A number of Indian companies are planning to set up operations in Freezone Sohar to target regional markets, while many others have evinced interest in forming partnerships with Omani companies.
The Indian companies, part of a business delegation on a visit to the sultanate, expressed their interest at a seminar and business-to-business meeting organised by Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) on Wednesday.
The delegation's three-day visit, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), coincided with Indian Trade Fair.
KLJ Resources Limited, a New Delhi-based company of India's diversified KLJ Group, will invest US$30mn to set up a chemical plant in Freezone Sohar.
Speaking to Muscat Daily, Prem Prakash Soni, vice president (projects) at KLJ Resources, said that the company will sign an agreement with Freezone Sohar by the end of this month.
He said, "We were interested in 100 per cent ownership and free imports-exports, and Freezone Sohar with its suitable location provides all these incentives. The raw materials for our chemical plant are all liquid-based and the infrastructure in Sohar is well-suited."
"The capacity of our plant in the first phase will be 100,000 metric tonnes (MT) per year. But we will initiate the second phase immediately after the first and capacity will be expanded to 300,000MT.
"We will import liquid raw material and produce different fractions of it which are used in different industries as base material. We will export to regional markets and to India and Sohar is the most suitable location for operations," Soni added.
J B Krishna Murthy, general manager of New Delhi-based AI Metals Pvt Ltd, said that his company is planning to set up a recycling plant for plastic granules in Freezone Sohar.
"We are determined to set up a recycling plant in Oman and Freezone Sohar is our first preference. We will import scrap from all the GCC countries and all recycled products will be exported. We are planning an initial capacity of between 500-700MT per month."
Cords Cable Industries Ltd, an Indian manufacturer of instrumentation and power cables, has also shown interest to set up a stocking facility and manufacturing unit to cater to the good demand of its products in the GCC.
Varun Sawhney, vice president (marketing) at Cords Cable, said, "We have plans to cover the entire GCC market by setting up a manufacturing unit for instrumentation cables here. But we are looking for a suitable local partner to set up a joint venture. We have done a lot of work in the GCC for steel factories, desalination plants and refineries."
Last year, India-based Indsil Group along with its joint venture partner Muscat Overseas Group had signed an agreement with Freezone Sohar to set up four ferrochrome smelters with an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes. Vandana Global Ltd, an Indian manufacturer of steel and ferro alloy, has also shown interest in setting up a ferro-chrome plant in Freezone Sohar.
© Muscat Daily 2012
