The Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (Opaz) has awarded the tender for the development, management and operation of a multipurpose fishing port in Duqm to an alliance of Oman and international companies led by state-owned Fisheries Development Oman (FDO).

Together with Fisheries Development Oman (FDO), the winning alliance includes Al Wusta Fisheries Company, Oman Food Investment Holding Company, Oman Fisheries company and Port of Duqm along with Lorient Keroman SEM which manages one of the major fishing ports in Europe.

The companies will invest an amount of RO50 million ($130 million) to develop, manage and operate the multipurpose fishing port, with the potential of expanding the facilities and services to include several operational and services aspects.

The agreement stipulates that the winning alliance pays 15 % of the annual net profits to the Authority for the management and operation of the port starting from the beginning of the third year from signing the agreement

The alliance shall also commit to include all related contracts signed in the future a provision for assigning 10 % of the works to SMEs and  commit to Omanization percentage as set forth in the laws of the Ministry of Labour and the Regulation of the Special Economic Zone at Duqm.

Hereby the agreement which extend for 28 years, the alliance will be evaluated based on performance indicators in light of the action plan provided within the bids of the land usufruct and the agreement for the development, management and operation of the Port signed with the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones to achieve the set objectives of the project.

The multipurpose fishing port is 10 meters deep and works are currently progressing to connect it to the road network and services facilities. It also includes main breakwater which is 2.2 km long and secondary breakwater 1.1 km long and the total lengths of the Jetties are around 1.2 km long, while the area allocated for the services facilities is 248,931 sq m. The Port is also equipped with tourism berth, stretching over 75,000 sq m that will provide its services for tourism ships within the plan of the projects.

Facilities complementing the multipurpose fishing port include fisheries & food processing complex connected to the main road and internal roads, which are 5.2 km long. The port will shortly provide its services to local fishermen, commercial fishing ships, livestock ships and ships designated for transporting foodstuff in addition to some tourism facilities and other services facilities. – TradeArabia News Service