The Hindu Business Line : Sharjah Govt finalises plan to expand SAIF Zone

THE Government of Sharjah, one of the emirates of the UAE, has finalised a strategy to expand business at the Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF-Zone).

Among other things, this has resulted in the recent visit to the city by an official delegation led by the Deputy Director Genreal of SAIF-Zone, Mr Saqer R.H. Al Qassemi, the job of which was to convince local industrialists and businesspersons that they would gain substantially in the international market if they used facilities available at the SAIF-Zone.

Mr Qassemi told newspersons that spiralling crude oil prices had helped the UAE to generate surplus money. And Sharjah, being one of constituent members of the UAE, was also a beneficiary of this process.

One spin-off of this was that the Government of Sharjah decided to invest a huge amount of money to create more facilities in the SAIF-Zone to attract new entrepreneurs.

SAIF-Zone, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has been able to attract about 1,900 companies from 62 different countries.

About half of the operational companies are from India and belong to the trading, manufacturing and service sectors.

Indian companies operating from the zone exported goods and services worth about $5 billion in 2003-04.

The zone has been expanding at the rate of 35 per cent every year.

An additional 2.5 million sq m was acquired to develop it into attractive plots for the use of investors, both existing and potential.

The facilities to be developed for investors will include executive offices and warehouses in four different sizes.

Comfortable on-site labour accommodation and a full spectrum of convenient amenities and facilities will also be provided for the labour force to be employed at the zone.

Earlier, addressing a seminar on `Doing Business with SAIF Zone', Mr Qassemi said that the zone authority would provide investors with 100 per cent foreign ownership and repatriation of capital and profits.

IT services, mass media, trading, light-to-medium manufacturing and a whole array of service industries are in operation, and all these businesses enjoy quick access to the nearby Sharjah International Airport.

The zone also enjoys the maritime cargo facilities at Port Khor Fakkan, Port Khalid, and Hamriyah Port of Sharjah.

Convenient sea/air land connections and a time zone advantage for trans-shipment between the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman are special advantages offered by the zone.

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