Opportunities in industrial cities highlighted at Arab Investment Forum & Expo
MUSCAT: As part of the efforts undertaken by the Sultanate’s government and the private bodies to advance the national economy through attracting major investments to the Sultanate, Arab Investment Forum and Exhibition kicked off at Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre yesterday under the patronage of Yahya bin Said Al Jabri, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Special Economic Zone Authority in Duqm (SEZAD), Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ithraa).
Organised by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates – Madayn, in cooperation with Abu El Saud Global Business, the event was attended by business owners from the Sultanate, the GCC, Arab countries, and Asian and European countries.
Speaking at the forum, Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Madayn, emphasised that the Sultanate has emerged as one of the major investment destinations in various sectors in recent years.
“This is a result of the efforts undertaken by the public and private sectors as the Sultanate has witnessed significant development in transport and logistics fields, thanks to the ports, airports and roads that have been implemented in accordance to the international standards. In addition, Oman today has a number of major economic zones, which include Duqm Special Economic Zone Authority, Sohar Port and Freezone, Salalah Free Zone,” he said.
Al Hasani noted that Madayn is managing and operating today seven industrial cities throughout the Sultanate, in addition to the IT park known as Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM) and Al Mazunah Free Zone. “Therefore, there are a variety of attractive investment opportunities in Oman for the local and foreign investors, especially that the Sultanate enjoys great economic and commercial ties with a number of economic blocs,” he pointed out.
Integrated system
He added that Madayn is part of an integrated economic system that seeks to achieve global reach through constructing and operating advanced business cities that go in line with the best international experiences.
To achieve this, Madayn has made efforts to restructure its legal system and re-engineer all its operations with the aspiration of enhancing competitiveness and attracting foreign and national investments.
The issuance of the Royal Decree no. 32/2015 came to reflect the new role attached to Madayn as it will be linked to regulating and monitoring within its industrial cities, in addition to its issuance of licenses and permits.
Moreover, Madayn has adopted a programme to strengthen Public-Private Partnership (PPP). By the end of the programme, all of Madayn’s industrial cities will be constructed, managed and operated by the private sector. As part of this programme, Madayn established Oman Investment and Development Holding Company (Mubadrah), which has begun to manage and develop Al Rusayl Industrial City since the beginning of the current year as a first step.
Al Hasani informed that the total area of Madayn’s cities has exceeded 100 million sqm today, with more than 2200 projects investing in these cities employing more than 60,000 of workforce, of which more than 20,000 are Omanis. The total volume of investments has touched more than $17 billion.
Work is also underway to launch two new industrial cities in Shinas and Thumrait. The two cities will be the first to be fully developed and managed by the private sector through developers with international expertise in this field.