Oman’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP) has outlined as many as 90 investment opportunities distributed across eight key sectors – Tourism, Logistics & Food, Fishing, Health, ICT, Mining & Industry, Waste Management, and Education – with an aggregate investment potential estimated in excess of RO 2.8 billion.
A sizable number of these ventures, notably in Tourism, Food and Mining, are being spearheaded by public sector organisations that have the government’s mandate to drive investment and development in their assigned sectors.
Thus, for example, Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) is driving the development of large portfolio of the ventures identified for local and international investment in the tourism sector.
Other key stakeholder institutions playing a principal role in promoting key projects in their respective sectors include Oman Investment Authority (OIA), Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP), Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, Oman Food Investment Holding Company (OFIC), Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), Oman Environmental Services Holding (be’ah), Environment Authority, Minerals Development Oman (MDO), and Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation.
In the tourism sector, as many as 17 projects, including several in early stages of development, have been outlined for implementation at a total cost of around RO 1.33 billion.
The list includes plans for a world-class leisure and entertainment hub in Barka, mix-use waterfront developments in Muscat and Salalah, beachfront hotel and resort developments in Muscat, Dhofar and Musandam, ecotourism attractions at multiple locations, beachside resorts and marina facilities at Duqm, and wellness centres.
The next big sector in terms of the number and size of investments is the combination of Mining & Industry. A total of 57 different projects, ranging from small-scale ventures to mega size schemes, are being promoted for local and international investment.
Worth over RO 620 million in total investments, they pertain to the production of, among other commodities, ferrochrome, magnesium metal, industrial salt, gypsum, limestone and dolomite, sodium silicate, calcium carbonate, cement, marble, engineered quartz stones and quarry material.
Also listed as promising for investment are industrial and manufacturing activities focused on: evaporated and condensed milk, value-added fisheries, breakfast cereals, poultry meat, fibreglass boat, precast concrete panels, float glass, aluminium containers, pipes, PP women bags, prefab buildings, rebars, steel wire and barbed wire, wire nails, nuts and bolts, cables, steel and stainless steel.
The waste management sector features five projects with an investment potential of about RO 587 million.
They include an array of waste-to-energy projects, primarily for the generation of electricity, but also biogas, used cooking oil refining, and processing of electrical or electronic waste.
Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), an affiliate of Oman Investment Authority, plans to develop a major shellfish project on a 1,700 hectare site near Duqm.
In the health sector, an ambitious Life Sciences Centre is planned in South Al Batinah with an investment of around RO 100 million.
Madayn, the state-backed entity managing the country’s industrial cities, is seeking investments in new manufacturing hubs planned in Shinas, Marmul and Thamrait.
OFIC, the government’s food sector investment and development arm, has invited investors to be part of a unique Techno-Food Park, which is planned in the capital city with an investment of around RO 6.5 million.
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