Sharjah Healthcare City (SHCC) is in talks to find investors for the medical city, according to Abdul Aziz al-Muhairi, director of the Sharjah Health Authority.

The masterplan for the new 2.5 million-square-metre site in Sharjah near Emirates Road is nearly complete.

“The new area will have more space and be more accessible, for both patients and investors,” says Al-Muhairi, speaking on the sidelines of the Sharjah Investment and Development Authority’s CEO Clubs Business Roundtable. “The government provides infrastructure and permits, but it is all private investment.”

Tenders for infrastructure work should be issued shortly and work on healthcare projects could begin as early as the first quarter of 2016.

The area will operate as a free zone with no taxes and 100 per cent foreign ownership. Investors can establish various types and sizes of facility including specialist hospitals, clinics, research centres employee residential units and warehouses for medical equipment.

The site has space for a maximum of four large hospitals.

It will serve all emirates, especially communities in the Northern Emirates that lack hospital beds.

“The health sector is expected to grow 9.3 per cent by the end of 2016,” says Al-Muhairi. “By 2025, 25,000 beds will be needed across the GCC to avoid shortages.”

SHCC was first announced in 2012 on a site near Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road. Masterplanning was restarted when the site was moved.