The Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, also includes a seaport that would be operational by fourth quarter 2012, ending the first phase development.
Currently foreign companies must have a local partner to start an industry in the United Arab Emirates. “The Abu Dhabi government has granted status for KIZAD whereby you can have 100 percent foreign ownership ... That is a first for Abu Dhabi,” ADCP chief executive Tony Douglas said.
But not all the foreign companies establishing in the zone will be allowed 100 percent ownership.
“The management will have to decide what will be beneficial in the long-term to the Abu Dhabi economy,” said Sultan Al-Jaber, ADPC chairman.
“There will have to be a free zone status granted to some specific companies, industries or manufacturers,” provided that their business plan clearly reflects government economic and strategic values, he told reporters.
“There will be a dual operating mode, a mix of 100 percent foreign ownership and joint ventures. It will be based on the strategic importance to Abu Dhabi's GDP,” said Khaled Salmeen, executive vice president of industrial zones at ADPC.
The entire financing for the industrial zone and port is by the Abu Dhabi government, ADPC's chief executive said. ADPC is the master developer and regulator of the ports and industrial zones.
Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, is investing billions of dollars in industry, tourism, infrastructure and real estate to diversify its economy away from oil.
KIZAD is expected to contribute some 15 percent of Abu Dhabi's nonoil GDP by 2030, said Salmeen, adding that about 60 to 80 percent of goods manufactured in the zone will be exported.
Strategic industries that are likely to be part of the zone are those in sectors such as aluminum, steel, petrochemicals, food, pharmaceuticals and others, said Douglas. The second phase of the industrial zone will start in 2013, he said, without elaborating.
When the Khalifa Port's first phase becomes operational in 2012, it will have capacity of 2 million containers and 9 million tones of cargo a year, four times higher than existing capacity at Abu Dhabi's main Mina Zayed port. “There have already been significant expressions of interest from all over. We will be flexible and dynamic to adapt to investors coming into the zone,” said Salmeen.
Some 150,000 jobs will be created by 2030 there, he added.