Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Muscat: Dubai-based conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim’s (MAF) investments in Oman will create 42,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the next five years, a top official from the conglomerate said.
Read also: Huge snow park, 350 shops to form part of OMR275 million Mall of Oman
“With the upcoming large scale investments in Oman, we will be able to create 16,973 direct jobs and 25,459 indirect jobs,” Alain Bejjani, the chief executive officer of Majid Al Futtaim, said. Since the company began its Oman operations in 2001, it has generated more than 23,000 jobs in the construction and operations sectors.
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“We will be able to provide 65,000 new jobs in Oman,” the official said, adding that currently, it has been able to maintain 88 per cent Omanisation in the shopping retail sector, 37 per cent in Carrefour and 67 per cent in Al Mouj.
The company official was talking on the sidelines of an event to announce that it will be making OMR515 million worth of additional investment in Oman by 2020.
“The company’s investment strategy includes the Mall of Oman (estimated at OMR275 million), City Centre Sohar (estimated at OMR45 million), My City Centre Sur (estimated at OMR15 million), and additional investments from its retail, leisure and entertainment businesses (estimated at OMR180 million) including Magic Planet, Carrefour and VOX Cinemas,” the official said.
New opportunities
Meanwhile, referring to the effect of a dip in oil prices on the region, the official conceded that there has been an impact but added that the crisis has led to new initiatives being taken up.
“The initiatives undertaken by Oman and other countries to cushion the oil price dip effect have opened up new opportunities, which will fuel the development process and progress further,” the official added.
According to the official, Oman is turning into a leading shopping destination in the region and the footfalls in its shopping malls are promising.
“When the Mall of Oman opens in 2020, it will be the largest integrated retail, leisure and entertainment destination in Oman with 350 outlets sprawling over a 137,000 sqm retail space. It will feature many ‘firsts’ including Oman’s largest snow-park, with an 8,000 sqm play area, and a Little Explorers edutainment centre,” the official added.
The Mall of Oman will also include Oman’s first Abercrombie and Fitch and largest VOX Cinemas and Magic Planet, the leading family entertainment centre in the region, as well as a 13,200 sqm Carrefour hypermarket and a 292 room hotel, completing its integrated offer. It is estimated that the Mall of Oman’s development will generate 29,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
City Centre Sohar, set to open in 2018, will be home to 100 new retail outlets across 40,000 sqm. The mall will create an estimated 8,000 employment opportunities in Oman.
My City Centre Sur, which will open in 2017, will include 16,500 sqm of retail space, comprising 50 outlets, a 6,850 sqm Carrefour hypermarket, Oman’s first City Centre Clinic and a Magic Planet.
The project will create more than 3,500 direct and indirect job opportunities.
Majid Al Futtaim is also expanding its existing City Centre Qurum shopping mall in Muscat.
The revamp will see the introduction of Centrepoint, the multi-brand retail concept, as well as additional car parking spaces.
Furthermore, the company is developing the next phase of Al Mouj Muscat, an oceanfront mixed-use destination, and is also expanding its VOX Cinemas and Carrefour hypermarkets to new locations across Oman.
The continued investment in Oman’s retail and leisure infrastructure by Majid Al Futtaim supports the country’s National Strategy for Tourism 2040, which targets a 6 per cent rise in the contribution of the tourism sector to the GDP and a near doubling of visitor numbers to five million annually.
