ZonesCorp eyes Abu Dhabi's west, also set to build worker housing

Abu Dhabi: ZonesCorp, which allotted plots in Abu Dhabi's three industrial cities (ICAD - I, II and III), is now looking at the emirate's Western Region for developing new industrial zones, its chief executive officer Jaber Hareb Al Khaili said here on Sunday.

"That's our planning for the future," Al Khaili said at the Abu Dhabi Conference 2008, organised by the Middle East Economic Digest (Meed).

He also said over the next 12 months, ZonesCorp will announce more industrial lands and build new accommodation facilities for workers who are operating in Abu Dhabi's industrial and commercial sectors.

"We have at the moment accommodation facilities for about 40,000 workers. Over the next 12 months, we plan to have accommodation facilities for some 300,000 workers.

"We are working towards that," said Al Khaili. He said the total investment in ICAD-I, II and III has exceeded Dh30 billion at this point in time, but declined to provide any estimated figures for future investments in the three industrial cities.

ZonesCorp is a government corporation established in 2004 to promote investments in the economic sector of the emirate of Abu Dhabi with Dh1 billion, 10-year closed-end fund to be used to invest in infrastructure projects.