Aqaba - Zara Investment (Holding) Company and Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) signed on Sunday an agreement to develop Aqaba Heights located at the southern coast of Aqaba. The Aqaba Heights agreement was signed in Aqaba by Mr. Sabih Masri, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Zara, and by H.E. Hosni Abu Gheida, Chief Commissioner of ASEZA.
The agreement aims at establishing and developing a comprehensive tourism and real estate project in Aqaba in a bid to transform the Southern Coast into a tourist destination adding more to the new evolving architectural diversity and image of Aqaba.
Stretching over an area of 570 donums, Aqaba Heights project consists of the development of a 4-star hotel containing 300 rooms in addition to 100 serviced apartments as well as a comprehensive commercial center and 1000 residential units with a large beach club for the use of the residents of the community. The development cost of the project is estimated at 275 million Jordanian Dinars (USD 390 million) and the project will be implemented in two phases over the coming eight years.
The Aqaba Heights project is in line with Zara Investment's aggressive growth strategy aimed at maintaining and securing its leading market share in the Jordanian hospitality market. In addition, this agreement reflects part of the success story achieved in the Aqaba Zone, by attracting more than eight billion dollars of investments by the first half of 2007 in which investments in the tourism sector have accounted to about 50% of total investment.
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About Zara Investment (Holding) Company:
Zara Investment (Holding) Company was established on May 10, 1994 as a public shareholding company. Zara's subscribed and paid in share capital as of December 31, 2005 consists of 125,000,000 shares, each having a par value of JD1. The principal activities of the Company as a holding company is to manage its subsidiaries which operate in the tourism sector and which have built hotels in various parts of Jordan.
The hotel portfolio of Zara consists of six 5-star hotels out of the 25 five-star hotels available in Jordan. In addition the company is in the final stages of developing a seventh 5-star hotel in Aqaba at Tala Bay to be branded Jaz Tala Bay (Previously noted as Ibertotel Tala Bay). Other non core activities of the company include owning and managing companies serving the hospitality industry.
Today Zara Investment is the largest hospitality company in Jordan. It controls approximately 31% of the Hashemite Kingdom's total room inventory of 5-star hotels.
Zara Investment is the largest employer in the 5-star hotel industry in Jordan. It employs approximately 35% of the total employees in the 5-star hotel industry in Jordan. In addition, it employs approximately 7.5% of the total workers employed and 8.2% of the total Jordanians employed in the tourism industry in Jordan
For more on Zara Investment, please visit: www.ZaraHolding.com
About ASEZA:
In August 2000, the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority Law was passed by the Jordanian Parliament. The law established the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) as the statutory institution empowered with regulatory, administrative, fiscal and economic responsibilities within The Aqaba Special Economic Zone ( ASEZA) .
The Aqaba Special Economic Zone (ASEZA) is a private sector-driven development initiative that maximizes private sector participation in a duty free, tax-advantaged and flexible regulatory operations environment providing a model approach to environmentally sustainable development and governance, a unique tourist destination on the Red Sea with a duty free shopping oasis accompanied with a high quality of life.
ASEZA is the financially and administratively autonomous institution responsible for the management, and regulation of the ASEZA. Six ministerial - level commissioners, each responsible for a major area of regulatory or operational activity, govern the ASEZA. is a service - oriented organization offering one - stop assistance covering all investment needs.
For more information, please contact:
LinaAnnab
Deputy General Manager
Hotel Relations & Business Development
Zara Investment (Holding) Co.
P.O.Box 5315 - Amman - Jordan
Email: LinaAnnab@zara.com.jo
Tel: +962-6-464-6781
© Press Release 2007
