Oman's Sohar Port to get $250m sugar refinery

Oman Sugar Refinery Company (OSRC) recently signed a design and construction agreement for a sugar refinery worth $250m with China Light Industrial Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technical Cooperation on Saturday, 6 June, 2015.

A separate contract worth $10m will be signed for the construction of a natural gas pipeline to meet the energy requirements of the project.

The sugar refinery project, which will be located at Sohar Port and Freezone, is expected to create job opportunities for Omani nationals and stimulate investment opportunities, as reported by Oman Daily Observer.

OSRC, whose main promoter is Nasser Ali Saif al Hosni, a Tanzania-based Omani businessman, has already signed a lease agreement with the port for a 180,000m2 waterfront location for the project.

Output is initially envisaged at 700,000 tonnes in the first phase, and ramped up to 1m tonnes within three years thereafter.

Sohar Port's executive commercial manager Edwin Lammers remarked: 'Today's signing of the engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) contract for the sugar refinery project is significant for us because it represents the first development on the ground of an ambitious Food Cluster envisioned at the port and freezone.

'With the sugar refinery project now set to move ahead, coupled with plans for a flour mill, strategic grain silos, agro terminal and a food processing company, we will eventually see the development of a full-fledged Food Cluster taking shape in Sohar Port. This will undoubtedly spur interest in Sohar as a destination for agri-industrial investments as well,' he explained.

Construction work on the sugar refinery complex will commence soon after the Holy Month of Ramadan.

'It is the ambition of the promoters to start work shortly after the Eid holiday once the contractor mobilises on site. The project is expected to be completed around 18 months after construction commences,' Lammers said.

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