WASHINGTON, D.C., March 29 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has approved a loan of up to US$6 million to Modern Aluminum Industries Co. Ltd. of Jordan, to build and operate a US$18 million aluminum extrusion plant in the town of Giza near Amman. The plant will produce 6,000 tons per year of international quality, competitively-priced aluminum profiles for the construction industry and for light manufacturing. Three-fourths of the plant's production is expected to be sold on the domestic market and the rest will be exported to neighboring countries. The aluminum plant will be the first in Jordan to apply chrome free painting methods and will serve as a model of innovative environmental technology for other plants. Modern Aluminum Industries Co. Ltd. is majority owned by the Nuqul Group, a prominent Jordanian industrial group involved in a number of manufacturing activities in the Middle East. IFC has worked before with the Nuqul Group on two paper projects: Al Bardi in Egypt in 1990 and Al Keena in Jordan in 1994. "We are very proud to be associated with a project which supports the construction and housing industry by substituting aluminum products for wood, which is a scarce resource in the Middle East," said IFC President James D. Wolfensohn, who is completing a two and a half-day visit to Jordan today. To date, IFC has made 15 investments in Jordan totalling US$181 million, of which US$170 million was in the form of loan syndications. This includes a recent financing package of US$38 million to Jordan Mobile Telephone Services Company, the country's first cellular company. IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest multilateral source of equity and loan financing for private sector projects in developing countries.
