Company plans big West Bank investments

Private Palestinian firm will pump millions of dollars into infrastructure projects (The Media Line).

By THE MEDIA LINE STAFF
blair cheesy grin 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
blair cheesy grin 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Leading private Palestinian company PADICO said on Monday it was planning to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, beginning in the coming months. Projects ranged from an electricity power-generation plant in the West Bank city of Kalkilya to a multi-purpose hall next to the Israeli Justice Ministry in 'Salah A-Din Street in the center of Arab-dominated east Jerusalem. PADICO was planning on unveiling these projects during an investment conference the Palestinian Authority was scheduled to hold on November 8 or 22 in the West Bank city of Nablus. Four-hundred and fifty Palestinian and Arab businesspeople, 100 of whom are Palestinian businesspeople living in Arab and Western countries, are expected to participate in the conference. The new push in the investments of PADICO, whose capital is around $500 million, came as heads of the company felt the West Bank was more secure compared to the years of violence that began in September 2000. Reviewing the economic position of the Palestinian Authority, the World Bank said in its March 2007 World Bank Investment Climate Assessment that, "since the advent of the caretaker government in June 2007, the international community has channeled substantial financial and technical assistance to the P.A. to reverse the impacts of the recent aid sanctions on Palestinian institutions. This, in addition to a revival of discussions towards a peace agreement by the end of 2008, led to a new momentum in Israel and the Palestinian territories." However, the bank added, "These positive developments remain challenged by the isolation of almost half of the Palestinian population within the Gaza Strip and by the continued violence arising from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and within the Palestinian territories. Combined with the tightening Israeli restrictions on movement and access and continued settlement expansion, the result is a Palestinian economy that is unable to sustain itself and its population under the current circumstances." But the PADICO management remained upbeat. "Despite the split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, there is relative stability in the West Bank on the security issue," said Samir Huleileh, the new executive president of PADICO. "There is a state of better internal security compared with the past as a result of measures taken by the Palestinian Authority, particularly in Nablus and Jenin; there is no corruption and investors don't need to pay anybody in order for their projects to move." PADICO, which is considered to be one of the leading privately-owned concerns in the Palestinian territories, owns or has a large stake in 31 companies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a meeting with Palestinian journalists in Jerusalem, Huleileh disclosed that in the recent past the company had to invest some of its money in Arab and regional stock markets to compensate for losses incurred as a result of the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. "From 2000 onwards was a difficult period and led to a decline in average income and a decline in the performance of businesses, especially companies dependent on the movement of goods, such as industrial firms, or tourist companies such as the Jasir Hotel in Bethlehem, which is classified as a 5-star hotel," Huleileh said. While much is made in the media of the tough times faced by the Palestinian economy, much of the evidence from the West Bank points to good times ahead, with domestic and foreign investments the order of the day, bringing with them the good news for locals that the employment market is on the way up.