Business | Shipping
Jafza to invest $250m in new industrial zone
Dubai World company to finance Subic Bay Freeport project over three to five years.
- By Shakir HusainStaff Reporter
- Published: 22:35 January 27, 2008
Dubai: Jafza International, a Dubai World company, will invest $250 million over the next three to five years in an industrial zone in the Subic Bay area of the Philippines.
It signed an agreement with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), the agency tasked with developing the area into a commerce and leisure hub, for the Subic Bay Freeport project.
Subic Bay was once home to a large US military base, but the Americans left in 1991 at the request of the Philippines government.
The Philippines chose not to renew the treaty that allowed US forces to remain.
Salma Hareb, CEO of Jafza International, said the Subic Bay Freeport deal fits with the company's aim of "expanding operations to vital business destinations around the world."
In July 2007, a delegation headed by Dubai World chairman Sultan Ahmad Bin Sulayem was in the Philippines to discuss potential investments.
The conglomerate is also keen on projects in the shipping hub of Cebu. DP World already has container terminal operations in Manila.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo toured the Jebel Ali Free Zone and port and met Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah, vice-chairman of DP World and group CEO of Port and Free Zone World, and DP World Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Sharaf.
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