Manufacturing booms at Jordan industrial estates

AMMAN — Jordan Industrial Estates Corporation (JIEC) attracted more than 700 industrial companies in 2014, 12.5 per cent higher than the 617 firms in the same period of 2013, its chief executive said Monday.

Ali Madadha indicated that the investment volume reached JD2,450 million this year, a 6.4 per cent increase over last year's JD2,293 million in JIEC's  five industrial estates. 

According to Madadha, exports of the industrial estates went up by 2.8 per cent in 2014 reaching JD1,090 million compared with JD1,060 million in 2013.

The exports constituted 25 per cent of the Kingdom’s manufactured goods  and 22 per cent of total national exports, Madadha said in a JIEC statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times. 

He added that these investments have provided 48,000 job opportunities this year, 17 per cent higher than last year's 39,000 job openings, noting that workers in industrial estates constituted 28 per cent of the total number of workers in the Kingdom's manufacturing sector.

The chief executive expects the industrial sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product to increase from 26.1 by the end of 2014 to 32 per cent by the end of 2025 in accordance with the 10-year economic plan, that was recently endorsed by the government, and the new investment law.

He revealed that JIEC is planning to establish new industrial estates in several governorates under the 10-year economic plan, in light of high occupancy rates reached in operational industrial estates.

In this context, Madadha indicated that the occupancy rate at the Abdullah II Bin Alhussein Industrial Estate in Sahab, established in 1985, reached 100 per cent with 448 industrial companies.

Occupancy rate at Al Hassan Industrial Estate, which has 138 industrial firms, reached 99 per cent, while in Al Muwaqqar Industrial Estate, the occupancy rate stands at 70 per cent having 49 industrial companies in its first phase, Madadha said. 

Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II Industrial Estate has an occupancy rate of 50 per cent with 22 industrial companies, while the first phase of the Aqaba Industrial Estate, that includes 38 industrial firms, registered a 90 per cent occupancy rate and the second phase reached 40 per cent.