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Paper No. (14)

The expected environmental impacts of establishing Aqaba special economic zone authority:

 

The paper analyzes the potential environmental impacts on Aqaba region after turning Aqaba it into a special economic zone. The Aqaba special economic zone law was passed by parliament in August 2000. The law established the Aqaba special economic zone authority (ASEZA) as the statutory institution empowered with regulatory, administrative, fiscal and economic responsibilities within ASEZA.

The purpose of this transformation is to establish a free trade area where international manufacturing, industrial, marketing, trade and service companies can be based and conduct their businesses enjoying cheaper operational costs and geographical proximity to various markets.

A number of scoping sessions were held in Aqaba and Amman. In the sessions, the stakeholders were asked to identify the significant environment issues, provide input on potential constraints area that should be avoided and protected.

The scoping sessions are aimed to offer an opportunity for a wider scope of environmental analysis before investment opportunities have been determined, and to support the integration of environmental concerns into long-term development and investment planning.

Addressing every conceivable environmental issue in an environmental assessment is difficult and impractical. ASEZA commissioners mentioned that the overall framework for the environmental assessment has to be strategic in scope and broad enough for master plan development. Project type, components and their scale dictate that most issues will vary in their significance depending on the project's components. Any given issue may be significant for a given component.

The paper discusses also the issues raised, within three categories of social and economic settings, natural environment and the built environment. They were allocated to the different master plan components to which they are significant, and listed a number of recommendations for each issue, in order to decrease the proposed negative impacts or to eliminate it totally.


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