The park will be on 1,500 dunam (375 acres) of Jordanian territory and 1,500 dunam of Israeli land.
The Northern District Planning and Building Commission last week approved plans for the Jordan Gateway industrial park, on the Israel-Jordan border near the Bet She’an valley. The park is on 1,500 dunam (375 acres) of Jordanian territory, and 1,500 dunam of Israeli land.
The two sides will be joined by a bridge, which will serve the park's community. A financial coverage agreement was signed with the World Bank on June 18 this year for $36 million. The sum is sufficient for construction of the project’s initial buildings, totaling 100,000 sq.m. Stage one of the project will include construction on 700 dunam (175 acres). 15,000 workers on the Jordanian side and 1,500 workers on the Israeli side will be employed at the park. Following the approval, construction of the infrastructure will get under way immediately on the Israeli side. Infrastructure work on the Jordanian side has already been completed.
The project will be a free trade zone for Jordan, accorded a special QIZ (Qualifying Industrial Zone) status, under which goods will be able to enter the US market without custom duties or levies. In Israel, the project is led by the Safra group, headed by Shlomo Piotrkowsky, through PV Investments, its general manager Zeev Feldman, and a group of Jordanian businessmen.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 4 November, 2001