JEDDAH, 1 June — A top Sudanese business executive is in town to canvass support from investors for an agricultural project in his country. “Saudi investments have been contributing to the overall development of Sudan and I’m hopeful of attracting investors from the Kingdom for our project whose final phase costs $10 million,” Al Safe Gaafar Al Safi, managing director of East Jabel Aulia Development Co. Ltd.’s Sondos Agricultural Project, told Arab News yesterday.
“The project provides an outstanding selection of investment opportunities to suit all interests and financial institutions,” said Al Safi.
According to him, the firm was incorporated as a public company under the Sudanese Companies Act 1925. By virtue of its formation, it has held a great interest in development and adopted investment as a strategic basis toward the realization of its economic and social objectives.
The project, located south of Khartoum, on the eastern bank of the White Nile, is an overall development project as it comprises many activities in economic, agricultural and social sectors. “What has added to the importance of the project is not only the diversity of its social development activities but also that former land owners have now the opportunity to have their farms in newly planned areas — Thaniyyat Al Wedaa, Gezira, White Nile and Al Shuhada. These areas cover two-thirds of the overall project area comprising 124 villages plus 12 agricultural investment zones in addition to other investment activities.
The Sondos project is irrigated by water from the Jebel Aulia Dam. The management board of the company has assigned privileged sites for setting up different types of investments made available to investors. These sites are characterized by their proximity to roads, services and transportation. The project offers opportunities for agricultural investment that includes farms with varied areas, commercial investment that includes seven zones of more than 500 feddans — the zones having been assigned to different services including commercial activities, industrial investment that includes agricultural industrialization and small scale industry comprising three zones in the remotest north and south of the project, housing investment that is represented by Al-Gairawan city for housing with its complete services and activities, and tourism investment represented by Baladna tourist retreat as a comprehensive tourism project.