The UAE's Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ), located in the Sharjah emirate, recently opened the Gulf region's largest pulses storage facility developed by foodstuff company Arab India Spices.

Located in the HFZ Food Park Phase 2, the 150 million dirhams facility ($41 million) consists of 12 pulses silos spread over an area of 11 million square feet.

The storage warehouses of Arab India Spices (AIS) would have a capacity of 52,000 metric tonnes of pulses, the company's managing director Harish Tahiliani said.

He noted that eight of the 12 silos would have a capacity of 5,000 tonnes each and the other four are of 3,000-tonne capacity each. The new facility can store, process and cater to the pulses needs of the entire population of the UAE for at least six months, he said.

The facility is a fully automated loading and unloading system for storage and delivery in wholesale of pulses and lentils.

AIS is also setting up a factory adjacent to the silos for splitting and processing lentils, meant for export. The new factory in Sharjah will free up the Ajman facility, which is going for capacity expansion of lentils and pulses processing from the current 700 tonnes per day to 1,000 tonnes in phases.

Mysilo of Turkey erected the silos.

The new storage facility was opened by Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Qassimi, Chairman of Sharjah Sea Ports and Customs, in the presence of Ilker Killic, Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Dubai, Jean Philippe Linteau, Consul General of Canada in Dubai, and Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, Director, HFZ.

Rent holidays for projects

Al Mazrouei told Zawya Projects that HFZ is offering rent holidays during the construction phase for new units as well as existing units undertaking expansion to attract more investors to the industrial free zone.

He said the rent holiday during the construction of projects is an added advantage for units (industrial and warehousing) apart from the usual incentives on offer.

"We offer very attractive rates, flexible payment schedule, the best incentives, and the best possible discounts to our customers, and probably the best prices in the market," he said on the sidelines of the inauguration event for the pulses storage facility.

"We developed the food park to promote and develop value-added services for the sector as well as to contribute to the food security of the UAE. We can support all food companies who need good incentives for the long term. The free Zone has space to accommodate more food clients as well as industrial units from other sectors," said Al Mazrouei.

Currently, the food park houses more than 100 food factories developing, exporting and selling in the domestic market various food products, and offers services for certification and training in food safety and quality, according to an HFZ fact sheet.

Free zones in the UAE are already offering various incentives to retain existing clients and to attract new ones. Recently, DP World, the owner of the Jebel Ali Free Zone in Dubai, slashed fees for new license registrations and administration fees for businesses operating in the free zone by 50-70 percent.

(Reporting by Bhaskar Raj; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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