Fashion Apparel, a garments company, has opened its new $20 million production unit on a 200,000-sq-ft plot at Oman’s Salalah Free Zone, a report said.

Fashion Apparel currently employs 460 employees and plans to export around 12 million pieces of garments a year. When it achieves its full capacity in the next six months, the company will employ more than 2,000 workers, of which 500 will be Omanis, added the Oman Daily Observer report.

Meanwhile, two new companies – Darvesh and Tara Jewels Ltd -- will set up their base in the free zone with an investment of $10 million and $3 million, respectively. Infrastructure construction activities will take place immediately in order to start operations as early as 2018, it said.  

Tara, a gems and jewellery company, is likely to start its trading activities soon by bringing goods from its factories in India after getting the financial set up in place.

Darvesh, a company which offers services and products like cold storage, dry stores, offices, loading dock levellers and loading/unloading integrated services, is hoping to start full operation sometime in 2018.

A deal was also signed between Oman Gulf Logistics and Salalah Free Zone to set up logistics facilities on a 100,000-sq-m plot, added the report.