Ammon News - The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation has allocated a total of JD6 million under IRADA, a national development program that aims to enhance social and economic productivity.

The ministry told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) on Wednesday that the IRADA program will boost the productivity of multiple local projects for the Military Retirement Association, telecommunications company 'Zain' and other initiatives.

The Ministry said that preparations were made during the first half of this year to sign an agreement to provide additional funding of JD500,000 to the Military Retirement Association's Revolving Fund initiative, bringing the total value of the fund to JD3.5 million. The agreement aims at providing soft loans retirees to establish productive projects in various economic sectors and create job opportunities across the Kingdom.

The ministry is also gearing to sign an agreement with the Zain to establish new cell centers across the Kingdom, in addition to establishing a training center on fiber optic technology and a training center for the maintenance of cellular devices in Madaba governorate at a cost of JD300,000, as well as completing call centers in Jerash and Ajloun.

The ministry said that, in cooperation with partners, preparations are underway for the two environmental park initiatives, within the Phosphate hill rehabilitation project, and the "Child Drowning Prevention" initiative in the King Abdullah Canal, through building swimming pools in the Northern Jordan Valley and Deir Alla areas, in addition to the implementation of the Al-Hassan Bin Talal Science Park project in Ma'an.

The IRADA program had conducted 650 economic feasibility studies, which helped establish 320 projects and two training and e-marketing platforms to market the local communities' products, and the introduction of quality principles to the projects under IRADA.