The new brand identity of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates was unveiled at its silver jubilee celebration yesterday (November 12) at the Grand Ballroom – Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, in Oman.

The brandmark of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates is now known as Madayn. The launch of the new brand identity coincides with the 25th anniversary since the establishment of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates.
Madayn is operating nine industrial estates with a total area exceeding 100 million sq m. With the existence of around 2,000 projects, the volume of investments has touched nearly OR6.5 billion. In addition, the number of workforce in all the industrial estates has reached around 55,000 by the end of 2017, of which around 20,000 are Omanis.

The celebration was held under the auspices of Dr Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry.

The grand ceremony began with a speech delivered by Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, chief executive officer of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), who stated that the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates was established in 1993 to complement the march of Rusayl Industrial Estate Authority with the objective of planning, establishing, managing and developing the industrial estates across Oman.

Al Hasani said: “For the tenth year in a row, the indicators show growth at various levels witnessed by the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates, which is seen in the number of localised projects, volume of investments, and direct and indirect job opportunities.”

“Over the last 10 years, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates has introduced several value adding initiatives to the local communities and the companies. In 2010, the Industrial Innovation Centre (IIC) was initiated to support the manufacturing sector and serve the industrialists taking into account the significance of innovation and scientific research in developing and advancing Omani industries. Recently, the IIC has been transformed into a commercial unit with the support of Tanfeedh,” he added.

Al Hasani noted that a township project called Al Raha Village was inaugurated in Rusayl Industrial Estate, and a residential project will be inaugurated this year in Suhar Industrial Estate.

Additionally, the residential project of Raysut Industrial Estate has been completed and work is underway to implement residential projects in all the industrial estates.

Al Hasani said: “The Public Establishment for Industrial Estates has also given attention to support Omani Small and Medium Enterprises as it has established the National Business Centre (NBC) to act as an incubator for the sultanate’s SMEs by offering them a platform to further their business ideas and develop them into growing ventures.”

“In line with its efforts to market and promote locally manufactured products in the country and abroad, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates is managing ‘Made in Oman’ campaign, which is a national initiative to expand markets of the locally manufactured products and contribute to the advancement of the national economy,” he added.

In line with the national programme to promote economic diversification ‘Tanfeedh’, which is part of the 9th Five-Year Development Plan, the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates has adopted a programme to strengthen Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to support the private sector to become the leading sector and the main focus of the future plans of Madayn.

Al Hasani said: “The PPP programme aims at increasing Madayn’s contribution to the sustainable economic and social development in the sultanate and achieving the aspirations of the manufacturing sector being one of the major promising sectors for the economic diversification.”

“Based on this, the private sector in the coming years will have the role of constructing, managing and operating the industrial estates and economic zones pertaining to Madayn,” he added.

He pointed out that the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates has made efforts to restructure its legal system and re-engineer all its operations with the aspiration of enhancing competitiveness and attracting foreign and national investments.

Besides, under the new investment regulations, the managements of the industrial estates in the various governorates have been granted with the authority to approve investment applications of up to 100,000 sq m of industrial lands. New regulations of investment have also been issued, in which environmental related aspects have been taken into consideration.

Furthermore, he informed that the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates has recently established Oman Investment and Development Holding Company, which aims at developing and improving the operational processes, competitiveness, infrastructure and facilities of the various industrial estates. - TradeArabia News Service