UAE: Outsource zone expands masterplan by 11 times |
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Dubai Outsource ZoneDubai Outsource Zone
(DOZDOZ) has expanded its development masterplan to 11 times its original size in response to massive demand from local and international outsourcing companies, according to the zone's director. "The developers of DOZDOZ decided to increase the size of the outsourcing free zone from three million square feet to 33 million square feet due to an unforeseen surge of interest from outsourcing service providers," said Ismail Al Naqi, director of DOZDOZ.
"DuDu and Jumeirah groupJumeirah group are among the local firms who will shortly open call centres in the [now complete] first phase of DOZDOZ. Emirates [airline]Emirates [airline] will relocate its call centre from Deira to a building in DOZDOZ, which will accommodate about 1,000 employees," he added.
While the original $200 million (Dh7.3 billion) cost of the project will "increase in light of the massive expansion", a new figure has not been arrived at yet, according to Al Naqi.
"Around 11 clients have already moved into DOZDOZ in the first phase alone, and they are now operational," Al Naqi said. "Approximately, another 10 companies are setting up their offices in phase one, and it will be about another two months before they are ready to move in." He added that DOZDOZ has expanded the area to an "additional 30 million sq ft to accommodate about 150,000 people in total".
"We aim to complete the infrastructure by the end of 2008. However, we were very conservative with our initial plans for three million sq ft because we were not sure about the reaction of the market to this kind of a free zone aimed at outsourcing companies," said Al Naqi.
Furthermore, dudu will have a call centre facility for about "500 agents"; ABN AmroABN Amro will have "1,000 employees" in a processing unit and call centre; and the Jumeirah groupJumeirah group will set up a "call centre for 400 people to service its worldwide operation", according to Al Naqi.
He further revealed that Mashreqbank will house 3,000 members of its workforce in three buildings in the DOZDOZ. And buildings in the second phase of the project will be handed over to companies such as Axa Insurance and First Data from April 15 this year.
"These should be operational by June," said Al Naqi.
"We are aiming for completion of the buildings and the infrastructure of the third phase by June 2008, and the space is about 50 to 60 per cent subscribed," he said, listing DOZDOZ's four main target sectors as "banking and finance, healthcare, insurance and IT".
The outsource zone, providing a community infrastructure for the industry, includes offices, retail facilities and 2,500 studio apartments at an annual price of Dh25,000 for five years.
DOZDOZ has evoked tremen dous interest from Indian outsourcing companies as a location for their disaster recovery facilities, according to Al Naqi. It is designed for outsourcing companies to provide mid- and high-end services in areas such as finance; accounting; information technology; payroll processing; engineering; design; and research and development.
The free zone will also feature a research centre for companies that offer outsourced R&D services besides a networking centre to facilitate collaboration and increased business opportunities within the community.
By Anthony Richardson
© Emirates Today 2007
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