The Business Year

AT YOUR fingertips

Establishe­d as a high-quality industrial city with all the necessary infrastruc­ture and facilities for investors, Samail Industrial City is now home to a variety of manufactur­ing sectors.

- Dawood Al Hadabi DIRECTOR GENERAL, SAMAIL INDUSTRIAL CITY

What are some of Samail Industrial City’s main defining features?

Samail Industrial City is one of the latest industrial cities being built by the Public Establishm­ent for Industrial Estates (Madayn), and there is another one in Ibri. Samail began back in 2010, absolutely from scratch. We came with a belief that we were going to build a quality industrial city that would set the standard for tomorrow. The original area was about 8 million sqm, but we have since sought an extension of 4 million sqm, divided into six sectors in the industrial city. These comprise food sector, building materials, metal, marble, and plastics and chemicals, as well as a warehouse to cater to the industrial sectors. Samail differs from the oldest industrial city in Al Rusayl. That had been built in 1983, with all its services located under the road itself. Here, we have kept the services out of the road so that it will be easier for maintenanc­e purposes. We have five gates on our latest project for loading and unloading goods, and the sectors are color coded so visitors can readily identify them and go directly where they need to be.

What kind of industries are currently operating within

Samail Industrial City, and where is the majority of investment coming from?

One of the newest industrial cities affiliated with Madayn

We have many applicatio­ns pertaining to the chemicals and metals industry, and the marble sector is the latest. We have local marble quarrying nearby, but the raw material must be processed in the city, which means local value added in Oman. We have a 75% Omani investment ratio in this industrial city. In order to increase FDI, we are focusing on the medical and food sectors and plan to extend discretion­ary rates to incentiviz­e uptake.

What are Samail’s most prominent advantages?

The well-organized structure of Samail Industrial City is its main differenti­ator. Infrastruc­ture such as internet connectivi­ty is hyper-fast, and with adequate parking catering to all sectors we are a one-stop shop.

How are you adhering to sustainabl­e and green practices for greater efficiency competitiv­eness and profitabil­ity?

We plan to apply solar powered in Sohar Industrial City at the rate of 60MW delivered to factories. If successful, the system will also be applied in Samail to reduce the cost of industrial power.

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