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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - His Majesty King Abdullah II on Tuesday chaired a meeting to discuss improving the business environment in Amman, and stressed the need to ease procedures for both citizens and investors and remove existing hurdles to achieve that goal.

During the meeting at the Al Hussainiyah Palace, the King expressed satisfaction with the Greater Amman Municipality's (GAM) strategy to enhance the business environment, stressing that intensive efforts be launched to achieve further progress in this endeavour and make tangible results before the upcoming municipal and governorate council elections due to be held in mid-August. King Abdullah also told the meeting, attended by Prime Minister Hani Mulki, that providing electronic services had become a dire necessity to improve the business climate and the government's efficiency, which requires that the government provide due support to achieve this goal.

Moreover, the King stressed the importance of action, in coordination with the government within a holistic approach, to upgrade public transport in the capital.

For his part, President of the GAM Committee, Yousef Shawarbeh, gave a briefing about steps his municipality had taken to enhance the business environment, starting with the devolution of new powers to the zone directors, issuing a formula to calculate the size of apartments in Amman, electronic linkage with the Department of Lands and Survey and renewal of professions licenses procedures.

He also said the package, now underway, also includes the licenses of buildings and professions, adding that a blueprint amending the building and urban planning regulations will be sent to the prime ministry soon, in addition to the automation of building licenses and revisiting the licensing fees of industrial enterprises.

He said 13 online services will be launched this year through the munipality's website and smart phone applications as part of its plan to fully switch to automated service by 2020. He said 78 other services will be automated next year in addition to launching e-mail tracking for the recipients of service.

Shawarbeh also said GAM will draw up a 3-year action plan to ensure better public transport service in the city besides a traffic strategy and updating the transport master plan relying on specialised expertise in this field.