JPMC, Chinese firm to set up $260 million fertiliser plant

AMMAN (Petra) –– Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) and a Chinese firm will establish a $260 million joint venture for manufacturing fertilisers and chemical products.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Tuesday between Jordan Abyad Fertilisers and Chemical Company (JAFCCO), an affiliate company of JPMC, and China’s Chongqing Minmetal and Machinery Import and Export Company, the project will be implemented within 36 months in the Abyad Mines area in Karak.

Walid Kurdi, JPMC chairman, said the venture is one of four projects the company plans to implement in the Shidiyeh Mines in Maan and the Abyad Mines in Karak in partnership with international firms to expand the production of fertilisers and meet the increasing demand in international markets.

JAFCCO is a joint venture between JPMC and Bahraini Venture Capital Bank and the Arab Mining Company in addition to other shareholders.

The four projects, whose implementation cost is estimated at $1.4 billion, will create 1,500 direct jobs to engineers, technicians and workers in addition to over 3,000 indirect jobs, according to Kurdi.

Earlier this year, JPMC signed an agreement with the Indian engineering and construction group of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc to implement a $625 million Jordanian-Indian project for manufacturing phosphoric acid in Maan Governorate, about 330 kilometres to the south of the capital. It is expected to start commercial operation late 2012.

jordantimes