Dubai: JRD International, a Dubai-based diversified conglomerate, on Monday announced a Dh1.5 billion ($400 million) investment in seven manufacturing plants of composite polypropylene boards involving 70 production lines in seven countries within the next four years.
The company has already begun getting patents for its products, most of whom will have a ‘Made in the UAE’ label that will raise UAE’s industrial output and exports.
“Our expansion plan is part of our vision to offer the best innovation of our times in the building construction industry and interior decoration sector,” Anupam Lunavat, Managing Director of JRD International, said during the inauguration of JRD International’s stand at the Big 5 Construction Show, where it is showcasing these products.
With the expansion plan, the Jebel Ali Free Zone-based company aims to reach global production of half a million metric tonnes per annum by 2016.
“These game-changing products are the results of our five-year efforts to bring the best innovation to the region. As we commercially launch these products, we also want to spread them globally through this patented technology,” said Lunavat.
The move comes a few weeks after the Jebel Ali-based company commissioned a Dh300 million ($80 million) RMD Board division manufacturing composite polypropylene boards that are changing, among other things, construction systems and the way people dress-up interiors – both office and residences.
The company’s existing production facility, built at a 40,000 sq. metre plot of land within the Jebel Ali Free Zone, has created 700 job opportunities and is going to support thousands of indirect employment through the strengthening of its supply chain. This plant will service the GCC region as well as Africa and CIS.
Jebel Ali Free Zone, home to one of the largest industrial belts in the region, is currently focusing on attracting investment into industrial and manufacturing units after years of focusing on logistics and shipping.
Ebrahim Al Janahi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), told Gulf News: “Construction industry is back to growth mode and we are seeing a lot of interest among investors to invest in construction related industries and manufacturing, such as JRD International. The trend is definitely going up.”
The RMD Boards are ideal for the GCC region’s Dh30 billion shuttering services market which is expected to grow to Dh34.30 billion in 2015, according to GRMC Advisory Services, a global research organisation.
By next year, the plant will reach 110,000 metric tonnes per annum processing capacity of composite polypropylene board. That will make it the largest single-site manufacturing plant of rigid extrusion of composite polypropylene board in the world.
RMD Board’s wall panels and false ceilings — which currently come in 600 different designs and textures — will soon be available in over a thousand designs. They will eliminate a lot of complicated decorative boards and conventional materials that are being used presently.
According to the GRMC Advisory Services, the GCC wall-paneling market is poised to reach $5.28 billion in 2015. RMD wall panels could eliminate the entire range of foreign imported goods in the next few years, if local interiors fit-out companies utilise the locally manufactured RMD wall panels and false ceilings.
