GPP, a subsidiary of Kuwaiti firm Al Khat Packaging Co., agreed a 50-year lease on a 22,000 square metre plot in Kizad’s mixed-use cluster. The firm will use the land for a new manufacturing plant, expected to be operational by 2016.
“Gulf Printing and Packaging will considerably add to Kizad’s industrial landscape which offers advanced infrastructure and facilities designed in line with international best practices,” said Khaled Salmeen, CEO of Kizad.
“We are delighted to welcome our Kuwaiti business partners who will significantly benefit from Kizad’s strategic location with market access to 4.5 billion people worldwide, its multimodal transportation network, which includes our flagship deep water Khalifa Port, as well as its business friendly environment and competitive operating costs,” he added.
Fast food player
The Kizad plant will be Al Khat Packaging’s first facility outside Kuwait, where it operates a 9,500 factory. In addition to McDonald’s, Al Khat Packaging also supplies packaging material to fast food chains Hardee’s and KFC in the Middle East and South Africa.
“The decision to settle in Kizad is the answer to our growing international customer base and, consequently, to the increasing demand in our products. Our plant in Kizad offers us the opportunity to be closer to our international clients and to serve them more efficiently, especially through Khalifa Port,” said GPP general manager Mohamed Abou Khalid.
“We follow the BRC [British Retail Consortium] Global Standards and have been recognised by the BRC authorities for our quality and food safety for the fourth consecutive year. Kizad’s excellent infrastructure and business environment will help us to maintain our high production standards and further develop our capacities on a global scale,” he added.
Kizad’s growing diversity
Kizad has signed up a number of significant food-related brands in recent months, including NFPC, Spinneys and Brazilian food producing giant BRF. In total food producers and other associated firms are leasing a total of 1.18 million square metres of land in Kizad.
“Al Khat Packaging’s choice of settling in Kizad is another indicator that our efforts to establish the industrial zone regionally and globally have come to fruition. The growing number of foreign investors shows that we are moving in the right direction in diversifying the economy and developing Kizad into one of the world’s largest industrial zones,” said Salmeen.