UAE BARQ برق الإمارات – نبضك
ZonesCorp announced on Saturday a new agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Berain Water to build a 36,000-square-metre water bottling plant in the food industry zone of Al Ain Industrial City.
The food manufacturing sector in Abu Dhabi has witnessed remarkable growth over the past few years as a result of the booming domestic market and growing exports. Boasting strong logistics networks and a strategic location, the emirate has built state-of-the-art capabilities in producing competitive and value-added products, emerging as one of the most important food manufacturing and processing hubs in the region.
Commenting on the announcement, Saeed Eisa Mohammed Al Khyeli, Director-General of ZonesCorp, said, “The UAE and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong historic relations, and our latest partnership with the Saudi company Berain Water testifies to the strength of those ties. We are pleased and proud that Berain Water has chosen ZonesCorp as its partner, and look forward to a long and successful relationship.”
“At ZonesCorp, we have succeeded in diversifying our portfolio within the economic zones to include the food industry. Our partnership with Berain Water demonstrates the level of support we can provide companies from Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region in expanding their businesses into the UAE market. Over the last 14 years, ZonesCorp has been instrumental in enabling the region’s businesses to expand quickly and efficiently. Moreover, due to the concerted efforts of our staff, these companies have also integrated and well and contributed significantly to the Abu Dhabi community,” he added.
Mahdi Nasser Al-Qahtani, CEO of Berain Water, said, “We are happy to announce the investment of AED138,000,000 in a water bottling facility in Al Ain Industrial City with the complete support of the Abu Dhabi government and ZonesCorp. Set to commence operations in Q1 2020, the plant will produce around 70,000 200-600 ml bottles or 27,000 1.5-litre bottles per hour. The facility will also create 424 employment opportunities in manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales. This may increase to 807 jobs within two years with the addition of new production lines in 2021 as we start exporting to the rest of the GCC region.”
Al-Qahtani added that the facility will be able to handle the production of bottled water and other beverages in various types of packaging, such as glass and plastic bottles, in addition to manufacturing bottles and plastic caps.
ZonesCorp has developed dedicated zones for the food industry that span sizeable areas in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. The two cities currently host several operational facilities, ranging from medium to large factories, that produce bottled drinking water, soft drinks, dates, animal feed, poultry products, dairy products and other food items.
