Karwa Motors to manufacture intercity coaches, city buses from 2022

The state-of-the-art plant, set up by a partnership of Oman Investment Authority (OIA) and Mowasalat Qatar, came into operation at Duqm last month.

“This factory is a cornerstone of our commitment towards sustained economic growth for the coming decades – to set the stage for what will become the beacon of automotive and industrial progress in Oman,” said Dr Ibrahim al Balushi (pictured), CEO of Karwa Motors.

Karwa Motors is a success story in many ways for the diversification of Oman’s economic development. It emphasises four key objectives in its business model, namely: Creating In-Country Value (ICV), localising global standards and technologies, contributing to economic development of Duqm and Oman, and youth empowerment through direct and indirect employment in the transportation industry.

Dr Al Balushi added, “Located right here at one of the country’s most prominent gateways to the world, our facility will now serve as the country’s first foray into bus production. With our technology transfer partners, we aim to introduce several innovations and industry-leading production practices and technologies to Oman, setting the benchmark for all future production facilities to come.” The new facility is built on a site covering approximately 600,000 square metres and in its first phase comprises 40 working stations. These are staffed by a team of highly skilled workers who form and manufacture the buses, install their various parts, paint, and check their quality.

This new facility is responsible for the production of three Karwa branded bus models – initially focusing on the school bus, with the intercity coach and city bus to follow in the coming year. The company hopes to achieve an annual production of 500 buses in its first year.

“In the first phase of our ramp-up, we plan to focus on producing the first of three Karwa branded buses and which we are proud to say constitutes our first prestigious order, as they will be used at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Doha next year. Later next year, we will introduce the Intercity Coach and the City Bus,” the CEO said.

The value Karwa Motors, as a company and brand, bring into the country is, however, not restricted just to customers and staff. By opening a vehicle manufacturing plant at a port as strategically significant as Duqm, Karwa is creating valuable opportunities for the birth of new SMEs and empowering the abundant young Omani talent in the country. These could include anything from vehicle logistics and automotive engineering and design, all the way to OEM parts manufacturing, each of whom Karwa aims to avail the services of and support in the future, he added.