Oman offers immense investment opportunities to Indian companies

Muscat: Oman offers immense investment opportunities to Indian companies as developers, contractors, vendors and suppliers in a wide range of sectors, said senior officials at a business-to-business (B2B) forum held here on Tuesday.
With Tanfeedh proposing several projects worth of billions of dollars, Indian business houses can take advantage of these opportunities.
Addressing a B2B meeting organised by the Indian embassy here for Indian companies participating in the Big Show, Shahswar G Al Balushi, chief executive officer of the Oman Society of Contractors, said there are ample opportunities available in planned projects, such as those in the railway, power generation, desalination, renewable energy, port, tourism projects and logistics sectors.
The meeting was organised under the auspices of Dr. Ali bin Masoud bin Ali Al Sunaidy, minister of commerce and industry of the Sultanate.
Al Balushi said the Sultanate will be investing $4.2 billion in various logistics projects—in the Khazaen logistics area, GCC land connectivity and Salalah Port expansion—for another three years until 2020.
Similarly, the envisaged investment in integrated tourism projects, leisure facilities and hotels is estimated at $1.8 billion till 2020. Also, the investment proposed for building petrochemical, metal, non-metal and food processing industries is estimated to be $10.5 billion by 2020.
Also, the major projects which are under different stages of planning and development include a water front development at the Muscat port, the Madinat Al Irfan project, the Mall of Oman and Palm Mall Muscat. The Oman government expects major participation from the private sector, including foreign investors in all these ventures. All these projects offer immense opportunities for Indian firms, as suppliers and vendors, noted Al Balushi.
Al Balushi further said that Oman, which has trade relations with 176 countries, has around $9.7 billion worth of trade per annum with these countries.
Echoing a similar view, Abdulrahman Al Hatmi, CEO of Oman Global Logistics Group, said the country has a plan to invest more than $40 billion in highways, rail, port, airport and free trade zones. The Sultanate has so far invested more than $50 billion for developing these facilities.
Addressing the meeting, Indra Mani Pandey, India’s ambassador to the Sultanate, said bilateral trade between Oman and India had declined by 30 per cent in the last two years. “We have to address this challenge by expanding our trade basket and by enhancing ties between business communities of both countries.”
He also said that around 70 Indian companies are participating in the Big Show, which reflects a tremendous response from the Indian side. For the first time, two leading Indian business chambers, namely the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), have lead Indian firms and set up an ‘India pavilion’ at the Big Show.
Indian companies belong to a wide range of sectors, including building materials, construction equipment, ceramics and tiles, bathroom fittings, wood machinery, interior design, stones and marbles, landscape designing, semi-precious gemstone, paints and chemicals, coir products, concrete and cement, footwear, food processing equipment, leather goods, surgical instruments and hand tools.