Gulf Resources Development and Investment (GRDI) has secured Dh208 million ($57 million)
finance from National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) for the construction of Ikea's biggest distribution centre in Dubai, UAE, said a report.

The distribution centre is the Swedish furniture group’s first direct investment in the Middle East, reported the emirates news agency Wam.

It is being developed through a joint venture between GRDI, a real estate development and investment company, and Dubai South, the 145 sq-km master-planned city previously known as Dubai World Central (DWC).

The gaint facility will come up on a built-up area of one million sq ft (roughly the size of 16 football fields) in the Logistics District at Dubai South, home to the Al Maktoum International Airport and the World Expo 2020, it stated.

On completion, it will be able to handle 50,000 twenty-foot equivalent containers (TEUs) per year, said the report.

And within the next three years of its operation, the company aims to boost its capacity to 70,000 TEUs, it added.