A Bahraini company plans to launch four industrial projects in Syria at a cost of $1.6 billion, the Baath economic weekly reported Tuesday, April 10.
Among the projects, which will be launched by the Mohammad Jalal foundation for investments, is the construction of a factory producing aluminum at a cost of a billion dollars with an annual production capacity of 280,000 tons.
Also planned are the building of a coal plant with an annual capacity of 300,000 tons and costing $200 million, and a steelworks with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons at a cost of $300 million.
Separately, Syrian, Saudi and Egyptian investors recently received authorization from the higher investment council to establish a cement factory costing $240 million and producing three million tons per year, the weekly said.
Meanwhile, according to the Tishrin daily, the Syrian authorities have give the go-ahead for the establishment in Damascus of a joint Arab bank, with private and public capital.
The Syrian parliament approved at the end of March a law authorizing the creation of private banks in Syria, where the banking sector has been nationalized since 1963.
The law, which will come into effect after being signed by President Bashar al-Assad, is aimed at attracting both local and foreign private investment to revive the Syrian economy, which has been stagnating for years. — (AFP, Damascus)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
