Jordan govt, SJIF ink $400m healthcare agreement

The Jordanian government and the Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund (SJIF) Monday signed an investment and development agreement in Amman to implement a project worth $400 million in healthcare and medical education. 

During the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh said the educational hospital project implemented by SJIF is one of the vital projects stipulated in the Jordan Investment Fund Law, approved five years ago to spur investment in Jordan.

Khasawneh said the healthcare project serves as a launchpad for future investments mentioned in the Jordan Investment Fund Law, indicating that it is the first project to be implemented within the list of projects stipulated in the Law.

“We have pioneering partners in the field of investment, led by fraternal countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and we also have partners from fraternal countries such as Kuwait, Qatar and other countries,” the Prime Minister said. 

Khasawneh said Jordan is carrying out many structural reforms aimed at enabling and localising the work of the private sector as a key partner in finding solutions to unemployment, adding that the Jordanian workforce is growing by 130,000 annually.

The project will be  based on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, as ownership of the project will be transferred to the Jordanian Government after the end of the investment period, as the project is included under the provisions of Jordan Investment Fund Law No. (16) of 2016 as per the decision of the Jordanian Cabinet issued on October 18, 2020.

The healthcare project will consist of a university hospital with 300 beds, more than 60 outpatient clinics, an ambulatory care building and a medical school with a total capacity of 600 students, with a projected annual student intake of 100.

The project is expected to create more than 5,000 employment opportunities.

The Saudi Jordanian Investment Fund (SJIF) is a Jordanian Limited Public Shareholding Company formed in 2017 as a partnership between the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which owns around 92 percent of the company, and 16 conventional and Islamic Jordanian banks, which own the remaining 8 percent.