MUSCAT: The Salalah Free Zone, one of the free zones of the Asyad Group, announced the signing of two lease agreements for Mazaya Logistics warehouses to establish a complex for trading plastic products and another for the installation and assembly of communications equipment on an area of 13.5 thousand square meters, with an investment volume of approximately OMR 1.3 million.

The signing of the two agreements comes within the strategy that the Asyad Group is working on to enhance the economic roles and maximise the investment returns for its free zones to be an incubator and an attraction for many projects and industries.

With the signing of these agreements, the percentage of the leased warehouse space in the Salalah Free Zone reached 83% of the total area of Mazaya warehouses, constituting an important addition to the projects in the Salalah Free Zone, which are witnessing an increase in the industrial and logistical fields in light of the direction of the zone administration to enhance the volume of investments by attracting quality projects.

Dr. Ali bin Muhammad Tabuk, CEO of Salalah Free Zone, explained: Despite the challenges, the world has faced and is facing due to the pandemic, and the decrease in foreign direct investment flows in the manufacturing sector and other activities, the free zone was recently able to sign two usufruct agreements to confirm its efficiency and competitiveness.

Tabuk added that the incentives, advantages, facilities and promotions offered by the Salalah Free Zone to investors were appropriate to the requirements of the global economic conditions and contributed to meeting the needs of investors, business owners and small and medium enterprises from inside and outside the Sultanate.

The CEO of the Salalah Free Zone stressed that these efforts come within the framework of the plans of the Salalah Free Zone aimed at encouraging investment in the Sultanate of Oman to diversify sources of income and to exploit national facilities such as ports and airports in developing vital sectors such as logistics, building and construction services, health services, and real estate, and providing consumables and more.

The Salalah Free Zone offers many economic incentives and facilities to investors, the most important of which are tax exemptions and full ownership of projects, in addition to its strategic location adjacent to Salalah Port, which ranks sixth out of 351 ports worldwide in operational efficiency.

The proximity of the free zone to Salalah Airport, which has a world-class infrastructure, and its mediation of international shipping lines qualified it to play a vital and pivotal role in the supply chain and logistics services sector and to facilitate its customers’ access to various regional and global markets.