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Officials at the signing ceremony at Hannover.

Al Nakheel plans new UAE paper production unit

ABU DHABI, April 30, 2016

The Higher Corporation for Specialised Economic Zones (ZonesCorp) said it has signed a Dh335 million ($91 million) deal with Al Nakheel Hygienic Paper Manufacturing Company for the construction of a new production facility in Abu Dhabi.

As per the agreement, the Jordanian firm build a 144,000 sq m paper factory for production of hygienic household tissues at Icad 2 (Industrial City Abu Dhabi 2).

A key manufacturer of ‘Fine’ tissues, a well-known brand of hygienic household tissues in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, Al Nakheel has facilities in Egypt (producing 80,000 tonnes and 70,000 tonnes a year respectively) from which it supplies the Mena region.

The facility is targeting an initial production capacity of 60,000 tonnes per year in the first phase with the potential to double its capacity to 120,000 tonnes per year in the second phase in the coming three to four years, stated Khalid Banat, the project manager at Al Nakheel Hygienic Paper Manufacturing Company, after signing the deal with Saeed Issa Al Khaili, the acting chief executive at ZonesCorp at a ceremony at the Hannover Messe Industrial Fair in Germany.

As part of its commitment to promoting its partner companies and sharing its expertise and knowledge, ZonesCorp is taking part in the 'the world’s biggest industrial trade fair in Hannover' with a high-level delegation of 19 important industrial manufacturing companies.

Welcoming Al Nakheel, Saeed Issa Al Khaili, the acting chief executive at ZonesCorp, said: "Its impressive high-tech facility in Icad 2 will be the biggest tissue paper manufacturing plant in the UAE and an important addition to our existing paper manufacturing cluster."

"We are looking forward to working closely with the Al Nakheel to help them fully realise their ambitions," he added.

According to Banat, the new facility will be fitted with the most advanced tissue making technology made by Swedish company Valmet that can produce 2,200 metres of tissue paper per minute.

The project will generate employment for approximately 500 people in Abu Dhabi and will serve the UAE and wider GCC markets.

"Once Phase One gets completed, the facility will be the biggest tissue paper manufacturing plant in the UAE and will represent a 40 per cent increase in production for Al Nakheel globally," he stated.

Banat said the Icad 2 was the most attractive proposition for its new facility. "Of all the potential sites we looked at for this investment, it has the most sophisticated infrastructure, and the offered ‘plug and play’ model will allow us to get up and running in a relatively short time."

"In addition to that, the combination of low energy costs, ready availability of quality labour, the strategic location of Abu Dhabi to serve our target markets and the pro-industry business stance of the Abu Dhabi government makes ZonesCorp and Abu Dhabi the ideal choice," he added.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: abu dhabi | Jordan | zonescorp | Al Nakheel |

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