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2021 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

4. Free Zones in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait

Author : Robert Mogielnicki

Published in: A Political Economy of Free Zones in Gulf Arab States

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

Gulf free zone systems outside of the United Arab Emirates tended to be more limited in scale and scope than their Emirati counterparts. Yet free zones were no less important as policy mechanisms for regional governments. Free zones reflected the political and economic institutions of the host country and accomplished a wide range of objectives for governments. Resource-scarce countries or those with significant distributive responsibilities, such as Oman and Saudi Arabia, attempted to leverage free zones to create more balanced development countrywide. Bahrain struggled to reconcile competing notions that the entire country functioned as a free zone alongside the outsized importance of the neighboring Saudi market. The small, wealthier countries of Qatar and Kuwait opted to construct a smaller number of large-scale free zone projects with varying degrees of success.

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previous chapter The Dubai Model and UAE Free Zones

next chapter Elite Embeddedness in Free Zone Development

Interview 37, business editor at Times of Oman, Muscat, Oman, June 7, 2016.

There are Madayn cities in Rusayl, Sohar, Raysut, Sur, Nizwa, Buraimi, Simail, and Ibri. The close institutional linkages often lead many observers to conflate free zones with IEs.

Created in 1992, the Raysut Industrial Estate covers just over three million square meters, does not allow 100 percent foreign ownership, and contains approximately one hundred small, Omani firms focused on manufacturing. Interview 37, business editor at Omani daily newspaper, Muscat, Oman, June 7, 2016.

Interview 40, senior industrial estate and free zone manager, Salalah, Oman, June 9, 2016.

Interview 36, a manager of Sohar Port and Freezone, Sohar, Oman, June 6, 2016.

Interview 41, staff member from Duqm Special Economic Zone, Muscat, Oman, June 12, 2016.

Interview 32, manager at Sohar Freezone office in Dubai, Dubai, UAE, May 19, 2016.

Ibid.

Interview 41, staff member from Duqm Special Economic Zone, Muscat, Oman, June 12, 2016.

Interview 38, public service department officer of the Duqm Special Economic Zone, Duqm, Oman, June 8, 2016.

Interview 40, senior industrial estate and free zone manager, Salalah, Oman, June 9, 2016.

Interview 32, manager at Sohar Freezone office in Dubai, Dubai, UAE, May 19, 2016.

Interview 42, director from the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates, Knowledge Oasis Muscat, Oman, June 12, 2016.

Saudi ECs represent a methodological challenge within this monograph because the entities occupy a position between a traditional free zone and an onshore industrial city. Other sections and chapters briefly mention similar commercial entities, in Oman and Abu Dhabi for example, but did not discuss them in-depth because of their distinctly onshore nature. This chapter sub-section affords more analytical attention to Saudi ECs because these entities incorporated free zone policies—specifically permitting full foreign ownership and offering exemptions from workforce nationalization requirements—and because Saudi policymakers viewed ECs as urban foundations for future free zone development.

The expenditure of $38 million in 2002 represents approximately $56 million in 2017 prices.

Interview 74, head of business and trade council on Saudi Arabia, remote conversation from Oxford, November 21, 2016.

Figures in the table are sourced from the World Bank.

Interview 28, economic officer at the Economic Development Board, Manama, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Interview 30, managing director of an economic zones consultancy and secretary general of a global EPZ association, remote call from Dubai, May 11, 2016.

This estimate relies on 2014 population figures from the Gulf Labour Markets and Migration Programme and the World Bank.

Interview 74, head of a business and trade council on Saudi Arabia, Remote conversation from Oxford, November 21, 2016.

Interview 30, managing director of an economic zones consultancy and secretary general of a global EPZ association, remote call from Dubai, May 11, 2016; Interview 74, head of business and trade council on Saudi Arabia, remote conversation from Oxford, November 21, 2016.

Interview 74, head of business and trade council on Saudi Arabia, remote conversation from Oxford., November 21, 2016.

Interview 30, managing director of an economic zones consultancy and secretary general of a global EPZ association, remote call from Dubai, May 11, 2016.

Mīna is an Arabic transliteration for port.

A key difference, though, is that the U.S. program aimed to promote foreign trade; regulations on foreign ownership remained less of a concern. The alternate site framework in the United States also emerged in 2009, much later than Bahrain’s “exempt companies” status.

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Interview 28, economic officer at the Economic Development Board, Manama, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Interview 53, manager of Bahrain International Investment Park, Remote conversation from Dubai, UAE, July 26, 2016.

Interview 53, manager of Bahrain International Investment Park, remote conversation from Dubai, UAE, July 26, 2016.

Interview 28, economic officer at the Economic Development Board, Manama, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Following the transfer of BIIP to Bahraini management, IDI hopes to continue working on development projects in southern Al Hidd area to improve the roads, lighting, and drainage systems.

Interview 27, consultant for Bahrain International Investment Park, Al Hidd, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Interview 67, senior corporate manager at Bahrain Logistics Zone (BLZ), Al Hidd, Bahrain. August 23, 2016.

Ibid.

Interview 68, business editor at Gulf Daily News, Manama, Bahrain, August 24, 2016.

Interview 67, senior corporate manager at Bahrain Logistics Zone (BLZ), Al Hidd, Bahrain, August 23, 2016.

Interview 75, former U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain, Washington, DC, January 17, 2018.

For more details on this issue, refer to Chapter 6.

Interview 67, senior corporate manager at Bahrain Logistics Zone (BLZ), Al Hidd, Bahrain, August 23, 2016.

Interview 66, director at Bahrain Investment Wharf, Al Hidd, Bahrain. August 23, 2016.

Interview 28, economic officer at the Economic Development Board, Manama, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Interview 27, consultant for Bahrain International Investment Park, Al Hidd, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Interview 66, director at Bahrain Investment Wharf, Al Hidd, Bahrain. August 23, 2016.

Interview 27, consultant for Bahrain International Investment Park, Al Hidd, Bahrain, April 27, 2016.

Ibid.

Interview 63, director at Qatar Financial Centre, Doha, Qatar, August 21, 2016.

Interview 62, manager at Qatar Science and Technology Park, Doha, Qatar, August 21, 2016.

Ibid.

See Chapter 6 for more information on how Qatari free zones adjusted to the 2017 GCC rift.

Interview 73, commercial service officer, U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar, remote conversation from Jerusalem, September 21, 2016.

Interview 64, manager at Um Alhoul Special Economic Zone, Um Alhoul Site, Doha, Qatar, August 22, 2016.

Interview 71, head of major Kuwaiti newspaper, Kuwait City, Kuwait, August 25, 2016.

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Title: Free Zones in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait
Author: Robert Mogielnicki
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Book: A Political Economy of Free Zones in Gulf Arab States
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71273-0

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-71274-7

Copyright Year: 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71274-7_4

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Springer Professional "Technik"

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