Industrial estate company ‘did homework’ during India visit last week

AMMAN — Representatives of Jordanian public and private sectors have acquainted Indian businesspeople and investors with available investment opportunities in Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Saturday.

During their participation in the Jordanian-Indian business forum, which was organised by the Jordan Chamber of Commerce in New Delhi last week, the representatives noted that Jordanian companies seek building partnerships with their Indian counterparts.

Director of the Investment Department at the Jordan Industrial Estate Company (JIEC) Kay Marwan outlined the features and incentives that the company provides to investors.

The incentives include infrastructure and services such as industrially developed land plots and ready buildings, Marwan told the Indian investors.

The director also underscored other incentives included in the Investment Law, such as sales tax and customs duty exemptions on industrial inputs and an income tax that does not exceed 5 per cent.

He noted that Jordan has several trade agreements with many countries that allow Jordanian products to enter their markets “without restrictions or fees”.

JIEC, established in 1980, owns six industrial estates and has five ongoing projects of new estates, according to Marwan.

He explained that investors, who want to start projects inside the estates, can rent land plots inside or buy them at lowered prices and eased conditions.

Marwan noted that there are specialised offices across the Kingdom to help investors with licensing their projects.

The number of companies at JIEC’s estates is 860 with $4 billion investment volume, Marwan said, adding that the value of its exports reached $2 billion while providing around 47,000 job opportunities.

For the nationalities of the investments, the director said that 40 per cent are domestic, 17 per cent international, 16 Arab and the rest are joint ventures.

For Indian investments at the company’s estates, Marwan said that there are 11 projects with a volume of $200 million, mainly in the garment sector, which collectively created around 12,000 jobs.