The Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) is readying itself to soon start the development of the Mahas Industrial City in Musandam Governorate.

The contracts for the development of infrastructure, roads and service networks in Oman’s first industrial city in Musandam would be awarded in September, according to Madayn.

‘Strategically located in the harbour town of Khasab on the Musandam Peninsula, Mahas Industrial City is another project that Madayn is proud to have in its development pipeline. Madayn is readying itself to transition into the next phase of Mahas Industrial City’s development,’ Madayn said in the latest issue of its e-magazine released on Monday.

While the planned Mahas Industrial City is still largely in its planning and development phase, Madayn had originally established the city’s location in 2017.

The layout of Mahas Industrial City is being developed based on its strategic position on the Arabian Gulf and close proximity to regional markets as well as its accessibility to the Musandam Governorate’s natural resources.

Mubarak Salem al Ghailani, acting director general of MahasIndustrial City, said that the current on-site administration team will be in action and operating out of the temporary administrative building in the Wilayat of Khasab as of this month.

Madayn also appointed a specialised consultant to conduct an economic study on the various commercial and industrial activities to be localised within Mahas Industrial City’s 1.444mn sqm area.

The findings from the study indicate that Mahas Industrial City would be suitable for light to medium-size food processing industries such as canning and packaging of fish and meat products and drinking-water purification and packaging. The city would also be suitable for building material manufacturing, logistics operations and production of furniture, fabrics and other products.

Total volume of investments in the Mahas Industrial City has reached up to RO28mn until middle of 2021, Ghilani said, adding that a number of new investment applications have been received recently.

Ghilani added that the total leased area in the current location reached 14,800 sqm, and mainly included cement and concrete production, quarried building material and asphalt, as well as an 80MW capacity electricity generation plant.