Afghan investor opens 70m dirham gas company in UAE

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghan investor Ahmad Yar Gharany, who opened a liquefied gas production and distribution company in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last week, is keen to establish a lapis lazuli processing plant in Afghanistan.

Gharany, a resident of Surkhrod district of eastern Nangarhar province, has graduated from Kabul University’s Faculty of Engineering.

Talking to Pajhwok Afghan News during an interview, the investor said he opened the gas company last week in the Al Jurf Industrial Area in Ajman. He said the gas company was the first facility of its kind in the UAE and has nearly 400,000 kilograms per day total production capacity.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Crown Prince of Ajman and Chairman of the Ajman Executive Council, Yousef Al Nuaimi, Director-General of the Protocol and Hospitality Department, Ahmed Ibrahim Al Ghamlasi, Director of the Office of the Ajman Crown Prince, and several local government department directors and senior officials.

The company’s building is stretched across 50,000 square meters and was constructed in a year and a half at a cost of AED70 million.

The company is an integrated industrial and commercial complex for liquefied natural gas production and distribution, in line with the highest relevant standards.

Gharany, who serve as CEO of the company, said that the project was aimed at providing a series of public benefits, which included offering high-quality products accredited by specialized laboratories, in line with the best health and environmental standards.

The facility has a distinguished team of professionals who were carefully chosen from the best-qualified personnel specializing in liquefied gas, he added.

Gharany said currently 175 people, mostly Afghans, worked in his company and he intended to give jobs to more Afghans.

Besides the UAE, he said, he had invested in Afghanistan, Germany, Australia and Turkey in logistics and construction sectors.

Hard work was the reason behind his success, said the investor, who has practically started working with the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan.  His company, Harirud, is involved in construction of the internal operational parts of the Kabul International Airport.

He plans to set up a large lapis lazuli processing company in Afghanistan in near future, saying if the caretaker government paved the way for him, he will make large investment in Afghanistan.

Gharany, who last arrived in Afghanistan five months ago, says high taxes are the biggest problem investors face in the country.

Promising provision of all possible facilities, the caretaker government has many times asked investors to invest in Afghanistan.

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