leap for the governorate. The Azraq sub-district also received official attention through a visit by the Prime Minister and the updating of plans to establish a comprehensive development master plan for the sub-district after the North Azraq area won the United Nations Tourism Organization award for one of the world's best tourism villages.

In Zarqa, the head of the municipal committee, Khalid Khashman, confirmed that the municipality worked during the current year to improve and extensively automate services to facilitate matters for citizens and save them time and cost. He added that the "autopark" contract was terminated and not renewed, transitioning to new solutions to organize movement in the commercial center to serve merchants and citizens without additional costs.

Among the Royal Initiatives received by Zarqa Governorate, Royal Court Chief Yousef Issawi inaugurated the public garden in the Zarqa refugee camp, which His Majesty King Abdullah II directed to be established following his meeting with camp notables. This was in addition to the Arab Bank garden, which came as a royal gift and includes a branch of the Abdul Hameed Shoman Library.

Issawi also inspected the military school project in Russeifa, of which 80% has been completed, and the sports city nucleus project in the Ruseifa district. This project, initiated under royal directives, will provide a modern youth sports center for the district's residents, raising the level of youth and sports work and serving all sports clubs.

In the health sector, Director of the Zarqa Health Directorate Khalid Abdelfattah pointed to the qualitative leap occurring in the governorate's hospitals through increasing the number of beds and providing modern medical equipment. He noted efforts to improve and speed up service delivery, particularly regarding dispensing medications for the elderly, where the process has become faster and more efficient. He also highlighted the increased capacity of hospitals to perform necessary medical interventions, including many complex and specialized surgical operations at the New Zarqa Hospital and Prince Faisal Hospital in Russeifa.

He indicated that work is underway to open and modernize a number of comprehensive health centers in various areas, establishing clinics for the elderly, people with disabilities, and those with chronic diseases, as well as new laboratories. Additionally, 32 health centers have been covered by the "Hakeem" platform. A new health center is currently being prepared in the government departments complex in Russeifa, in cooperation with the Russeifa Municipality, to serve the residents of the Al-Amiriyah area.

For his part, the Director of Zarqa Endowments (Awqaf) Directorate Ahmad Harahsheh said that the year 2025 was distinguished by major achievements in the field of installing solar energy systems in three mosques at a cost of JD35,000. Work continues on 17 mosques within the endowments' allocations from the decentralization budget, in addition to comprehensive maintenance for 50 mosques at a cost of JD250,000.

He noted the opening of 12 new mosques in the governorate at a cost of JD4.5 million, with work underway on 13 others. He added that 210 mosque care and reconstruction committees were formed, 197 mosque preachers were commissioned, and 560 summer centers for Quranic memorization were opened, graduating 32,000 students. Furthermore, 280 families benefited from the Zakat Fund.

The Zarqa Chamber of Industry succeeded in its efforts to continue exporting to more than 102 countries around the world. Chamber President Faris Hammoudeh said that Jordanian exports to North American countries constitute 43% of the total exports, which amount to $1.5 billion annually from various industrial sectors, while exports to Arab countries account for 42%.

Hammoudeh explained that the rehabilitation of the Wadi Al-Ush industrial area as part of the Royal Initiative projects had a clear impact on attracting industrial investment to the governorate. Most infrastructure works were completed during 2025, most importantly the completion of the main street in the area and connecting this vital road with the Amman Development Road. The Wadi Al-Ish area roundabout was also rehabilitated and reconstructed, improving the general environment in the area.

In the same context, the President of the Zarqa Chamber of Commerce noted the completion of 4,204 multi-purpose certificates of origin for various goods exported from Zarqa and the Free Zone. The value of commercial exports (re-exports) for the city of Zarqa reached JD437 million. The number of administrative transactions for this year rose to 7,184 membership and renewal transactions for chamber members, and 2,097 multi-purpose guarantees were completed, including educational guarantees, government scholarships, loans, and judicial guarantees.

//Petra// AF

29/12/2025 22:13:20