Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi is seen as an exemplary SEZ project and includes provision for a range of sectors.
Open for business While SEZs are being made more diverse in order to attract a broader range of potential investors and workers, ultimately their purpose is to drive investment and attract capital. However, the way in which this is achieved has also changed. “The business environment is probably one of the most important aspects,” says Barber. Because there has been so much development in the free zones around the Middle East, and the world as a whole, it is becoming more and more difficult to differentiate between them.” Clearly, the earlier approach, which gave rise to a kind of walled city where everything inside the gates worked towards the zone’s economic success with no regard to anything outside, can no longer be sustained. Barber’s
work in the Middle East in particular has demonstrated the value of greater integration. “Those planning zones now have to look much more closely at ensuring the benefits are accruing for the local economy, and the zone does not become a sort of export haven where the economy isn’t going to be touched by the activities in the free zones,” says Barber. This is important because SEZs have been criticised in the past for being too exclusive. One of the longest running concerns about SEZs has been the lack of benefits accrued by the indigenous population. The use of migrant labour has also been highlighted as a notable downside to planned development. However, over the last few years, especially in the Middle East, that issue has been addressed in several ways. By coupling cutting-edge design and planning techniques with strong central direction and a skilled and increasingly mobile workforce – not simply importing cheap labour but attracting the right talent as needed – many emerging economies are now viewing SEZ development as a shortcut to imposing economic prosperity on previously under-developed areas. Thankfully, these zones are now playing a greater part in spreading prosperity across sectors and economies. In Savage’s view, we’ve come a long way: “They used to be one-dimensional and weren’t very lively or interesting. Now it’s about incorporating broader sectors of the economy and attracting a wider range of businesses and workers. Alongside that, in the emerging economies, the planning and implementation phases tend to overlap a lot
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per cent of national GDP in China comes from SEZs. They have played a key role in China’s move from a poor agrarian economy to one of the world’s largest manufacturing centres.
more now: you do the first phase and see how that goes, and then factor in economic changes, and see which aspects become successful and adapt accordingly. “The timescales have also decreased,” Savage continues. “In Europe you might be looking at five or ten years between phases, but in some of these emerging markets it can be more like two years in and they’re already thinking about the next phase. They can only do that because of the speed of economic growth and the advances in design.”
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Panama Pacifico: an updated approach to SEZs in one of the world’s original planned economic zones.
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