OMAN - Preparing For Post-Oil Era.

In mid-2001, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry issued a long-term industrial strategy prepared with the help of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). This is designed to prepare Oman for the post-oil era. The aim is for an economy that will depend on private initiative, the national workforce and renewable sources of energy.

For the medium term, the government in January 2001 began a five-year plan to 2005 reiterating development objectives set out in "Oman 2020" which was unveiled in 1996. The five-year plan aims to achieve average economic growth of 3.5% per annum, primarily through expansion of the non-oil and private sector economy. Expansion of new gas-based industries and tourism are given particular emphasis, along with privatisations. Human resource development, creation of new job opportunities and improvement of basic education are top priorities.

The Sohar Industrial Port Co. (SIPC), developing a giant port and an industrial zone on the Batinah coast, the most populated part of Oman, is to establish a strategic hub for maritime logistics and shipping to link Asia with Africa and Europe. In its heyday (see historical background in Gas Market Trend), Sohar was the centre of an Omani maritime trading empire stretching from Zanzibar in East Africa as far as China.

The government has been investing in the maritime and transport sectors over the past 10 years so that it can re-emerge as a maritime country. Sohar's port and industrial hinterland are being developed on the model of Rotterdam. This project is being co-managed by the Rotterdam Municipal Port Management, and SIPC's CEO is a Dutch expert seconded by the latter. The industrial hinterland will house a new oil refinery now under construction, three major petrochemical plants, a big aluminium smelter and other industries. Natural gas will be piped to Sohar to feed most of the industries there. Sohar will also have a centre for development of Oman's human resources. The planned 480-550 MW/30m g/d IWPP in Sohar, to be in full operation in 2007, will power these industries, and its capacity eventually will more than triple.