'We see IMPZ as a hub for the printing business in Mideast'

Dubai: International Media Production Zone (IMPZ) is one of several trade-specific clusters set up by the Dubai Government. It has attracted about 200 companies in the printing, publishing, packaging and graphic media industries.

The zone is being developed on an area of 43 million square feet. Situated on Emirates Road close to Jebel Ali, IMPZ is part of the Dubai Holding unit Tecom Investments. It will have industrial, commercial, residential and retail facilities. Companies in the zone can have 100 per cent ownership and are exempted from almost all corporate and personal taxes, including those for machinery, equipment and raw materials used by the industry.

Some 80,000 people will be working and living in the cluster when it is fully ready, executive director Hamad Al Huraiz, who is overseeing the development, told Gulf News.

Al Huraiz, 48, holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona in the US. He is married and has five children. He has previous worked as director of facility management at Tecom, director of human resources and procurement at Dubai Internet City, and the post of human resource manager at Dubai Ports Authority.

Gulf News: What is the purpose of creating an exclusive printing industry zone?

Hamad Al Huraiz: IMPZ is being developed to cater to the printing, publishing and packaging businesses because there is a demand for space from companies in these sectors. Dubai is expanding, and existing printing presses are in areas that are commercially developed, so land there is expensive, and that can be put to non-industrial use. More industrial activities are moving towards Jebel Ali, so we came up with this zone to cater to the printing industry.

It also provides all the facilities for ancillary businesses such as machinery, paper, ink and packing. We have seven million square feet of space for the printing segment alone, and three million for publishing companies. The total land area for IMPZ is 43 million square feet and built-up area is 52 million square feet.

Are there any legal rules about what can be printed and published from IMPZ?

It is a free zone, not a free zoo. It is a free zone in the sense that you can print, you can import and you can export, but all within the bounds of rules and regulations. If you talk about publishers, for example, we have 153 companies that are producing 400 magazines. We have to approve them with the National Media Council, and then the publisher has to follow the terms of the contract.

Printers have to follow the rules. For example, they cannot print pornographic material. If you come to Dubai to play tricks trying to avoid following the rules, then you cannot survive. We have a trust between ourselves and our clients, and this should not be broken.

In the case of magazines, we receive a copy of each so we know what is being published. For the printers, they should not print anything that can cause troubles of any type.

What are these companies going to print?

They can print books, magazine, yellow pages. There is a lot of demand coming from outside the UAE. Companies that are in digital printing, advertising, event management can also operate from IMPZ. There will be no broadcasting media, because that should be in Dubai Studio City.

Can this zone be described as an extension of Dubai Media City?

No, it is not an extension of Media City. We are going to see the new segment of printing business inside IMPZ. It gives opportunities for printing companies to expand their business.

Printing is a major industry in Dubai now, and it is growing by 15-20 per cent every year. We had meetings with leading players in this industry. We started work three years ago and all the basic infrastructure has been completed now.

We have spent Dh1.6 billion on infrastructure projects and constructing some buildings. We have four office buildings, then there is another building for publishing, and there are pre-built production units containing warehouses with offices and showrooms. These pre-built units are suitable for small printing companies. We expect investors in the printing and packaging industries to spend around Dh1 billion on their plants.

What other facilities do you have planned inside the zone?

It is going to provide a complete working and living environment. We have 36 residential towers under construction; three of them will be delivered soon. We have entertainment facilities like an amphitheatre that can seat 7,000 people. There are going to be six hotels and a huge shopping mall. We are creating an environment so that people inside will not have to go outside for anything.

We are investing Dh600 million in the Oasis residential area. It is now in the design stage. The design work will be finished in four to five months. It will house 9,000 employees of printing companies. This housing complex will be for skilled and unskilled labour. The Amwaj residential apartments will cater to families of employees and the Terrace residence will be white-collar residential apartment blocks. The lake will be ready after four months and form part of the landscaping plan.

How does this zone contribute to Dubai's growing role as a hub for all kinds of businesses?

We see this as a hub for the printing business in the region. It will serve as a production hub for the entire Middle East, Africa, and parts of Europe and Asia. We are doing fine so far. In the printing and packaging segments, we have attracted 43 media production companies and they are busy developing their sites.

What new spending plans do you have?

We mainly lease the land and we provide the infrastructure. Then we leave it to developers to build their facilities. We invite investors according to the requirements of the master plan. We built the infrastructure all at once. We spent Dh80 million to build a sub-station, which Dubai Electricity and Water Authority delivered in August 2007.

We have 36 residential towers and around 20 office towers. We will have a total of seven million square feet of office space. This office space will be equal to Internet City, Media City and Knowledge Village put together. IMPZ will have 80,000 people living and working in it.

The residential area will be developed by investors in phases. Damac and ETA are building their towers now. We are constructing four buildings ourselves in the Makateb office tower cluster and four more will be built later. All industrial facilities will be ready in less than two years.

How are you financing this project?

This is an investment from the Dubai government. We have worked out a financial model about the investment and returns on it. This project continues the success Dubai has achieved with Internet City and Media City.