1 Khaled Salmeen Al Kuwari
CEO and MD, Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad)
Year of establishment: 2006
Location of head office: Abu Dhabi
Years in the company: 7 years
Khaled Salmeen Al Kuwari is CEO and MD of Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ADPC, which spreads over an area of 418sq. km, is located in Taweelah, between Abu Dhabi and Dubai and next to Khalifa Port.
Kizad is the worlds most anticipated industrial zones and ports, which is expected to contribute up to 15% of Abu Dhabis non-oil GDP by 2030. It has one of the worlds most futuristic and advanced logistics tracking systems, Al Maqta Gateway. Over $6.2bn was invested in Khalifa Port, which opened at 12 noon on 12/12/2012.
In H1 2015 Kizads performance was strong with a surge in investments of 15%, translating to $232m. It added even further gravitas to the list of investors, which includes Morgan Advanced Materials, Al Falah, Saif Al Khaili Group and anchor tenant EMAL; which among other achievements at Kizad, now operates the worlds longest conveyor belt, stretching 14km from the furthest dock to the factory where raw materials are handled.
To date, 71 national and international investors have chosen Kizad as their production or logistics base and Khalifa Ports throughput is expected to increase by 900,000 tonnes of general cargo and containers annually once all are operational.
As impressive as the numbers stand today, Kizad hasnt been built to peak just yet. The port may have a keen eye on economic growth, Emiratization and sustainability but its equally fixated on future proofing its infrastructure, too.
Having played a key role in the development of Abu Dhabi as an industrial and manufacturing economy, Khalifa Port Container Terminal handled 1.5 million containers in 2015, a 32% annual growth making it the fastest growing port in the Middle East. Currently ADT is working on expanding the capacity of the container terminal to 2.5 million containers.