Under the terms of a 50-year partnership, China-UAE Industrial Capacity Co-operation (Jiangsu) Construction Management Co, a UAE company newly established by Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Co-operation and Investment Co, or JOCIC, will occupy and develop around 23.7m sq ft of free trade zone capacity for exclusive use by the Chinese province.
According to ADP, this slot allocation represents approximately 2.2% of available free zone space in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), located between Abu Dhabi and Dubai adjacent to the Khalifa Port Container Terminal.
The agreement, signed by ADP chairman Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber and the executive vice-governor of Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government Ms Huang Lixin, also coincided with an announcement of the first five companies planning to invest in the lease space. This includes Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, Jiangsu Fantai Mining Development (Group) and the Guangzheng Group.
ADP expects the new tenants to invest over Dirham1bn ($272m), into KPFTZ, creating 1,400 jobs in the process.
China is the UAE’s second-largest trading partner and the biggest exporter to the country.
Last year, Cosco Shipping signed an agreement with ADP to use Khalifa Port as its central Middle Eastern hub, a move that is expected to raise annual capacity to as much as 6m teu. In 2016, Khalifa Port handled around 1.6m teu.
Source used: Lloyds loading list
BU Dhabi Ports has put pen to paper on an investment co-operation agreement with China’s Jiangsu Province to allocate space for companies from the region within the Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone.