Major tyre plant under construction in Abu Dhabi
Construction work started on a major tyre plant in Abu Dhabi in the week commencing 21 January 2019. The Roadbot Tyre Project Kizad is a collaboration between the United Arab Emirates and China and will be the first manufacturing plant to be set up in the UAE.
Roadbot is based in China and is a popular tyre manufacturer. The company is investing around $614.4mn (Dh2.2 billion) into the new factory. The new factory is being built in the China-UAE industrial zone in Kizad. It will comply with all international requirements and will be equipped with the latest technologies. It is planned that the factory will start operating by October 2020.
The Demonstration Zone is a 2.2 sq km development by JOCIC (the Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company) and Roadbot will be the first Chinese company to set up on the site since the 50-year agreement was signed between JOCIC and Abu Dhabi Ports back in 2017.
About the tyre factory
This new factory will be built with a total area of 275,000 sqm and offers production capacity for up to three million car tyres and one million bus and truck tyres initially. The car tyres will be passenger car radial (PCR) types and it is anticipated that production levels will increase to up to 10mn PCR type tyres by 2022.
This will give Abu Dhabi strategic influence within the supply of replacement tyres to a range of markets.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Dr Sultan Al Jaber, who is the UAE Minister of State and also the chairman of Abu Dhabi Ports, along with the chairwoman of Roadbot, Zhang Yingzi.
Dr Al Jaber commented: “The Roadbot tyre factory will make an important contribution to the UAE’s manufacturing base as part of our leadership’s longstanding strategy to diversify our economy. Today’s groundbreaking also demonstrates the increasingly close ties between the UAE and China, and reinforces the UAE’s role as a key partner in China’s Belt and Road initiative.”
He added that the construction also marked a major step in Abu Dhabi’s move to become a hub for international trading and connectivity.
Zhang Yingzi noted that the new factory will help connect Abu Dhabi to global and local demand within automotive manufacturing and that Roadboat has joined 17 different “Chinese companies that have signed agreements to invest over $1 billion in the Demonstration Zone established within Kizad. These companies have identified the value proposition that helped put Abu Dhabi Ports and Kizad on the global trade map, especially in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative”.
There are a number of automotive projects based at Kizad, which acts as a mega hub in the region for CBU (Completely Built Up) logistics for the Ghassan Aboud and Al Futtaim cars. Other global brands operating out of the hub include Toyota, Dodge, Jeep, Fiat and Honda.
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