'Jafza is not for sale'

There is no plan to sell any share or asset of the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), said Hisham Al Shirawi, Chairman of Economic Zones World (EZW) that operates business parks of Dubai World.

He told Sharjah-based Arabic language daily Al Khaleej that there were no plans to go for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) at this stage.

In an interview at the sidelines of the silver jubilee of Jafza , Al Shirawi said business at the free zone's companies grew 15 per cent in the current year when compared to 2009.

He said the board would identify new components to be added to the free zones and additions of new businesses would be in line with the directives of the Supreme Committee that supervises Dubai World’s restructuring. The group has already implemented several projects in India, Malaysia, China, Djibouti, Belgium, Vritain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and France.

The EZW had recently announced the construction of a multi-purpose training facility at its US base – a 1,324 acre logistics and distribution hub at the Jafza Magna Park located in Santee, South Carolina.

The 20,000 square feet training centre complex will consist of shared office facilities, training labs and general warehouse space known as Leased Industrial Units.

Shirawi said that coordination with other free zones aims to determine the tasks and responsibilities so as not to cut into each other’s business.

The overlapping of activities that gave rise to unhealthy competition between 2003 and 2008 among free zones will be totally avoided under future plans, he said.

Stressing on complete openness between free zones in the region, he said legal frameworks are currently being developed in consultation with each other.

He did not rule out mergers between free zones, with 38 of them in Dubai alone.

On the impact of the global economic crisis being felt in the country, Al Shirawi said Dubai has the ability to absorb such shocks and is capable of bouncing within a reasonable period of time.

He said several programmes have been developed to protect companies from bankruptcy.

He said companies that suffered most were those that ventured into alien territories as they were lured by the business possibilities without checking on their expertise.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.