Eight new industrial, economic zones on anvil in Oman

MUSCAT, MAY 7

As many as eight new economic zones are currently under development or study at key locations around the Sultanate of Oman, Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Chairman of the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), announced here on Sunday, May 7, 2023.

Presiding over the Annual Media Briefing 2023, he said the new zones will build on a portfolio of 31 affiliated zones supervised by OPAZ. Covering an area of 2,200 sq kilometres, these zones have so far attracted investments totaling about RO 15.2 billion ($39.5 billion) as of 2022-end, and provide employment to over 74,000 staff.

“As well, there are eight various new zones under development and study,” Dr Al Sunaidy said.

“The Integrated Economic Zone in Al Dhahirah Governorate, which is under planning and development, will be among the promising upcoming zones, as it is expected to be jointly managed by Oman and Saudi Arabia. Further, there is a study to complete the planning aspects of Al Rawdah Zone in Al Buraimi Governorate and other zones too,” he stated.

Also present at the media briefing were Eng Ahmed bin Hassan al Dheeb, Deputy Chairman - OPAZ, CEOs of the special economic zones and free zones, and other dignitaries.

Dr Al Sunaidy also listed a number of important initiatives undertaken during 2022 to support the development of its growing network of economic zones. It includes the completion of the infrastructure facilities and the installation of gantry cranes in the Port of Duqm. Also in Duqm, the new multi-purpose fishing port has been completed and handed over to the operating company.

In addition, a pipeline bringing gas from central Oman to Duqm has been brought into Oman, while an oil pipeline from Ras Markaz to Duqm Refinery has been completed as well. Meanwhile, work on an internal network supplying gas to the industrial blocks in Duqm is underway, while the electricity network connection is close to completion, he said.

In 2022, OPAZ made tremendous efforts to unify the legislative system, complete the law on special economic zones and free zones, restructuring the procedures of the one-stop shop in Duqm, and to implement the one-stop experience in the zones supervised by OPAZ to issue all approvals, licenses and certificates, in addition to OPAZ efforts in the digital transformation through a number of applications with the aim of facilitating and accelerating investors’ services and activating an access system for documents control. Thus, OPAZ has decided to stop receiving paper transactions by the end of next June, except for some government correspondences.

In the field of financial sustainability, OPAZ was able to reprogram the financing agreements and provide financing coverage for a number of infrastructure projects with a total of RO 46 million without the need to refer to the government’s treasury. It is also working to benefit from the savings of financing agreements after completing some infrastructure projects with a maximum of up to RO 50 million by using old loans instead of getting new loans at the meantime. This will assist in financing urgent projects, which include those enabling the provision infrastructure services for renewable energy projects.

In the field of green hydrogen, OPAZ signed agreements with Hyport Duqm and Acme Group, he said. OPAZ is also studying other requests for renewable energy projects in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, with the goal of enhancing Duqm’s appeal to industries and mining projects that use renewable energy.

Moreover, OPAZ is currently coordinating with the Authority for Public Services Regulation (APSR) and Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) to develop a mechanism for approving certificates for the use of renewable energy for factories operating in Salalah Free Zone to enable them to export green products using part of the wind energy that is generated from Harweel field and transferred to Salalah, he said.

OPAZ also signed three memorandums of understanding to establish metals based projects in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm with Jindal Shadeed, Mitsui and Kobe Steel of Japan. These companies use natural gas in manufacturing operations at the beginning, and will use green hydrogen in the future to produce green steel. Soon, a major mining project will be announced soon, he said.

On the pharma front, Felix Pharmaceutical Industries was inaugurated in Salalah Free Zone in January 2023. Likewise, Salalah Free Zone, Sohar Free Zone and Raysut Industrial Zone are well-positioned to cater to pharmaceutical and medical materials industries.

OPAZ’s mandate covers the Special Economic Zone in Duqm, three free zones (Sohar, Salalah, and Al Mazunah), and nine industrial cities administered by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn). Additionally, eight other zones are currently under development, two of which are economic zones, and one is a free zone, while there are five industrial cities located in various parts of Oman. As many as 130 new usufruct agreements were signed last year, adding to the 3,246 projects currently housed across the diverse zones.