Chabahar FTIZ on Development Course
February 21, 1999 - 0:0
CHABAHAR, Hormozgan Prov. All is set for further development and flourishing of industrial manufacturing in the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone (FTIZ). The Chabahar FTIZ is located to the east of Chabahar Gulf and the north of Chabahar harbor with a latitude of 25 degrees and 20 minutes and a longitude of 60 degrees and 27 minutes on the extreme southeastern edge of the country and north of the Sea of O Chabahar is some 2280 kilometers from Tehran. The flight from Tehran to the port city takes nearly two hours.
The Chabahar FTIZ covers an area of 14,000 hectares, 10,000 hectares of which has already been allocated for setting up industrial units while the remaining 4,000 hectares has been earmarked for trade, transit of goods, tourism and general services. Planning for expansion of Chabahar FTIZ has been foreseen to be carried out in a 20-year period, 1992-2011. The general development plan of the zone is to be carried out in four operational stages.
In the pre-phase stage, measures were taken to set up temporary residents and sites. In the first stage, 1992-1996, a number of trade and partly industrial units started operation. During the second phase, 1997- 2001, activities concerning trade, construction of industrial manufacturing units and tourist attractions have been partly carried out and will continue to the end of the period. Finally in the third stage, 2001-2011, all the plans and programs concerning changing the region into an industrial-trade zone will be materialized.
However there has been bottlenecks in the way of further development of the Chabahar FTIZ ever since the establishment of the zone, including issues related to insurance, banking problems and security of foreign investment. A bill to reform the laws and regulations concerning the country's FTZs by the government will solve the three major problems in the area of the security of foreign investment and capital, completion and putting into operation of developed banking system The bill which was approved by the Majlis earlier last month, was however rejected by the Experts Assembly. Majlis is to review the Expert Assembly's views on the rejection of the bill in near future and in case of disapproval of the bill, it will be pre According to the President Advisor and secretary of the High Council of Free Trade Zones Morteza Alviri some Rls.10,000 billion worth of domestic investment and some $250 million of foreign investment have been made in the country's free trade zones as w It is expected that by approval of the bill the discussions already held with foreign investors will be finalized.
Last week the economic and commercial counselors from nine member countries of the European Union (EU) visited the installation and infrastructure at Chabahar FTIZ. They expressed hope that the European investors would make investments in the region. A group of journalists visited the Chabahar on Thursday and Friday and talked with Ali-Reza Shirani, Managing Director of Chabahar FTIZ. To encourage further investment in the region he told that investors who start construction of industrial units, among the other intermediate and packing industries, in the zone from now on up to the end of the year 2,000 will enjoy special facilities.
Complete customs exemption, tax exemption for importing machinery and raw material to the zone for fifteen years, a 50-percent discount on buying land for setting up industrial units are among the facilities that Shirani noted. In the ten month to January 20, 99, some $30.2 million worth of raw material was imported to the zone. Shirani said that in the past two year the zone has witnessed a a slumping trend in the capacity of the imports to the zone while the trend of exports has shown an increasing trend.
He expressed hope that by the final approval of the government's bill on the free trade zones the existing problems of the country's free trade zones be solved.
The Chabahar FTIZ covers an area of 14,000 hectares, 10,000 hectares of which has already been allocated for setting up industrial units while the remaining 4,000 hectares has been earmarked for trade, transit of goods, tourism and general services. Planning for expansion of Chabahar FTIZ has been foreseen to be carried out in a 20-year period, 1992-2011. The general development plan of the zone is to be carried out in four operational stages.
In the pre-phase stage, measures were taken to set up temporary residents and sites. In the first stage, 1992-1996, a number of trade and partly industrial units started operation. During the second phase, 1997- 2001, activities concerning trade, construction of industrial manufacturing units and tourist attractions have been partly carried out and will continue to the end of the period. Finally in the third stage, 2001-2011, all the plans and programs concerning changing the region into an industrial-trade zone will be materialized.
However there has been bottlenecks in the way of further development of the Chabahar FTIZ ever since the establishment of the zone, including issues related to insurance, banking problems and security of foreign investment. A bill to reform the laws and regulations concerning the country's FTZs by the government will solve the three major problems in the area of the security of foreign investment and capital, completion and putting into operation of developed banking system The bill which was approved by the Majlis earlier last month, was however rejected by the Experts Assembly. Majlis is to review the Expert Assembly's views on the rejection of the bill in near future and in case of disapproval of the bill, it will be pre According to the President Advisor and secretary of the High Council of Free Trade Zones Morteza Alviri some Rls.10,000 billion worth of domestic investment and some $250 million of foreign investment have been made in the country's free trade zones as w It is expected that by approval of the bill the discussions already held with foreign investors will be finalized.
Last week the economic and commercial counselors from nine member countries of the European Union (EU) visited the installation and infrastructure at Chabahar FTIZ. They expressed hope that the European investors would make investments in the region. A group of journalists visited the Chabahar on Thursday and Friday and talked with Ali-Reza Shirani, Managing Director of Chabahar FTIZ. To encourage further investment in the region he told that investors who start construction of industrial units, among the other intermediate and packing industries, in the zone from now on up to the end of the year 2,000 will enjoy special facilities.
Complete customs exemption, tax exemption for importing machinery and raw material to the zone for fifteen years, a 50-percent discount on buying land for setting up industrial units are among the facilities that Shirani noted. In the ten month to January 20, 99, some $30.2 million worth of raw material was imported to the zone. Shirani said that in the past two year the zone has witnessed a a slumping trend in the capacity of the imports to the zone while the trend of exports has shown an increasing trend.
He expressed hope that by the final approval of the government's bill on the free trade zones the existing problems of the country's free trade zones be solved.