More than 100 companies have applied to set up operations at the Khalifa Industrial Zone of Abu Dhabi (Kizad) in Taweelah in the last five months, Abu Dhabi Ports Company officials said.
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The multi-billion dollar industrial park and ports project is scheduled to open for business by the end of next year, and received a major boost in November when the Abu Dhabi Government's decided to make Kizad the emirate's first industrial free zone offering 100 per cent foreign ownership.
ADPC has also given approval and signed preliminary approvals with more than 25 companies, said Khaled Salmeen, the executive vice president of industrial zones, during the National's Industry Insights forum held in the UAE capital today. The company hopes to formally announce the first wave of industrial tenants in the second half of this year.
"We have received applications in the triple digits and as such we have processed a huge number of those in terms of offers and signing agreements," Mr Salmeen said.
Kizad, located near the border with Dubai, is Abu Dhabi's largest infrastructure project to date. Its funding commitments up until the end of next year stand at Dh26.5bn (US$7.2bn) for the first phase of development over 51sq/km, including industrial land space and an offshore port.
It is hoped the overall project will generate tens of thousands of jobs and encompass nearly 420 sq/km in the coming decades as major industrial players invest in facilities for the steel, aluminium, plastics and petrochemicals, construction, food, glass, paper and pharmaceuticals industries.
Its largest tenant to date is Emirates Aluminium (Emal), which has been operating a smelter on the premises since December 2009.
igale@thenational.ae
