Underscoring the strong impetus being accorded to the manufacturing sector in Oman Vision 2040, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) has announced plans for the establishment of yet another industrial city – this time in the Wilayat of Adam in Al Dakhiliyah Governorate.
Saih A’Saraiyya Industrial City is proposed to be set up not far from Adam Airport on a 10 million sq metre site on the road to Fahud. A recent tender floated by Madayn in this regard invites qualified local and international engineering consultants to bid for a contract to prepare the master-plan for the new industrial city.
The master-plan study will help in assessing the investment potential of the new site, as well as provide a tool in its eventual marketing, a high-level official told the Observer.
Saih A’Saraiyya Industrial City is the latest in a flurry of manufacturing hubs planned for development in the coming years in line with the government’s strategy to position the manufacturing and industrial sector as one of several key ‘engines’ to drive economic diversification in the Sultanate.
Alongside manufacturing as ‘economic engines’ are Fisheries, Tourism, Logistics and Mining, among other enablers.
Madayn’s expanding network of industrial cities, distributed across the length and breadth of the Sultanate, now cover a total area of around 140 million sq metres.
Total investment in these hubs is estimated at RO 6.8 billion, with as many as 2,200 projects in operation across these clusters, employing in excess of 62,000 people.
These industrial cities produced goods worth RO 3.7 billion last year, roughly 73 per cent of which was export, according to officials.
Industrial cities are also on the anvil in a number of greenfield locations of the country, aimed at catalysing economic development in those respective regions while also exploiting locally available natural resources and synergies with other economic sectors, notably the Oil & Gas industry.
In the oilfield province of Marmul, which falls within the concession of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Madayn and PDO are in collaboration for the establishment of Marmul Industrial City in the Wilayat of Shaleem and Al Halaniyat Islands.
Located midway between Duqm and Salalah, Marmul Industrial City is ideally positioned for investment that targets, among other areas, the hugely promising oilfield and mining sectors.
Just last month, Madayn formally laid the groundwork for the establishment of a major industrial city at Ibri in Dhahirah Governorate. It awarded a contract for the provision of basic infrastructure for Phase 1 of a new manufacturing hub planned over a 10 million sq metre area.
Its strategic location on the road leading to Saudi Arabia, coupled with its close proximity to Oman’s oilfield areas, makes it an attractive investment destination.
Ibri Industrial City will target investments in oil and gas services, mining, marble, food industries, building materials, warehouses, and showrooms. Furthermore, when a new border crossing opens on the Oman-Saudi border in The Empty Quarter, Ibri Industrial City will serve as a hub for the movement of goods between the two countries.
Suhar Industrial City, one of the largest in Madayn’s portfolio, is being expanded to accommodate a first-of-its-kind Madayn Vehicle Complex (Motkar) featuring an integrated hub for car trading, spare parts, car accessories and services, and showrooms on an area covering 1 million sq metres.
Also envisaged is a Plastics Industrial Complex, set on an area of 1 million sq metres, for plastics related investments downstream of OQ’s multibillion-dollar Liwa Plastics project.
