Oman signs 28 investment deals worth OMR 304 million
Oman signed 28 investment agreements worth over OMR 304 million on Wednesday 28 October.
· Last verified: 29 Oct 2026 (Oman Observer; Asharq Al-Awsat (English))
Summary
- Oman signed 28 investment agreements worth over OMR 304 million on Wednesday 28 October.
- The deals cover more than two square kilometres across five industrial and free zone sites.
- A single steel plant in Sohar accounts for more than a third of total committed value.
The latest
Investment commitments exceeding OMR 304 million — roughly $790 million — were locked in across Oman's industrial estates and free zones on Wednesday 28 October, under 28 agreements covering more than two square kilometres of land. Oman Observer reported the deals were signed by the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones and Madayn, with an iron and steel plant in Sohar the single largest project.
Details
- The headline project: Atlas Steel's iron and steel plant in Sohar Industrial City is the largest single commitment at OMR 112 million, according to Oman Observer. That one project represents more than a third of the total value signed across all 28 agreements and all five zones combined.
- Madayn's share: Madayn, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates, took the largest portfolio with 7 agreements worth OMR 147.6 million spread over 756,802 square metres. That is just under half the total value announced, and the largest land allocation disclosed for any single operator.
- Sohar Freezone: Five agreements worth OMR 58.5 million were signed at Sohar Freezone. They include the Oman Automobile Assembly Complex, valued at OMR 38 million and set on 317,000 square metres, the largest land footprint attached to any individually named project in the package.
- Duqm: The Special Economic Zone at Duqm recorded 6 agreements worth OMR 55.08 million. Its two largest are Al Jazer Feed's OMR 40 million shrimp-feed factory and Al Nawras Industries' OMR 19.25 million steel structures plant, pointing to aquaculture inputs and construction materials.
- Salalah and Khazaen: Salalah Free Zone signed 3 agreements worth OMR 32.95 million, while Khazaen Economic City logged more than OMR 10.4 million. Together the two sites account for under 15 percent of the package, leaving Sohar and Duqm as the dominant destinations for the new capital.
- Foreign capital: Among the named investors is Fujian Mansheng, which committed OMR 20 million to a ceramics facility in Sohar. The authorities did not publish a breakdown separating foreign from domestic capital across the 28 agreements.
- Who attended: Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, chairman of the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones, and Dawood bin Salim Al Hadabi, chief executive of Madayn, attended the signing, Oman Observer reported.
- What was not set: No construction timelines, completion dates or job-creation figures were announced for the individual projects, and the authorities did not say when the first facilities are expected to begin operating.
Background
Madayn runs Oman's industrial estates while the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones oversees Duqm, Sohar, Salalah and Al Mazunah. Both are central to the state's push to widen non-oil industrial output and attract manufacturing investment outside the hydrocarbon sector.
Between the lines
The distribution of the money is as telling as the total. Heavy industry dominates: steel, steel structures and vehicle assembly account for the bulk of the named projects, with Sohar absorbing the single largest commitment. Duqm's two largest deals point in a different direction, pairing aquaculture feed with construction materials rather than refining-linked activity.
What's next
Watch for construction start dates at Atlas Steel's Sohar plant and the Oman Automobile Assembly Complex, and for any official breakdown of foreign versus domestic capital or employment targets attached to the 28 agreements.