Sugar mill to be established in Salalah Free Port

In an effort to diversify its cargo operations, the port of Salalah in Oman looking to establish a sugar plant and has begun talks with investors, according to local media source Oman Daily Observer.    The Salalah Free Zone in Oman may gain a new sugar mill project, according to local news source the Oman Daily Observer.
   Discussions with an “unspecified investor” for the development of a sugar plant in Salalah are underway along with talks about the scope and scale of the project, said the Oman Daily Observer. The proposed venture was brought about by the directors’ report of Salalah Port’s financial and operational performance for the first half of the year, which stated that, “Once firmed up and implemented, the sugar plant will also spur the growth of Omani origin export cargo shipped out by container — thereby meeting Salalah Port’s longstanding ambition to boost ‘gate cargo’ at the maritime hub.”
   If developed, the plant will join Oman’s maiden sugar refinery which is currently being developed at Sohar Port and Freezone in North Al Batinah Governorate with an investment of around $200 million, said the Oman Daily Observer. 
   “The initiatives to diversify the cargo mix at the general cargo terminal from its present over-reliance on aggregates is starting to achieve results with agreements being signed with Salalah LPG for handling LPG at the port, agreements being pursued for the tank farm and the setting up of a sugar plant,” said Chairman Ahmed bin Nasser al Mahrizi of the Salalah Port Services Co SAOG.
   According to the report, the main plant will stretch from the free zone to the waterfront and adjoining port. Unloaders, storage silos and a conveyor belt system along the quay will link the plant together, said the Oman Daily Observer.