Oman’s Special Economic Zone in Duqm (Sezad) and Wusta Cement Company have signed a land use deal to build the third cement plant in the Duqm area of Oman.

Under the agreement, Wusta Cement Company will acquire a 500,000 square-metre plot within the SEZ’s Heavy Industrial Zone on lease for 50 years. The contract period is renewable for a further period.

According to a local media report, construction work on the new cement plant will start in 2018 and production is expected to commence in 2020.

Total investment in the plant is estimated to reach RO225m ($582m).

The plant’s capacity is envisaged at 5,000 tonnes of cement a day, with a provision to expand it to 10,000 tonnes a day.

The plant aims to help meet the requirements of companies setting up in the social economic zone in Duqm as well as target export markets in the GCC, East Africa and the Indian sub-continent.

It will also help offset the widening deficit in capacity, which has resulted in Oman importing 54 per cent of its cement requirements.

The project owner, Wusta Cement, is a joint venture formed in 2016 between Oman Cement Company and Raysut Cement Company.

Earlier a joint venture of local Al-Anwar Holdings and Iran-based Hormozgan Cement has been formed. Hormuz al-Anwar Cement plans to build a $27.3m cement plant in Duqm with a capacity of between 600,000 tonnes and 1 million tonnes a year.