HE Mayor Omar Maani has announced the anticipated Interim Rural Residential Policy and Airport Corridor Plan. The announcement is the fourth phase of Amman Master Plan, which was initiated in June 2006 in response to His Majesty King Abdullah II letter to the Mayor of Amman, in which he gave the directive for initiating a serious and comprehensive project of city planning for Amman”.
The first three phases of Amman Master Plan were the Tower, corridor intensification plans, and
industrial lands policy released in February, June, and August of this year. The Tower and
corridor intensification plans concentrate development within the urban centre, thus curbing the
somewhat chaotic urban sprawl in Ammans periphery. On the other hand, the industrial lands
policy provides much needed direction for industrial growth in GAMs expansion area, a crucial
step in shaping the future of the Amman metropolis as an incubator of a flourishing economy
providing both job and housing opportunities for its residents.
Faced with expansion in 2007 from 700 square km to 1700 square km, an expected population
growth from 2.2 million in 2007 to 6.4 million in 2025, and an expected demand up to 1.3 million
new housing units, the fourth phase of the Master Plan comes as a milestone in the on-going
process of planning for sustainable growth of Amman. This phase precedes the Metro-Growth
Strategy, which will be announced by the end of the year to act as the Citys blueprint for
sustainable development over the next 20 years. The Metro-Growth Strategy will guide the
growth of our community and address issues such as growth centers, density targets,
employment areas, housing, natural and cultural heritage, transportation, and services.
Looking at it as an incremental part towards the Metro-Growth Strategy, the fourth phase of the
Master Plan includes the release of Amman Metro-Growth Principles and Metro- Growth
Conceptual Plan. Amman Metro-Growth Principles are a set of planning principles that will direct
the healthy growth of the City over the coming twenty years. The Principles strongly encourage a
compact urban growth that will allow for the best use of existing services, and to promote
increased transit use and improved pedestrian accessibility. The Principles direct future growth to
existing built-up areas and to designated new greenfields communities located close to the urban
Airport Corridor Plan and Interim Rural Residential Policy GAM 2 core.
The Metro- Growth Conceptual Plan is the first draft for a city-wide land use plan that respects the
locality of Amman while enjoying cutting-edge international best practices.
The Plan shows asolid conceptual framework for transportation including metropolitan roads and major urban roads. The Metro-Growth Conceptual Plan, along with the Amman Metro-Growth Principles, will
be the basis for the Metro-Growth Strategy, to be released by the end of 2007.
Unguided growth of these developments threatens the unique rural landscape and agricultural
land prevalingprevailing in the Expansion Area, creates inefficient infrastructure and
transportation services, and at the same time, limits opportunities for inclusive communities.
In order to tackle these challenges, the Amman Master Plan has designated four rural growth
areas around which future developments will be clustered.
Realizing the great challenge that GAM will face in order to service the designated areas,
different servicing programs will be implemented, upon completion of a Servicing Plan, which will
phase growth in these areas.
The fund will finance community-wide services including provision of social facilities, creation of parks, and provision of affordable housing.
The fourth phase of Amman Master Plan is the outcome of the Master Plans interactive process.
It does reflect GAMs commitment towards allowing for a healthy growth of a city. Its success will
require all community stakeholders to unify their efforts. GAM is working on enhancing
collaboration with other government agencies such as the Ministry of Environment, Civil Defense,
Jordan Engineer Association, Miyahuna, JEPCO, JTC, and Min. of Tourism & Antiquities.
Community members and developers are also vital partners that can use best building practices
to save the agricultural lands and environmental resources in these areas. The outlined policy will
be open for review for the next two months. GAM encourages all community members to
participate in the process with their ideas and suggestions by attending one of our meetings or
through the interactive Amman eForum, accessible from the municipality website
(www.ammancity.gov.jo). The website has also a softcopy of the announcement.