By Sami Zaptia.
London, 15 May 2017:
Speaking at the Libya Investment Summit 2017 in Istanbul last week, the Nasser Najem, Director of the Elmreisa Free Zone (EFZ) said that the EFZ is expected to be ready to offer investment opportunities early next year.
He admitted that the situation in Libya had held the progress of the EFZ back, but he felt that despite this the project was able to make huge strides.
The 1,200-hectare free zone project, designed by British company Mott Macdonald, is divided into eleven sectors with eight sector-specific investment zones. The eight investment sectors are: financial; tourism; transformative industry; industry; oil; media; port and smart city. The remaining three sectors are the EFZ administration site, power and water utilities and the sewage treatment site.
| EFZ sectors | ||
| Sector | Allocated area | |
| 1 | Finance | 50 |
| 2 | Tourism | 135 |
| 3 | Light industry | 220 |
| 4 | Industry | 165 |
| 5 | Oil | 125 |
| 6 | Media | 20 |
| 7 | Port | 240 |
| 8 | Smart city | 160 |
| 9 | Sewage treatment | 20 |
| 10 | Electricity & water | 30 |
| 11 | Administration | 5 |
Source: EFZ
Najem said that the EFZ is expected to be a landmark project in the beleaguered city of Benghazi, transforming the city’s economy and catalysing its youth and its entrepreneurial spirit to new unprecedented levels. He projected that the EFZ could create over 45,000 direct new jobs aswell as 1,000 SME projects.
Najem said that a number of Libyan entities had already committed to investing in the project such as Tatweer Research, the National Oil Corporation, the Social Security Fund and some local banks.
Investors interested in the EFZ should contact the Libyan Privatization and Investment Board
