Jan Meijer: A decade of service to Sohar Port and Oman

dam realised that growth had gone much much faster than expected, the idea was developed to create a very large Free Zone. Specifically a Free Zone which would be, through an uninterrupted short and wide corridor, directly connected to the port. In 2007 the extension of the concession agreement was signed, which did not only guarantee investors long-term continuity of the organisation but also more than tripled the concession area with adding a Free Zone of 4,500 hectares. Such a large area opens up possibilities to create clusters in various parts of the Free Zone which do not interfere with each other. At this moment you see already the Free Zone develop in this manner with a very innovative logistic cluster, a metal industry cluster and a petrochemical cluster.

7. What do you see as Sohar Port's contribution to the long-term development of the nation?

Over the last decade, the ports of Oman have started to specialise and are complementary to each other. This is a very positive development. Port of Sohar is going to be the motor (engine) of the economy of the Batinah region.

You can compare Sohar (although still smaller) with the Port of Rotterdam which is the motor of the economy of the Netherlands. It will stimulate growth of the economy in the Batinah region in general. Each job created in the port and the Free Zone will create 2-3 indirect jobs outside the port and Free Zone. These jobs are at all levels of education — jobs at the lower vocational level, the majority of jobs at middle vocational level and jobs at management and academic level.

All this will contribute to the economy of the nation. Let’s not forget that worldwide, when looking at port developments, most jobs are created in the small and medium size industries either being downstream or service industries. If and when Omanis are going to play a major role as employees in those firms we will see the maximum benefit of the Sohar development for the nation.

8. Essential in an international venture of this sort is that government and commercial interests work together. How can this best be achieved?

The co-operation between public and private sector in order to get a development of the size of Sohar off the ground is essential. Oman has a very good track record of co-operation between government and private companies. The top of the government, ministers, under-secretaries, directorgenerals and other high officials are always available to meet and listen to the private sector. Please understand that this is a unique feature for the Sultanate.

In the past decades, the government played a role, specifically stimulating investments through all kind of measures while within the Chamber of Commerce there was a platform to listen. Initiatives as the previously mentioned customs reform, e-government have come off the ground.

However, times have changed and the industrial development as well as the general economy starts to mature further. Other platforms will be required to ensure that government, employers and employees are able to all communicate with each other to find common ground for the development of the nation and more specifically, the development of the commercial sector. I am very pleased to see that first steps have been taken to create such platforms and I am convinced that Sohar could be an excellent trial ground for such developments.

9. How do you hope that Sohar Port will develop over the next ten years?

I hope and trust, that under the new leadership of Andre Toet and Jamal Aziz together with their corporate and management team, the Port and Free Zone will continue to grow. My hopes are specifically towards the growth of the Free Zone where the logistic cluster will start serving the country and the region in a big way.

The downstream industries are developing considerably unlocking the real potential of the metal and petrochemical clusters employing Omani men and women trained and educated up to a level of excellence at modern institutes like the International Maritime College Oman (IMCO) and the technical colleges in Shinas, Sohar and Saham as well as Sohar University.