Oman’s government has pledged more than $250 million in the development of an Integrated Fisheries Hub within the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.
According to a top official of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the amount will go towards the construction of a major commercial fisheries harbour, as well as infrastructure and utilities catering to investments in processing plants, cold stores, training centres, and quality testing laboratories.
Dr Hamed bin Said al Oufi, Under-Secretary for Fisheries Wealth, described the proposed Integrated Fisheries Hub at Duqm as the largest facility of its kind in the wider Gulf region. Spread over an area of eight square kilometres, the hub will be anchored by a commercial fishery harbour that will be the biggest of its kind in the Sultanate.
He told an investor forum held in the city recently that the fisheries hub was a key part of the Ministry’s strategy to support the growth of a sustainable fisheries sector in the Sultanate. This strategy, approved recently by the government, is designed to maximise socio-economic returns to Omanis engaged in the country’s fisheries sector, strengthen food security, generate jobs for nationals, and facilitate the introduction of technology and innovation in the industry, he added.
As a green-field development, the Fisheries Industrial Zone as the facility is formally called will be large enough to cater for expansion growth in the future. It will leverage Duqm’s proximity to major international markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East to attract strategic investors. Multimodal connectivity encompassing road, sea and air, as well as rail in the near future, will also enable the swift movement of raw fish and processed products in and out of Duqm, he noted.
A master plan commissioned by the Ministry, the Under-Secretary said, places the commercial fishery harbour just south of the Port of Duqm, with the Fisheries Industrial Zone due to be developed alongside.
Jetties will be designed to accommodate ocean-going fishing vessels, while the adjoining fisheries cluster will be ideally suited for a range of fishery-related investments, including fish processing, cold stores, office and agency representation, research and quality testing labs, and training institutes. Around 60 plots have been demarcated for allocation to investors in the initial phases of the cluster’s development, he said.
Al Oufi said the government was looking for strategic partners to help build and operate the Fisheries Industrial Zone. For its part, it would commit in excess of $250 million in the development of a commercial harbour and all support infrastructure. Prospective partners, he said, should ideally be ready to make a long-term business commitment to the Sultanate, and have a proven track record in fish processing and marketing.
Investors will be granted long-term land leases and financial incentives in the form of tax holidays, duty benefits and soft loans.
Importantly, the Integrated Fisheries Zone at Duqm will help provide strong impetus to the government’s goal of boosting fish production to around 1 million tonnes within the next decade, said the Under-Secretary.
We have approved a strategy for the fisheries sector in Oman. We are targeting to produce 500,000 tons of edible fish and another 400,000 tons of inedible fish. So we are talking about something close to one million tons of fish production in Oman in the next 10 -12 years, Al Oufi added.
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