Duqm Zone’s Committed Investment Hits OMR 8.818 Billion

FTZ News: By the end of June the Special Economic Zone at Duqm had 8.818 billion Omani rials in committed cumulative investment, the zone authority said. At the rial’s peg that is about $22.9 billion.

The Oman News Agency put the number out this week. Times of Oman printed it Wednesday. The Foreign Ministry’s site carried the same stock figure on Sept. 23, the day Sultan Haitham bin Tarik walked the zone. Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, who chairs the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones, told ONA the 2021 total had been 3.650 billion rials. From that base the increase is 141 percent. The ministry added that investment in Duqm is getting close to 9 billion rials.

Al Yousef credited infrastructure put in over five years, the incentive sheet and what he described as an easier climate for investors. He gave port numbers for 2021–2025: cargo through Duqm up 5.66 percent, dry bulk 3.88%, roll-on/roll-off 8.2%. The refinery, he said, is at 255,000 barrels a day. From 2020 through the end of last year the dry dock completed about 1,340 projects.

Wednesday’s visit took in the port as well as the industrial ground. Al Yousef received the sultan there with managers from companies already on site. Officials briefed him on the investment rise and on plans for more Omani and foreign money. He told them to keep working the Arabian Sea location. ONA said he left a written note calling the zone a pillar of Vision 2040.

OPAZ is still shopping for projects that match the net-zero timetable and green hydrogen. The 8.818 billion is the committed stock through June. The notices this week do not break out how much of that cash has already been spent./.

photo: omannews.gov.om