An ambitious Food City initiative, currently under development within Khazaen Economic City at Barka in South Al Batinah Governorate, is set to be the largest of its kind in the Sultanate of Oman to date.
Covering an area of over 1 million square metres, the Food City – first unveiled earlier this year – will be anchored by the Khazaen Central Fruit and Vegetable Market. It will also host a food industries zone earmarked for food packaging and distribution related activities, and a food processing cluster for value-adding investments. Total investments in the Food City are projected at over RO 40 million.
In a tweet on Sunday highlighting the significance of the project, Khazaen said: “The Food City is a national integrated project in the food sector that strives to develop a structure for food industries in the Sultanate and achieve the objectives of the national food security strategy.”
It added that the initiative – the first of its kind in Oman – will support the export, import, distribution and marketing of fruits and vegetables, among other food products, besides enhancing supply and cold chains.
Driving much of the investment in the new Food City will be the Khazaen Fruit and Vegetable Central Market SAOC, which was set up to develop Oman’s new centralized fruits and vegetables depot upon the eventual shuttering of the current wholesale and warehousing market at Al Mawaleh in Muscat Governorate.
A consortium of public and private sector shareholders, comprising Oman Infrastructure Fund (Rakiza), Salim & Partners LLC, Al Kalbani Group and Khazaen Development and Investment Company, has been set up to fund, develop and manage the new market in Khazaen.
Significantly, the availability of massive quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables is expected to spawn investments in a wide array of food processing, warehousing and logistics, cold chain infrastructure, transportation and handling, lab testing and recycling activities at the Food City.
Officials also envisage the potential for investments in customized reception centres for arriving trucks, air-conditioned wholesale markets, auction floors, onion and potato sorting sheds, forklift operation units, truck parking services and related services.
The Omani government, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, Oman Investment Authority, the Oman Food Investment Holding Company (Nitaj), and Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), among other agencies, is making a concerted effort to enhance the country’s overall food security.
