To benefit from the experience of retired Omani professionals and utilise their knowledge, Salalah Free Zone (SFZ) will launch an initiative called ‘Omani Expert’ on July 20. The programme will help not only the retirees but also the companies looking for expert opinion and contribution, in turn, helping enrich the labour market.

Ali bin Mohammed Tabouk, CEO of Salalah Free Zone, said “The Omani Expert initiative will enable every retired citizen with experience to upload his data and display his experience through the site that will be launched on July 20. Current and future companies in Salalah Free Zone will have all this data at their fingertips so as to easily contact the experts according to their needs. This will facilitate the presence of expert Omani hands instead of relying on experts from outside the sultanate.”

Talking about other projects which have facilitated smooth business at Salalah Free Zone, Tabouk  said they have established a health outlet in the customs inspection yard to respond to requests from investing companies. “The aim is to inspect truck drivers, facilitate export operations to neighbouring markets, and organise the transit of trucks and goods with ease, while adhering to health obligations. The outlet also provides masks, medical gloves, sterilisation material and temperature checks to reduce the spread of coronavirus pandemic.”

On the progress of work at the free zone, he said that 7% construction work of Mazaya Logistics Station ‘2’ is complete which will provide 25,000 square meters of warehouses. “We aim to rent 30% of the facility by November 2020. We will also open and operate five factories in November 2020,  such as

GulfTech which will produce 4,000 tonnes of plastic, paper and aluminum products annually and Healthy Oceans, for which the foundation stone was laid in January 2020. We have signed seven investment agreements until the end of the first half of this year, bringing the total investment agreements in the Salalah free zone to 88 with a volume of investments to the tune of RO3.3bn (or more than US$8.7bn). It will create more than 8,000 direct jobs.”