Kfafi said in a video that the project is to “benefit both the students and the people of the north”.
He added: “This way, the students are better served during their student life, especially medical students who will no longer have to train at hospitals far away from them. The mall, the hospital and the hotel will also benefit not only the people of Irbid but also the people of the north.”
The project is to be built on parcels of land the university owns. The hospital will comprise 200 beds, according to Kfafi.
Abed Tarawneh, a senior employee at the university’s financial department told The Jordan Times that Queen Rania Medical Centre that operates under the university’s wing has also been put up for an investment grant.
“The goal here is to add facilities in a 4,000-square-metre space and new parking lots as well,” he said in a phone interview.
As for the hotel, which Tarawneh said will be built on the university’s campus, the plan is to have it serve as “a training field for hospitality and tourism students, who can work there to gain additional professional experience in their fields”.
The mall and the gas station are not to be built on university-owned land, according to Kfafi.
“These two aspects of the project will be executed in partnership with the private sector for the gas station and with Irbid’s Municipality for the mall,” he concluded.