Thousands Of Jobs Coming To Orangeburg County

By Brad Means
Anchor: WJBF Newschannel 6 @ 5:00, 6, & 11
Published: November 13, 2008

Orangeburg County, SC—From the Middle East to the Deep South. An international corporation is entering the American market, and it’s starting in the Palmetto State.

Steven Eames, Jafza Americas: “By developing such a network, we seek to both facilitate but also gain in global trade. In addition to our park here in Orangeburg, we are currently developing parks, multiple parks, in India, Jabuti, Senegal, Malasia, Iman, and Russia.“

Dubai-based Jafza International will build a $600 million site in Orangeburg County. The 1,300-acre industrial park will be able to handle light manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution.

U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn, (D) South Carolina: “I’m hopeful, that in this room today, we are going to move from this point and in 10 or 12 years, people will look back on this day, hopefully, and say that we stood up to the challenge.“

Jafza already has it’s U.S. headquarters in Charleston. The Santee project could employ 3,000 people by 2020.

Rep. Clyburn: “We’ve got visionary leaders in this county and I applaud that. I think that Orangeburg leaders have done well with expressing a vision they have decided not to buy into conventional wisdom.“

South Carolina lawmakers already promising federal money for roads, water and sewer, and other improvements to the infrastructure at the park.