Muscat: Khazaen Economic City (KEC), the master developer of the new 52 million square metre integrated economic city in Barka, will soon be announcing the detailed master plan of the new city
Khalid bin Awadh Al Balushi, CEO of KEC said that the detailed designs of the city have reached a very advanced stage and will be announced in the near future. The first construction contracts will be awarded and construction works will commence in the second half of 2019.
KEC’s announcement comes few days after signing the first investment agreements with the international investor to set up two production plants in Khazaen.
The first project is an investment by Hema Leading Line, which will focus on products based on blending petrochemical raw materials for road and building applications.
The second project will manufacture Water Disinfecting System products to produce Organic cleaner and antibacterial liquid, to be set up in Khazaen by Muscat Manufacturing and Industries.
Al Balushi said that the Economic City is gearing up to sign a number of similar investment agreements in the coming weeks; a sign of the increasing interest from across Oman, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and around the world in Khazaen’s business-sense location and strategic positioning between Sohar Port, Muscat International Airport and Muscat City.
“Over the last months, we have focused on building Khazaen’s unique selling proposition as the region’s leading new investment destination. This public-private partnership, pioneered by Asyad, is already attracting foreign companies, which will create jobs, enable economic multipliers supporting logistics SMEs and encourage local raw material refining into value added products. We are reaping the fruits of our hard work,” Al Balushi added.
Khazaen is the largest public and private partnership (PPP) project in the Sultanate of Oman. The first phase of the city will include one-of-a-kind facilities, such as the first dry port in Oman, free zone, logistics and industrial complexes, social infrastructure, residential, commercial and entertainment components.
“Such investment will help achieve the vision and objectives of Khazaen by FDIs, process local and regional products into value added products and supplying these to local and regional markets,” Al Balushi added.