Dubai Food Park (DFP), the region’s largest specialised zone dedicated to serving the rapidly growing food sector, has signed a deal with China’s Ningxia Forward Fund Management Company to build a world-class China-UAE Food Industrial cluster in Dubai at an investment of Dh1.35 billion ($367 million).
The DFP is being developed on a 48-million-sq-ft area near the Expo 2020 site at an estimated cost of Dh5.5 billion ($1.5 billion). The first-of-its-kind project is aimed at boosting the emirate’s status as a regional hub for food sector.
The strategic agreement will consolidate China’s stake in the burgeoning Middle East food industry and expand bilateral relations further.
Spread over an area of 4.38 million square feet, the China-UAE Food Industrial cluster will be home to 30 food plants, including two Chinese catering companies and two advanced manufacturing plants for food packaging materials.
The project will have six major components: meals processing, packaged food processing, cold chain storage, production of food packages, e-commerce and commodities exhibition, and bio-safety disposal of waste water and wastes.
Food processing will be the plant’s main operation. At least 75 per cent of the total project area will be allocated for factories, 17 per cent for warehouses and 8 per cent will be divided between offices and other facilities.
