Picture credit score: Vyacheslav Argenberg/ Getty Photographs
The UAE and Jordan have signed a $2.3bn funding settlement to construct railways within the kingdom, linking the Port of Aqaba with the mining areas in Al-Shidiya and Ghor Al-Safi.
The rail tasks, in addition to different funding initiatives, are a part of the $5.5bn funding tasks package deal signed by the 2 nations final yr.
“By way of enhancing capabilities and sharing technical experience, we intention to determine new financial and funding connections that help infrastructure improvement and foster promising alternatives, all inside the framework of our imaginative and prescient to realize complete and sustainable financial progress,” mentioned Mohamed Hassan Alsuwaidi, Minister of Funding of the UAE.
Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE Nationwide Railway Community, signed an settlement with Jordan’s Ministry of Transport to construct, develop, and function a 360-km railway community in Jordan as a part of the funding settlement.
The community will join phosphate and potash mines to the Port of Aqaba.
Etihad Rail additionally signed two further MoUs with Jordan Phosphate Mines Firm and Arab Potash Firm to move 16 million tonnes of phosphate and potash yearly from mining websites to the Port of Aqaba by way of the Jordanian railway community.
The venture will embrace the development of loading and unloading terminals for varied mineral merchandise in Aqaba, Ghor Al Safi, and Shidiya. These terminals will facilitate the environment friendly dealing with and transportation of minerals, creating extra seamless and environment friendly logistics and export operations.
The UAE Ministry of Funding mentioned detailed research on railway tracks and the dealing with necessities for potash and phosphate shall be accomplished by the top of 2025, with the issuance of building work bids scheduled for early 2026.
Dr Bisher Al-Khasawneh, the Prime Minister of Jordan, mentioned the railway community would considerably improve the nation’s logistical and export capabilities, beginning with a capability of 16 million tonnes of phosphate and potash merchandise.
UAE investments in Jordan
The newest funding builds upon a number of present UAE investments in Jordan, a few of that are set to come back to fruition quickly within the Aqaba Particular Financial Zone.
It follows a $2bn settlement signed by the UAE and Jordan in 2023, establishing a framework for funding cooperation in key areas akin to infrastructure and improvement.
The UAE is a serious international investor in Jordan, having invested roughly $22.5bn in varied sectors of the nation’s financial system over the previous decade.
Final November, the Jordan Funding Fund signed a pact with Abu Dhabi’s holding firm ADQ to determine an funding fund in Jordan to deal with infrastructure and improvement schemes.
ADQ additionally launched a $100m technology-focused enterprise capital fund in collaboration with the Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economic system and Entrepreneurship in June 2022. The fund aimed to spend money on high-growth corporations with confirmed enterprise fashions.
Learn: UAE, Jordan ink MoUs to broaden funding cooperation in key sectors
