UAE invests 23 billion dollars to expand seaports

The UAE has pumped 23 billion dollars (Dh84.5bn) to develop its seaports in an effort to take advantage of the growth in business it expects from high oil exports and swelling imports. The capital accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the total investments of around $38.2bn injected in port projects by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), the Kuwaiti Financial Centre, Markaz, said in a study on Gulf ports. As a result, the UAE has emerged as the largest transhipment centre in the region, handling about 61 per cent of total port business in the 28-year-old GCC between 2004 and 2008.