Ajman Free Zone makes formal pitch for new land
Proposed expansion will be handy as it seeks to attract global businesses
Ajman Free
Zone has sought more land for expansion as its “current utilisation of
available land has gone well past the 80 per cent mark.”
The Ajman Free Zone has put in a formal request with the emirate’s
government to have additional land allocated to it, which would come in
handy as it tries to attract light manufacturing units and for global
businesses to use it as a re-export hub.
“We have finished our internal study on land requirements and this is what
has been submitted to the higher authorities,” said Mahmood Al Hashemi,
general manager of the free zone. “I cannot go into the detail of how much
land we have asked for; but our current utilisation of available land has
gone well past the 80 per cent mark.”
However, as and when the new land is allocated it will not be contiguous to
the existing free zone base. “There is little free land available in the
Ajman Port area which is where the free zone is,” said Al Hashemi. “Instead,
the land we have requested for expansion is a few minutes from the current
base.”?
UAE rail network expansion
Interestingly, for the new area, the free zone authority has already
factored in future UAE rail network expansion that would extend into Ajman.
“If we get all the land that we have requested, it will be in close
proximity to the network; even if not all of it is allocated for the free
expansion, the plot is still near enough,” said Al Hashemi. “This is what
tenants, especially those in logistics, would want.
“Of the undeveloped land still with us, our intention is to create warehouse
assets rather than lease it to tenants to develop, which takes a longer time
to generate income for us.”
The UAE’s many free zones have been on a sharp growth incline; Dubai and Abu
Dhabi have seen massive investments in infrastructure investments as well as
tenant interest. The ones in the northern emirates have been playing it
smart by pushing their credentials with small and mid-sized businesses
looking for a base in the UAE.
“Despite the demand we will not be raising the lease rates in 2014; Ajman
Free Zone is still in the process of attracting new businesses to set up
here and our rates will be competitive,” the general manager added. “After
that we may consider a revision to rates.”
The free zone this week opened a representative office in Dubai and its
second after Mumbai, which was set up in July. There are two more non-UAE
bases planned, though the locations are to be confirmed.
“We are going to present our case with some of the biggest business houses —
a meeting with India’s Tata Group chairman (Cyrus Mistry) has just been
confirmed for early February in Mumbai as part of a special trip, when we
will also be meeting other leading businesses,” the official said. “We have
in the past focused heavily on being a base for small businesses through our
‘smart office’ feature; that focus is changing slightly to rope in global
businesses who can use the free zone as a key logistics hub.
“Light manufacturing is another area we could do more from its current
contribution of 20 per cent (offices make up 50 per cent and
warehousing/logistics the rest). Sticking to light makes sense from our
power utilisation capacity as well.”
18 Dec 2013
|