Sohar Port and Freezone in Oman has signed a land-lease agreement for a new 35,000 square metre copper tube mill.
Construction is expected to start later this year on the facility with a capacity to produce 15,000 metric tonnes per year of copper tubing, mainly for use in the manufacturing of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration systems.
The $46mn investment will be split between four main shareholders: Middle East Investment Co, Mohsin Haider Darwish Invesco, Hussain bin Salman Ghulam al Lawati, and Al Habib Holdings.
Under the agreement, a further 30,000 square metres of land has been set aside to increase the plant’s capacity to 30,000 tonnes in the future
Jamal T Aziz, chief executive of Sohar, said: “As Oman and its GCC neighbours take active measures towards diversifying their economies, more investments are flowing into sectors such as infrastructure, real estate and hotels, driving significant demand for copper tubes in the construction industry.”
“It’s estimated that the per capita value of the GCC’s construction industry will increase from around US$2,000 in 2014, to well over US$3,000 by 2020, and this latest plant in Sohar is ideally located to serve the region, thanks to our outstanding connectivity to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as the port’s proximity and our excellent ties with Iran.”