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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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United Arab Emirates
Index
The first major factory in the amirate was the aluminum
smelter opened by Dubal at Mina Jabal Ali in 1979. It has
a
capacity of 135,000 tons of aluminum ingots per year,
which was
reached in 1982. In 1991, after expansion, it produced
290,030
tons of aluminum ingots. The five gas turbines that
generate
power for the plant are fueled by Dugas's neighboring gas
treatment plant. A desalination plant associated with the
turbines supplies 40 percent of Dubayy's drinking water
requirements.
Dubayy became a strong magnet for industries, large and
small, with the opening in 1985 of the Mina Jabal Ali Free
Zone.
Starting with about forty companies in the first year, the
zone
hosted 382 firms by 1992, including multinational giants
Mitsubishi, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, Union
Carbide,
and Xerox, and scores of small Indian firms, many
producing
textiles. Local firms include National Flour Mills and the
National Cement Company. Among the inducements to firms
are a
large pool of cheap labor, no taxes, no import or export
duties,
the right to 100 percent foreign ownership, and the right
to
repatriate profits and capital.
Another major facility in the free zone is the Dubai
Dry
Docks, owned by the Dubayy government. One of the largest
and
most modern in the world, the facility has three dry docks
that
can handle vessels up to 1 million deadweight tons. The
dry docks
have well-equipped workshops for plate and pipe,
machinery,
rigging, and electric repair, as well as a sophisticated
laboratory. Completed in 1979, the docks lay idle,
incurring
substantial maintenance costs, until 1983 when a contract
for an
operator was signed. The delay was attributed in part to
indecision and the amir's poor health.
By 1985, however, 111 ships with a total capacity of 10
million deadweight tons had been repaired. In 1988 the
dock was
fully occupied by vessels damaged in the Iran-Iraq War.
Data as of January 1993
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