There was good scope for locating trade and industrial activities of small and medium enterprises in Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ) in Sharjah, entrepreneurs were told at a meeting organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Wednesday.
Ahmed Al Qassimi, Senior Commercial Officer, Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, said that they were targeting the homes of small and medium enterprises like Madurai, Coimbatore and Puducherry in India. This was an initiative not thought of by other free zones in the United Arab Emirates.
Explaining the facilities available in HFZ, Muhamed Basheer, Assistant Head of Sales, said that the free zone was tailor-made for big, small and medium enterprises. Its features were total ownership of business, repatriation of capital and profit and no tax or duty would be levied for the products brought in or sent out of the free zone. It was possible to market products of HFZ in Sharjah. Entrepreneurs could make use of the ports available in the UAE.
Established in 1995, the HFZ was now located over an area of 24 million square metres. The area assigned in the second phase, nine million square metres, was divided into seven zones – oil and gas, steel, petrochemical, construction, maritime, timber and perfume – for the convenience of SMEs. Mr. Basheer said that three types of licences were issued for entrepreneurs at the HFZ – industrial, services and commercial and general trading. Support was also provided in the form of warehouse, office, accommodation and restaurant. Land, he said, was given on lease for a period of five to 25 years, renewable for a similar period.
Rent holiday
Rent holiday was available to encourage SMEs, he added. The objective, Mr. Basheer said, was to make HFZ an environmentally sustainable business destination in UAE.
The vice-chairman of CII, Madurai Zone, Shyam Prakash Gupta, said that the southern districts with their core strength in textiles and engineering goods could make use of the world class facilities available in HFZ. S. Rajamohan, convenor, environment panel, CII, proposed a vote of thanks.
