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UAE
gears up for expansion
While the United Arab Emirates (UAE) including Dubai gears up for a massive expansion in development activity in the next 5-6 years, Jordan is preparing for a new inflow of garment factories as the end to US textile quotas closes in. Massive development in the UAE, particularly Dubai, will see increased opportunities for Sri Lankan professionals while demand for domestic workers, seen doubling to 500,000 from 250,000 now, provides more opportunities for Sri Lankans. During a recent study of migrant workers in Jordan and Dubai, The Sunday Times FT found that the demand for Sri Lankan garment workers in the UAE continues despite concern of factories shutting down after textile quotas to the US ends in December 2004. Officials at the Sri Lanka Consulate in Dubai said 1,100 new permits for Sri Lankan garment workers from employers in Dubai had been approved in the past three months to last week almost equalling the demand for Sri Lankan housemaids which recorded 1,300 new work permits in the same three months since January this year. The UAE comprises seven different cities - Abu Dhabi (the capital), Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah with the first three being the main sites of expanded development. Some of the garment factories in Dubai however are set to re-locate to Jordan, several thousands of kilometres away. Jordan, bordering Iraq and Israel among other states, is the only Middle East country to be unaffected by the end to textile quotas as it has special duty free and quota free concessions to the US. Government officials and investors in Dubai and Jordan said the latter was attracting new garment investments due to this special concession from the US due to a 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and US-backed Israel. Zarook Ansar, General Manager at the American Jordache Company for Apparel, said although the country was expected find favour with garment firms seeking to re-locate from elsewhere in the Middle East, the situation was uncertain everywhere. "This year is going to be a big re-shuffle when the quotas ends. Factories are finding their feet in the region not only because of the textile quota issue but also because of a major threat coming from China," he said in his comfortable office at a Jordanian special free trade zone near the Iraqi border. Ansar, a Sri Lankan with wide industry experience in Madagascar, said China's wages was three times lower than in Jordan posing a major challenge to the garment industry here. Most of the garment workers in the Middle East are from Sri Lanka with a majority of the factories are utilising US quotas. Nandana J. Lokuwithana, a Sri Lankan businessman having two garment factories and other interest at the Sharjah Airport Free Zone, about 20 km from Dubai, believes the stronger garment factories will survive the change. Lokuwithana, in Dubai for the past 15 years, believes Dubai is better prepared to face up to the end of textile quotas than Sri Lanka because of higher productivity, speedier delivery of targets and less holidays. "Even though the cost per (foreign) garment worker here is about US $ 250 a month against about $100 in Sri Lanka, I think we can still survive the change," he said speaking at his Nilona Garment factory at the spacious Sharjah zone. Dubai is also moving away from industries like garments with rapid expansion in the services sector like hotels. The UAE is projecting 15 million tourists by 2010 from five million now while Dubai alone is expected to see 45 new hotels in the next three years. Most of the high positions in hotels are held by Sri Lankans while there the number of Sri Lankans in the banking industry is also set to grow. |
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