The Salalah Free Zone has been attracting many projects worth several hundred million dollars which are presently under various stage of development and operation. The free zone is seeing significant investments from manufacturing, dairy and foodstuff processing, beverages bottling, and logistics and distribution, among other divisions. These segments are on the top of the $5 Billion investment which also contains the popularsegments of petrochemical, industrial and mineral.
The free zone is said to be the key player in attracting the pivotal logistics infrastructure, covering modern ports, airports, road and transportation corridors, free zones, and support services essentials. This accelerated growth of investments has also lead to an increase in the Company formation in Oman. Thecustomized infrastructure according to the client’s requirement of the free zone is one of the reasons for the pull of investments. The logistics leader DHL is the process of setting up alogistics hub with an investment of $12 million. The center includes warehouses, offices, a logistics training center and other facilities. This move of DHL has inspired the Salalah Free zone to set up it a logistics hub and a warehouse that can be leased out. This plan has attracted many global companies to set up operations in the Free zone.
The famous fashion brand JC Penney has invested 20 million dollars in the Salalah Free zone, and its output is mainly exported to the United States. This investment is based on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed by Oman with the US to secure duty-free exports to the United States. The Salalah Free zone has also attracted the investment of Octal Petrochemicals, which has invested $1.5 billion in a world-scale PET and APET manufacturing plant, as well as Salalah Methanol which is operating a $900 million methanol scheme in the free zone.
Many projects are now adding value to Oman’s mineral commodities sourced from mines located in the vicinity of Salalah, and the most notable investment is of the Carmeuse-Majan — a $180 million project that produces quicklime from limestone. There are also several new projects that are to start its operation in 2018 which includes a $50 million milk and dairy production plant of Oman Milk Products, a $2 million foodstuff import and export firm of BMC Al Mehdar, and a $23 million soft drinks and mineral water production facility of Healthy Beverage. At the same time, Darwesh Investment and Logistics are also developing a cold storage and warehousing complex with an investment of around $10 million.
The Salalah Free Zone has been lifted by the Billions of Dollars from investments in petrochemical, manufacturing, and logistics. The free zone presently accounts for 2.1% of the total GDP and also contributes around 20% of Oman’s non-oil exports and 22.6% of its manufacturing GDP. This conducive environment has lead to increase in the company formation in Oman.
