Jordan Times
Friday, February 17, 2006
ASEZA
plans to attract $6b in investments by 2010
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AQABA — With five years under its belt and $2
billion tallied in investments the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA)
is pulling out all the stops to bring that figure to $6 billion by 2010, the
target originally set for 2020.
At Thursday's celebrations attended by His Majesty King Abdullah to mark the
fifth anniversary of declaring Aqaba a duty free zone, ASEZA Chief Commissioner
Nader Dahabi said the achievements of the first five years of a 20-year plan
“exceeded all expectations” and proved the sceptics wrong.
On the drawing board is an intensified marketing campaign by both ASEZA and its
partners, which includes road shows to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait. Last
summer, several Kuwaiti investors visited Aqaba to explore project opportunities
in the zone.
Dahabi said another lucrative potential exists in relocating the seaside city's
port to the southern tip of the zone. He said this move would free up prime real
estate for $800 million in new projects by 2010.
He said 2005 also brought a 90 per cent rise in the number of cruise ships
docking at Aqaba, with an average of 1,000 tourists onboard. In addition, he
said the number of tourists to the coastal city grew by 21 per cent last year
and was double the number recorded in 2001.
The number of air passengers in 2005 rose 13 per cent over 2004 figures, and air
cargo soared 187 per cent.
Speakers at Thursday's event included Saraya Aqaba's Vice Chairman Ali
Kolaghassi, who renewed his company's support for Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZ),
and Saraya General Manager Khalid Wazani, a key architect of the Aqaba
enterprise when he was head of the Royal Court's Economic Department. Wazani
also served as director general of the Social Security Corporation, which is a
partner in many large-scale projects in Aqaba.
He expected that the area and Jordan in general will start reaping the fruits of
ASEZ's success following a period of “investment injection” between 2006 and
2009.
On Friday, investors, senior ASEZA officials and key community leaders will
gather to examine future plans and address related issues such as the business
environment and real estate development.