Al Namaa Poultry allotted more than 30sq km of land by Ministry of Housing
One of the largest poultry projects under development, the Al Namaa Poultry Company has been awarded two plots with an area of more than 30sq km by the Ministry of Housing in Dhahirah.
A usufruct agreement was signed by the company and the ministry last week paving the way for the development of a project with a poultry meat production capacity of 60,000 metric tonnes per annum, near Ibri, in the Al Sawmahan water catchment area.
Al Namaa Poultry is considered to be one of the important projects steered under the food security vision of the sultanate and is managed by the Oman Food Investment Holding Company (the government's investment arm in food security projects).
The agreement was signed by Eng Yaqoob bin Mansoor al Ruqaishi, general manager, Al Namaa and Eng Abdullah bin Talib al Hinai, director general in the Directorate General of Housing in Dhahirah.
Saleh bin Mohamed al Shanfari, chairman of Al Namaa Company, said the agreement is a step towards successfully implementing the project.
The company had earlier been allotted two plots spread over more than 30sq km area by the Directorate General of Housing in Dhahirah governorate, taking the total land to more than 60 sq km.
The project will comprise 240 poultry houses in addition to a hatchery, feed mill, processing plant, water treatment plant, other utilities and administration block. The project, combined with existing producers, will drive self-sufficiency of Oman in the poultry sector from the current 36 per cent to 70 per cent by 2030.
Last month, Al Namaa signed an agreement with Meethaq Islamic banking for a long-term financing of RO50mn.
During the signing Shanfari had said, “Successful closure of this business deal clearly indicates availability of Sharia’acompliant financing facilities in Oman reducing the need to depend on external financing for major projects, which will contribute significantly to the growth of the company and implementation of its business plans.”
He further said that in 2016, significant developments took place and the Omani government has taken a strong initiative on food security of the country under the Tanfeedh initiatives (National Programme for Enhancing Economic Diversification).
Al Namaa Poultry along with other investors, including A’Saffa Foods, Sohar Poultry, Delmon Poultry as well as multilateral organisations Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) and the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development is also promoting and developing the RO61.5mn Osool Poultry project in Al Ghaftain in Al Wusta.