Integrated central market project planned for Salalah

Muscat: An integrated central market project for fruit, vegetables, fish, meat and livestock is currently being considered for Salalah, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said.
The appropriate location for the project has already been determined and all the required environmental approvals have been sought. The Dhofar Municipality will present the project for bidding, enabling the private sector to invest in the project.
This was discussed at the second meeting held by the Ministerial Committee of Food Safety last Thursday, which was headed by Dr. Ali bin Masoud bin Ali Al Sunaidi, minister of Commerce and Industry and the chairman of the Committee in the presence the members of the committee at the Ministry’s main building.
The committee also discussed three alternatives for the establishment of the central market for livestock and its slaughterhouse. The suggested location in Al Suwaiq was adopted after completing discussions and environmental approvals and it will be presented for bidding by the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources.
The project is expected to forge a connection between the market and the Al Suwaiq port for the entry of livestock in the future.
In the framework of raising local self-sufficiency for red meats, white meats, eggs, fodder, milk, crops of fruits and vegetables, the committee also reviewed the developments of six projects of Oman Food Investment Holding Co. (SAOC), which are the Mazoon Dairy Company in the Al Buraimi Governorate, the Al Namaa Poultry Company that has allocated a location for the project in Ad Dhahira, the Al Basha’ar Company for the production of red meats in Al Najed in Dhofar governorate and the project of assembling and manufacturing dairy in Dhofar governorate, which was discussed with the Dhofar Cattle Feed Company to use its available energy for the trail production.
A farm marketing project, the establishment of dates’ factories, a veterinary medicines project, a soy production project, which is in the stages of economic feasibility and evaluation studies between the company and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries were also discussed.
The committee also considered a report by experts at the World Food Programme (WFP) in Oman, which was published in cooperation with the Public Authority for Stores and Food Reserve and other government bodies, to provide consulting services on the subject of healthy nutrition consumption and providing an appropriate vision to create a food security information system in the Sultanate, by creating a committee headed by the Ministry of Health, along with the membership of the Ministry of Education and other bodies to develop a comprehensive vision for a national programme on school meals, as well as to follow up the project of providing food for the students of basic education, which will be prepared in cooperation with the Oman Flour Mills Company.
It also evaluated reports from the General Authority for Stores on strategic inventory movement in the Sultanate and viewed the global movement of basic food stuff prices according to the production, consumption, inventory and future predictions.
In order to raise the amount of basic commodities in the Sultanate, the committee approved the invitation of importers and exporters from both inside and outside the Sultanate to exploit the available stores in the Public Authority for Stores and Food Reserves for the storage of commodities in order to provide the domestic market for export in coordination with the General Administration of Customs to facilitate customs exemption procedures and the reduction of customs guarantees for companies desirous of benefitting from the Sultanate as a site for the storage of grains and basic food stuff for re-exports.
The committee is keen to continue its coordinating efforts between the government and local grinders companies on the expansion of the storage capacity of wheat and export products, along with what is provided for the local market. It recommended during the meeting exploiting the ports in both of North and South Al Batinah governorates and the Musandam governorate in order to receive basic food stuff shipments, such as livestock, vegetables and fruits coming from the major Asian markets.