Gabon launched on Friday what it billed as the biggest special economic zone (SEZ) in West and Central Africa, aiming to attract $1.1 billion a year in foreign investments via tax breaks. Firms that set up in the 1,126-hectare zone in the town of Nkok 27 km (17 miles) outside the capital Libreville will be exempt from taxes on profits for 10 years, after which they will pay a rate of 10 percent.
Officials said the zone, a joint venture between the Gabonese state and Singapore-based commodities firm Olam International, will focus especially on timber processing activities. The sector is one of the industries on which President Ali Bongo Ondimba is counting to diversify Gabon's largely oil-based economy.
"The Nkok SEZ will be the biggest economic zone in West and Central Africa with, among other things, a processing capacity of one million cubic metres of wood a year," Mines Minister Alexandre Barro Chambrier said at the launch, adding it would create 9,000 jobs. The goal of $1.1 billion of annual foreign investment in the zone is equivalent to a quarter of Gabon's annual budget.
Indian conglomerate Abhijeet said it alone planned to invest nearly $1.2 billion dollars in the next 36 months. Abhijeet Chairman Manoj Jayaswal told reporters it would spend $800 million to build an iron alloy plant with annual production of 300,000 tonnes, and $400 million on construction of a 300 megawatt power station.
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