Work to begin on HWTC
Qatar will begin work on its first hazardous waste treatment centre (HWTC) in Mesaieed soon.
The centre, expected to cost QR100 million ($27.4 million), will take in all hazardous waste produced in Ras Laffan, Dukhan, Mesaieed and the Industrial Area.
Mesaieed Industrial City manager Mohamed Jassim Al Baker said the centre would use four treatment processes depending on the nature of the waste. They are neutralisation, solidification and stabilisation, landfilling and land treatment. Qatar Petroleum manages Mesaieed Industrial City.
Sharjah to promote China ties
Sharjah will proactively promote joint ventures with China, officials from the Sharjah Economic Development Department said.
Addressing a visiting Chinese delegation, Shaikh Tariq bin Faisal Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Economic Development Department, said: "New investment and joint venture opportunities exist in several fields, particularly electronics." The Chinese delegation noted that the UAE and Sharjah formed China's trade window to the potential-rich Middle East.
Al Shirawi to expand
Al Shirawi Enterprises has prepared ambitious plans to spread its wings into new industrial ventures. The group, which has already made a mark as Scania's distributor, plans to invest about Dh100 million ($27.22 million) in the new ventures in the near future.
Al Shirawi recently won a Dh55 million order from Dubai Municipality to supply 119 Scania buses, which have already been delivered. Mohan Valrani, vice-chairman, said the Al Shirawi Group was seriously weighing options to enter the car market.
"We have kept our eyes open ... If we get hold of a new brand from a reputed company in Europe or the US, we are ready to go for it," he said.
Dubai studying report
The Dubai government is studying a feasibility report for a proposed hydrogen production plant in the emirate.
The study - prepared by the BMW Group and the Technical University of Munich - was commissioned last year. The Zayed International Prize for the Environment was also involved in the report.
Deal signed for new catalyst
The Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and Boubyan Petrochemicals Company have signed a deal to develop a new catalyst for the company. KISR Petroleum Research and Studies Centre's Hasan Qabazard said the one-year KD25,000 ($81,539) agreement was of great importance as the results were expected to greatly shape the future of petrochemical industries in Kuwait, the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported.
The deal, he added, was an indication of the increasing interest in devoting research to finding new products or upgrading the quality of existing products to add new sources of national income.
Project director Fatma Hussein Jasim said the study was extremely important as it would accurately assess the new catalyst's economic and production efficiency.
KISR has conducted a number of important studies and projects including an assessment of water quality in wells near the Sabriyya and Rawdhtein oil fields.
Ras Laffan project launched
Qatar has launched the construction of the $718.4 million Ras Laffan power and water project, the Gulf state's first private water and power project.
Plant capacity will reach 750 megawatts and 40 million gallons per day of desalinated seawater in its first phase. It will be commissioned in April 2003 and become fully operational in May 2004. In the second phase the capacity will rise to 1,500 megawatts and 80 million gallons per day.
The US firm AES Corporation owns 55 per cent of the plant's shares, Qatar Electricity and Water Company holds 25 per cent and the rest is equally owned by Qatar Petroleum, which will provide the plant with natural gas, and Kuwait-based Gulf Investment Corporation.
The plant will sell its output to Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation under a 25-year power and water purchase deal.
New factories opening in Fujairah
Five new factories are expected to open this year at the Fujairah Free Zone Authority. The zone recorded a 17 per cent rise in turnover for 2001.
The zone's plan for the current year will focus on establishing small projects that do not need large areas, are less costly and can be easily promoted.
"We are considering the applications of five new companies that want to set up factories to produce electronic chips and circuits for computers, televisions, phones and cassette recorders," said Sharief Habib Al Awadhi, director general of the Authority.
In 2001, the turnover of the zone touched Dh1.2 billion ($326.75 million), an increase of 17 per cent over 2000 results.
Maaden in investment talks
State-owned Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) is in talks with a local private firm over a $2-billion investment in phosphate-rich mines to the north of the country.
The talks aim at setting up a joint company to extract more than 100 million tonnes of phosphate deposits in the Jalameed area, near the border with Jordan. Maaden chairman Abdullah Al Dabbagh said the talks were also aimed at establishing a petrochemical plant in the Jubail industrial city, he added.
Geological studies have indicated the presence of huge deposits of phosphates in the Jalameed area, which can be exploited for up to 100 years, he said.
State-owned Maaden was set up in 1997 with a capital of some $1.1 billion to mine precious and non-precious metals. The company annually produces 120,000 ounces of gold, 300,000 ounces of silver, 900 tonnes of copper and 3,000 tonnes of zinc.
Group reveals project plans
The Al Ghurair Group plans to invest more than Dh360 million ($98 million) on its flour projects.
The projects will make the group one of the largest producers of flour in the Gulf, according to the general manager of National Flour Mills, a unit of the Al Ghurair group. Essa Al Ghurair said the investment included the financing of new 1,300 tonnes flour mills and 80,000 tonnes silos currently being set up in Sudan.
The group is setting up a new project in Sri Lanka at a cost of $30 million jointly with the ETA group.
This project will have a 1,000-tonne flour mill and silos with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes.
The arrangements for the working capital facility of $50 million have already been finalised with Sri Lankan banks, Essa Al Ghurair said.
