Salalah Free Zone Company (SFZCO) and Saudi Arabia’s National Steel Company signed an agreement to set up what will be the Sultanate’s largest iron industries complex with an estimated investment of US$500mn, according to SFZCO’s twitter feed.

Signed between Ali bin Mohammed Tabouk, Chief Executive Officer of Salalah Free Zone Company and Sheikh Ahmed al Shahin, chairman for National Steel Company in Riyadh, the usufruct agreement is “a direct gulf investment worth US$500mn”.

The project, which will create 500 direct jobs, is set to begin in the first quarter of 2020. Once ready, the complex will have the manufacture capacity of 150,000 tonnes of iron products and according to Tabouk, the project will use the latest technology and sustainable engineering to help bring down the cost of construction by 20 per cent and halving the project completion time by 50 per cent for steel-related manufacturing.

The project, which will create 500 direct jobs, is set to begin in the first quarter of 2020.

READ: Oman’s Manufacturing Sector

In a statement to Oman News Agency, he said: “Sixty-five per cent of the factory’s production will be exported to the regional markets and it will manufacture various steel products that are used in the manufacture of refrigerators, generators, panels, steel roofs, heavy structures for large commercial and residential buildings, bridges, commercial complexes, factories and gas stations.”

The Salalah Free Zone has already attracted foreign direct investments with many major companies setting up shop and investments amounted to US$7.8bn. In July earlier this year, SFZCO had secured OMR13.5mn ($35m) in foreign direct investment from the private sector to develop a food plant that will be fitted by European technology and create jobs in Oman.