ABU DHABI: At BIG5 today, Abu Dhabi Airports announced new development plans for their free zone arm – ADAFZ. The development programme involves the planned construction of multiple Light Industrial Units (LIUs), currently in the master planning phase.

The Airport and Free zone operator also revealed that these LIUs will be built on an area of 200,000 square feet in its Southside Logistics area, adjacent to the Cargo terminal.

Currently in very high demand, the development of LIU’s will satisfy the increasing need from the small to medium size business community as they offer a low-cost entry and are scalable to align with the growth of the customer/tenant. The units are ideally suited towards light manufacturing & assembly, freight forwarding & logistics, technology, consumer, retail and airport support services.

Speaking about the new development plans, Maureen Bannerman, Chief Commercial Officer, Abu Dhabi Airports, said, “This is an exciting time for ADAFZ as it develops its retail, real-estate and logistics offering. ADAFZ currently manage more than 100 industrial units and in excess of 1,000 real estate units across three Free Zones and Airports. The addition of these facilities will ensure that ADAFZ continues to offer a diverse and customer centric range of infrastructure solutions that are supported by its in-house business teams”.

Subject to approval of its master plan, ADAFZ intends to award construction of the LIUs in 2024 with a 12-18 month build time.