The Midroc Group last year signed an agreement with renowned German company Braunschweigische Maschinenbauanstalt AG (BMA) to commence the construction of a $200 million sugar plant in the Aden Free Zone.

BMA will assume responsibility for the construction of the plant, which Midroc subsidiary Midroc-Yemen will bankroll. The plant will have an initial installed production capacity of 1 million tons per annum of refined sugar and 16,000 tons of molasses. A planned second phase of construction will increase the plant’s capacity to 1.5 million tons.The plant is scheduled to come online during the latter half of 2008 and will create nearly 600 jobs.

Midroc-Yemen has also signed two agreements with the Aden administration. The first will see Midroc-Yemen assume reponsibility for the upgrade of the Seirah Castle road and its surrounding amenities, at a cost of $596,000. The second agreement is for the redesign of the Crater District Council offices. The new building will house a meeting hall for the local council and a heritage museum and is budgeted at around $793,000.