Construction has begun in Abu Dhabi of a manufacturing facility of a Kuwait packaging firm.
The plant of Gulf Printing and Packaging Company, subsidiary of Al Khat Packaging Company, is coming up at the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad) and is the Kuwait company’s first plant outside Kuwait.
The Kizad plant, which has an investment of Dh80 million ($21.78 million), will further expand Al Khat’s manufacturing capacity to meet the requirements of various supply contracts in the region.
Al Khat currently supplies its clients from its Kuwait facilities and is the only approved provider of packaging materials for McDonalds and other leading brands in the Middle East.
The start of construction at Kizad was announced by Abu Dhabi Ports, the master developer, operator and manager of ports and Kizad.
Located in Kizad’s “mixed use” cluster, the facility will produce folding paper packaging and printing products, especially for the UAE, Saudi Arabian and South African markets. Senior executives of Abu Dhabi Ports and Al Khat Packaging Co attended the ground-breaking ceremony.
Commenting, Capt Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi, CEO of Abu Dhabi Ports, said: “As well as catering for Al Khat’s existing high-profile clients in the region and beyond, its first overseas production plant in Kizad can, in the future, also support the increasing number of food businesses within the zone, looking for quality printing and packaging materials.
“We are happy that the new facility, once built, will enhance the ‘economies of proximity’ offered by Kizad’s integrated clustering approach, facilitating convenient and cost-effective business operations,” he added.
Mohamed AbouKhalid, general manager of Al Khat Packaging Co, said: “Today marks the first step towards the realisation of our business growth strategy. The construction of our Gulf Printing and Packaging facility will significantly support our expansion plans in catering to our existing prestigious clients and acquiring new ones, while maintaining our high quality and food safety standards. With excellent multi-model connectivity and Khalifa Port at our doorstep, Kizad is the natural choice to facilitate this realisation.”
The core objective of Abu Dhabi Ports, established in 2006, is to facilitate the diversification of the economy by stimulating trade and development. This is done by delivering high quality maritime services, supporting partners’ infrastructure projects and setting up new companies and joint ventures in the ports and logistics sectors.
