Lying on the northern coast of the Persian Gulf, the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone, also known as Petzone, is Iran's first specialized zone formed for the development of the country's petrochemical industry. The zone expands over an area of 2300 hectares in the southern town of Mahshahr in the oil-and-gas rich province of Khuzestan. Being home to several petrochemical facilities, namely Bandar Imam, Razi and Farabi, Mahshahr is already the hub of Iran's petrochemical industry. In the meantime, 8 great petrochemical and one centralized utility facilities are being built in the Petzone. Once the petrochemical facilities are on track, they will produce 5 million tons of various products annually. The zone is divided into five sites. Situated in the northern part of the zone, site No. 1, covering an area of 240 hectares is designated for the private sector light industries and downstream petrochemical plants. Some parts of the site have been set for administrative and civil services as well as commercial centers.Site No. 2, which expands over an area of 350 hectares, has been allocated to both light and heavy industries. Olefin No. 7, isocyanates and PVC projects will be built in this site. With an area of 260 hectares, Site No. 3 will be home to heavy industries projects. Site No. 4 is exclusively devoted to the NPC's grassroots development projects. This site covers an area of 200 hectares. Site No. 5 has been set aside for warehouses, tank farms and heavy industries as well. Petzone is located nearby the Bandar Imam's port facilities. The port has 37 docks with an annual loading and unloading capacity of 16 million tons of cargo. Currently, the zone's own dock, which has an annual capacity of two million tons, is under construction for exporting liquid petrochemicals.So far, the zone has attracted over $3bn of investment for the petrochemical projects while it potentially can attract over $5bn of investment. By the end of the past Iranian year, which came to its end on 20 March 2001, the private sector invested some $120m plus Rials 1700bn in the zone.
Petzone enjoys certain advantages including:

• Investment in the industrial section enjoys 4 to 8 years of tax holiday
  
• Goods and machinery that are imported into the zone for manufacturing or service- providing purposes are not subject to import-export regulations
  
• Some portion of goods that are produced in the zone can be imported with no restriction into the mainland, in proportion to the value added created. No opening of credits is required for import of such goods
  
• Goods imported into the zone from either abroad or the country's trade/industrial zones can be re-exported with minimum formalities
  
• It is possible to issue proforma invoices and ship goods, either partially or wholly, to other entities in the zone
  
• It is possible to import and store goods, including raw material, machinery, equipment, tools and parts in the zone with no limitation
  
• The zone has access to international waters and the national road and railway network.