BARKA: Khazaen Economic City announces the nearing opening date of the Central Market for Vegetables and Fruits by the end of the first half (H1)of 2024, where the project's completion rate has exceeded 98 per cent.
Salem bin Suleiman al Thuhli, CEO of the Khazaen Economic City, said that the Central Market project for vegetables and fruits (Salal) is one of the main components of the Food City and is considered the largest and most modern market in the region, with a total investment size for its development from the private sector exceeding RO 50 million, pointing out that the new market in its new form is an international and local platform for marketing, distribution, storage, import, and re-export of vegetables and fruits.
He emphasized that the market is a national marketing window for local agricultural products, as it was established on an area of 500,000 square meters, expandable in the future, equivalent to five times the current market's area. The new market (Salal) will contribute to reducing the loss or damage of vegetables and fruits, which currently reaches approximately 30-35 per cent.
The new market also offers numerous investment opportunities for small and medium enterprises in the field of ground handling, business center, diverse selling booths distributed in the market, and many business opportunities in addition to redefining the marketing concept of local products.
He indicated that the market includes several integrated supportive facilities for the logistics sector, most notably the central cooling, wholesale market, dry stores, vegetable and fruit sorting workshops, customs inspection platform, agricultural quarantine, food safety laboratory, places dedicated to selling and marketing local products, and administrative offices for wholesalers.
He confirmed that there are strategic objectives for the Central Market project for vegetables and fruits, the most important of which is contributing to achieving food security strategy by attracting local and foreign investments in the food sector, as well as improving the performance and quality of work in the vegetable and fruit sector. The market provides integrated logistical solutions for central cold and dry storage to reduce loss of vegetables and fruits, improving cooling and supply chains, in addition to creating direct marketing opportunities for local products, Omani farms, and local companies operating in the agricultural production sector.
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