The Coca-Cola Company and National Beverage Company (NBC) of Palestine on Wednesday officially opened a US$20 million bottling facility in Gaza.
The new plant, NBC’s fourth in the Palestinian territories, will immediately create 120 jobs and will eventually employ 270 people, bringing the total number of jobs to more than 750 in the West Bank and Gaza.
“Ever since NBC first began operations, we have been firmly committed to building a successful Palestinian business that can create employment opportunities, support the national economy and demonstrate the great capabilities of our region while serving products of the very highest quality,” said Zahi Khouri, the founder and chairman of National Beverage Company.
“The opening of our first Gaza plant is an important milestone in this journey and provides great evidence of the tremendous commercial opportunity that exists.”
NBC is the third biggest Palestinian employer and the fifth largest Palestinian investor with more than 600 direct employees. Since 1998 it has produced beverages including Coca-Cola, Fanta, Sprite, Cappy juice, Arwa and Jericho mineral water.
It has bottling facilities in Jericho, Tulkarem and in Ramallah where it is based.
Construction of the Gaza plant began in 2014 and it began production in April this year.
The Gaza bottling facility and distribution centre was built on a site of more than 15,000 square metres and contains a single bottling line that is capable of filling up to 36,000 returnable glass bottles per hour. The Coca-Cola beverages produced here will be distributed in Gaza via 18 lorries.
“National Beverage Company and Coca-Cola share great pride in having been part of the fabric of Palestinian communities for almost 18 years, and our new Gaza plant shows our ongoing commitment to investing and supporting progress in communities around the world,” said Muhtar Kent, the chairman and chief executive of The Coca-Cola Company.
mkassem@thenational.ae
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