Palestinian Industrial Estates & Free Zones Authority

MODERN INFRASTRUCTURE

Modern infrastructure, most notably water, transportation, telecommunication and power facilities have been improving dramatically. Plans are already underway for joint public and private sector investments in crucial projects to upgrade and renew the Palestinian infrastructure.

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Transportation
A network of roads is currently being built to facilitate the movement of goods and raw materials between Palestinian cities. In addition, major highways between Palestine and regional countries such as Israel, Jordan and Egypt are being built to facilitate regional trade.
The Gaza International Airport is fully operational and it is being upgraded to provide cargo services. The new Gaza seaport will be operational in 2002.

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Telecommunications and Information Technology
The telecommunication sector is improving rapidly and firmly in Palestine. A new country code (970) and a top level Internet domain (.PS) have been recently assigned, bringing Palestine one step closer towards economic and political independence.

PIEFZA has signed an agreement with the Palestine Telecommunications Company, PalTel, to provide the new Industrial Estates and Free Zones tenants with state of the art telecommunication infrastructure and services.

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Power
The Palestinian Energy Authority has been encouraging investment in the power sector to rehabilitate the existing networks, construct new transmission and distribution facilities and develop regional interconnections of electricity grids and gas pipeline networks.

In the West Bank, the long-established Jerusalem District Electric Company (JDEC), based in East Jerusalem and owned by Palestinian shareholders and municipalities, is the principal supplier of power. JDEC serves the cities of East Jerusalem, Jericho, Bethlehem, Ramallah and El Bireh. The Israeli Electric Company provides electricity services for the Gaza Strip.

The newly established Palestine Electric Company (PEC) has recently entered into a joint venture project with public and private sector investors to upgrade the power infrastructure in Palestine. The first phase of this project will commence shortly.

In addition to the power supplied by the national grid system, each Industrial Estate and Free Zone is equipped with its own standby generator to increase the overall reliability of the power infrastructure. Furthermore, PIEFZA is fully committed towards developing the needed energy infrastructure to meet international standards.