Oman’s first integrated light industries city set

MUSCAT — Oman’s first integrated light industries city, which will be developed by Sandan Development at a cost of OMR100 million, is expected to be complete in the middle of 2018, catering to automotive and construction sectors. The first-of-its-kind project will be constructed over 250,000sqm of land, located 5km away from Al Mabailah exit at the express way. The details of the project were announced at a press conference at Grand Hyatt Hotel on Monday. It was attended by Saleem bin Hassan Al Balushi, the assistant director general of the Directorate General of Real Estate Development at the Ministry of Housing; Said bin Naser bin Salim Al Rashdi, the chief executive officer of Sandan, and a number of other officials. According to Al Rashdi, the city will host 2,200 workshops and exhibitions for building materials and automotive, 400 offices and 1,800 residential units for workers. All the units of the project – including workshops, offices, tradeshows and residential units – will be offered for direct sale, and buyers have the opportunity to pay in interest-free installments extending for 18 months. All facilities, such as hypermarket, restaurants, hospital and mosque, are expected to be available for the expected 15,000 people who will reside in the city. Al Rashdi said that private investors have invested in the land and the project and Sandan will be the developer of the project. At the moment, there is no foreign investor in the project, he noted. He added that Sandan has been established to deliver this specific project and may get involved in developing similar projects in other areas of Oman in the future. According to Al Rashdi, the project will be developed in four phases. The first phase is related to the auto industry and the second one to the construction sector. Sale for the first two phases will be launched at the same time on February 22 and the two other phases will be sold later. Commenting on the construction of the project, he stated that a tender will be floated in April and the construction is expected to start by June or July this year. The work team had assigned the comprehensive feasibility study to PwC, a leading global company, and the technical feasibility study to Huller, a leading German company. Project drawings have been approved by the Ministry of Housing, Royal Oman Police (ROP) and the Civil Defense. At least 8,000 jobs are to be accommodated after the completion of the project, Al Rashdi said, adding that it cannot be said that these would be new jobs as some of the businesses will only be shifting there. He said that it is not clear how many jobs will be created during the construction of the project. — Agencies