Investment opportunities worth OMR150m presented in seminar

MUSCAT: Industrial investment opportunities worth an estimated amount of OMR153.65 to OMR159.42 million in total were presented at a seminar organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Thursday.
Production of polyoxymethylene (POM), acetic acid, isocyanates (MDI), cold rolled products and ceramic tiles were discussed as five potential areas for investment during the event held at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).
The investment opportunities seminar was attended by Ahmed bin Hassan Al Dheeb, the ministry’s undersecretary, and a number of other officials as well as representatives of the business community.
During the first part of the seminar, Atif Elgozali, engineering expert at the industrial investment department of Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), gave a presentation on five potential projects, saying that only preliminary studies have been conducted and more detailed studies will be done later.

Job creation
According to him, the combined capacity of these projects reaches 345,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) and the proposed projects have the potential to provide 324 job opportunities.
The total area required for these projects is estimated to be in the range of 63,200 square meters, said Elgozali.
He added that the proposed projects are expected to add value to the locally produced chemicals, in particular methanol and benzene.
The return on investment for these projects ranges from 12 to 22 per cent, the expert said, adding that the break-even point as percentage of project sales for these projects lies in the range of 34 to 48 per cent.
The payback period for these projects will be in the range of 3.33 to six years, he pointed out.

Project identification
In addition, Elgozali stated that several points were taken into consideration for the identification of the projects.
According to him, the project must be new and not implemented yet in the Sultanate. Its major inputs must be available in either Oman or other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
The proposed products should meet local, regional or international demand. There should be an opportunity to export the products abroad.
The proposed project will facilitate the industrial integration with the existing industries in Oman. Process technology should be available for licensing. The products and process should be environmentally friendly and the project should provide job opportunities for Omani nationals.
During the second part of the seminar, investment opportunities in the logistics sector were discussed.