Shamali, Iraqi minister announce int’l tender for joint economic estate project

AMMAN — Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, and  Minister of Labour Yousef Shamali and Iraqi Minister of Industry and Minerals, Khaled Battal Al Najm have announced an international tender to attract a developer for the joint economic estate project between Jordan and Iraq.

The estate is scheduled to be established on the Jordanian-Iraqi border over an area of 22,000 dunums, the Ministry of Industry said in a statement. 

The tender invitation includes the preparation of studies, designs and blueprints, the development, financing, implementation, management, investment, promotion and operation of the economic estate and the maintenance of its components and facilities.

The Iraqi-Jordanian Company for Industry, which is owned by the Jordanian and Iraqi governments and is responsible for implementing the project, invited all competent and qualified international companies working in the development of economic estates, industrial cities, development zones and free zones to participate in the scheme.

The ministers underscored the importance of the project to boost economic cooperation and to achieve integration in many areas, particularly in the industrial fields, in a bid to increase development, create jobs, attract investments and stimulate economic sectors in the two countries.

The project is the result of the bilateral summits that brought together His Majesty King Abdullah and the Iraqi Prime Minister, as well as the trilateral summits that had also included Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

Shamali and Battal said that these meetings are part of joint endeavours to increase economic cooperation frameworks, and to boost the capacity of the three nations to address challenges, particularly with regard to food security, supply chains and increasing productive activities.

The two ministers said that the two countries have reached an "advanced" stage to embark on the implementation of this strategic project, which will be a powerful lever for economic cooperation, stimulate the attraction of Arab and foreign investments, and serve as a powerful message for the possibility of economic integration in the Arab framework in many areas.

They also thanked the chairman and members of the board of directors of the Iraqi-Jordanian Company for Industry for its efforts to reach this stage, stressing the importance of maintaining the same pace to complete the subsequent stages.

The Iraqi-Jordanian Company for Industry, owned by the Jordanian and Iraqi governments, is in charge of the implementation of the project. The company selected the consulting company after the "financial and technical" offer received the highest rating among the Jordanian and Iraqi entities that applied to the tender, according to the statement.

The company and the Coalition for Engineering Consultancy in September signed an agreement of advisory services for the project, under which the latter will provide advisory services for all the requirements, procedures, stages and steps of attracting a developer to the economic estate, including the preparation of documents necessary to bid the tender for attracting a developer/developers of the project.

The company was founded in 1980 with a capital of JD20 million, equivalent to $28 million, paid equally between the two countries. The company aims to increase market production, own movable and immovable funds and invest the company's funds in the economic and industrial fields. The company provides technical services, consultancy and economic feasibility studies.

Offers are able to be submitted until August 1, the statement added.