16 industrial facilities enter production in Abu Dhabi during first half

Four companies from the metal industry were granted industrial licenses during the period. (Reuters)

ABU DHABI: The Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) on Saturday said that 16 industrial facilities entered production in Abu Dhabi during the first half at an investment value of over Dh3.8 billion (SR3.88 billion).
New industrial licenses registered at the bureau rose by 133 percent to 21, with Abu Dhabi getting the bulk at 12, Al Ain with 7 and Al Dhafra with 2, the IDB added.
Four companies from the metal industry were granted industrial licenses during the period, similar to chemical industry-related companies who were also issued licenses.
The other companies who registered their industrial licenses at the IDB were involved in industrial activities such as wood, carton, paper, devices and equipment assembly, construction materials and food and beverage.
Abu Dhabi has been diversifying into non-oil activities to wean itself off its dependence on oil revenues, after the prolonged weakness in global prices have dented its economy.
The UAE is aiming to cut the proportion of energy revenues to total GDP by about 10 percent over the next 10 to 15 years, and replaced by that from the manufacturing sector.
Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), the emirate’s centerpiece industrial development, contributed more than 3 percent of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil growth last year.
Kizad signed 20 new agreements last year and Abu Dhabi Ports, which operates the free zone, recently signed a 50-year agreement with the Chinese Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company. Five companies from China’s east cost will start operations with an initial investment of $300 million.
Khalifa bin Salim Al-Mansouri, Acting Undersecretary of Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, the emirate was keen to support the industrial sector’s competitiveness by “adopting projects and initiatives” that “fulfill the goals and objectives of Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.”
Manufacturing industries contributed 6.9 percent to the emirate’s economic output in 2016, Al-Mansouri added.