Karwa Motors mulls production of electric buses, vehicles

New era: ‘Salam’ branded ‘Made in the Sultanate of Oman’ buses roll out from Duqm plant

MUSCAT: Karwa Motors, the Sultanate of Oman’s first bus brand with a manufacturing facility in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD), rolled out its first Karwa-branded bus proudly bearing the ‘Made in the Sultanate of Oman’ tag, named ‘Salam’.

Karwa Motors is a joint investment project between the Sultanate of Oman and the State of Qatar, which in its first phase aims to produce 500 buses annually.

Karwa Motors is a joint venture between Mowasalat Qatar, the state-owned transport company of Qatar, owning a 70 per cent share and Oman Investment Authority (OIA), owning the remaining 30 per cent.

This partnership depicts the strong political and economic relations binding the two brotherly countries, which have been positively reflected in the wide range of successful cooperation projects over the years.

The first phase of operations at the Karwa Motors facility will focus on manufacturing buses for the Fifa World Cup 2022 in Doha next year.

Due to its strategic location close to the regional market, the project is well-positioned to contribute to the success of this global event by reducing workloads, shipping times, and storage costs.

Moreover, this step also reflects Mowasalat Qatar’s vision in enhancing the contribution of neighbouring countries to the success of this global event.

Commenting on the rollout of the first-ever Karwa-branded bus, Hisham bin Ahmed al Sheedi, Acting Director of Economic Diversification Investments at OIA said, “The Karwa facility represents one of the most important strategic projects between the Sultanate of Oman and Qatar.

The two countries continue to seek potential investment opportunities across several vital and promising sectors underlining the strong ties between them and the shared interests that have been addressed regularly by both governments and people.

The OIA invests in such projects to not only support the Sultanate of Oman’s economic diversification efforts, but also move us closer towards realising our vision of developing Oman’s logistics sector and establishing Oman as an industrial hub for the region.

Moreover, the project will also help us as a nation enhance our technical expertise in the automotive sector and develop supplementary industries that will support its growth, including several new small and medium-sized businesses.”

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