Muscat, Dec 29 - The Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) has signed an agreement with its wholly owned subsidiary, Oman Investment and Development Holding Company (Mubadrah), for the management and development of Rusayl Industrial City. The agreement was signed by Ahmed bin Hassan al Dheeb, Chairman of Madayn’s board of directors, and Hilal bin Hamad al Hasani, Chairman of Mubadrah’s board of directors.
Through this agreement, Rusayl Industrial City will be the first industrial estate to be managed and operated according to the private sector’s regulations in the Sultanate. This comes in line with Madayn’s board of directors’ decision to adopt the programme of strengthening partnership with the private sector (PPP) emanating from the system (law) of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates issued by Royal Decree No 32/2015, as Madayn may contract one or more developers who are eligible and have technical, financial, and administrative efficiency to develop the zone or part thereof under an investment agreement.
Commenting on this deal, Al Dheeb stated the agreement with Mubadrah as the main developer of Rusayl Industrial City is the first step to gradually transform the rest of Madayn’s estates. “This step will be evaluated and based on the results, the rest of the estates will be transformed according to an approved timeline that will last for four years,” Al Dheeb said, adding: “This comes in line with Madayn’s adopted approach to strengthen Public-Private Partnership (PPP), especially in the field of constructing, managing and operating the industrial estates and the economic areas through attracting major developers to all the new industrial estates. The PPP approach also opens the way for the private sector to work under the umbrella of Madayn as owners and developers of the economic areas of a variety of investment activities.”
As per the time-plan, the role of Madayn by 2022 will be linked to planning, regulating, monitoring and following-up, while the role of Mubadrah will be developing, managing and operating as a main developer in the existing industrial estates, as well as attracting local and international developers as key operators of the new estates.
Hilal bin Hamad al Hasani, Chairman of Mubadrah’s board of directors, said Rusayl Industrial City will be a successful model for all of Madayn’s estates located across the Sultanate. “At the same time, Rusayl Industrial City needs to accelerate the pace of its many operations especially those related to the rehabilitation of infrastructure, public utilities and acceleration of the required services,” Al Hasani said, adding: “In 2019, around RO 50 million will be allocated to implement the expansion phases in Rusayl Industrial City and rehabilitate the existing phases.”
As for the estates where there are general implementation plans, Mubadrah will take care of completing the implementation in coordination with Madayn. The development covers all infrastructure, superstructure and management operations including roads, water, telecom and electricity networks, and rainwater drainage, in addition to the establishment of residential areas and tourist resorts to serve the investing companies. This is in addition to the establishment and implementation of logistics projects, power plants, water desalination plants, drilling of wells and purification plants.
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