UAE-based companies Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum have joined hands to develop an extensive ’Gas City’ at Kurdistan area of northern Iraq.

The project is poised to draw direct foreign investments worth more than $40 billion.

The duo has set up a new company ’Gas Cities’ mainly to develop the 461 million sq ft industrial complex which will feature industrial, commercial and residential zones, as well as 20 different petrochemical and heavy industries.

The project is being designed to promote private sector investment in a variety of gas-related industries to further benefit the country’s citizens through mass training, creation of tens of thousands of jobs, and the promotion of general economic activity, said a Gas Cities offical.

The Kurdistan Gas City will include industrial, residential and commercial components in an integrated city, with an expected initial investment in basic infrastructure estimated at $3 billion, preparing the land for possession by prospective residents.

The Gas City is being structured to hold over 20 varieties of world scale petrochemical and heavy manufacturing plants, and hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), served by state-of-the art civic facilities.