Sugar refining project to boost food security

Muscat: The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources announced the launch of a number of projects and investment opportunities in the field of food security in cooperation with the government related entities and partners in the private sector.

Salim bin Abdullah Al Ghufaili, Director General of Food Security at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, said that the key projects announced included the sugar refining project, which is the first of its type in the Sultanate of Oman on a total area of 18,000 Sqm at Sohar Port.

The productivity of this project is approximately one million tonnes a year.

The project would be equipped with production lines of European origin and with the state-of–the –art technology which would refine high-quality sugar and would be distributed at the local, regional and international level, he said.

The completion percentage of the project reached 91%, he added. Salalah Mills Company is currently working on execution of the Food Industries Centre Project at Khazaen Economic City at an estimated cost of OMR 18.5 million and with production capacity of 1.4 million pieces a day in the first phase.

The project is expected to start operation by end of the current year.

The projects include construction of wheat silos at Sohar Port, which would increase the storage capacity of grains to 160, 000 tonnes, he said.

He also pointed to the project on expansion of the fodder factory of

Oman Mills Company in Muttrah which aims to boost food security and to contribute to the integration of production chains. The factory is expanded with production capacity of 20 tonnes of fodder, he added.