Oman has announced a new round of requests for bids for the development of aquaculture projects across the country, in line with its long-term plans to its develop aquaculture sector.
Oman's Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth, with the support of the World Bank and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, is continuing to devleop aquaculture projects in support of Oman’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Vision 2040.
Oman is now requesting applications for projects including shrimp farms and hatcheries, marine finfish cages and hatcheries, recirculating aquaculture systems for marine finfish and abalone, and seaweed aquaculture projects, all areas of the sector identified by the Vision 2040 plan as priorities. Applications must include details including the proposed project sites, initial investment capital required, the applicants’ proposed project management strategy, phases and dates of development, and a corporate social development policy that benefits the local community where the project will be developed, the Muscat Daily reported.
This isn’t the first time Oman has invited bids from the private sector for seafood-related projects The government opened the sub-sector to commercial investors in 2011, following the publication of “Investment Guidelines for Aquaculture Development in the Sultanate of Oman.” In that initial phase of project development, 19 private investors had their project proposals accepted, with the number of approved projects increasing to 23 by the end of 2016.
Commercial investors have been asked to register applications with all the required information via an online platform of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth.
The World Bank and FAO noted in previous reports Oman has received more than 200 applications to develop aquaculture projects, but the latest push for bids is asking for more-detailed information regarding the projects' commercial investment plans.
State-owned Oman Aquaculture Development Company has been at the forefront of wooing private sector players to invest in the country’s aquaculture segment, especially after it set up a “one-stop shop” where investors can go for advice on available investment opportunities and information on the acquisition of the requisite business permits.
The company launched an abalone project in Oman in August 2022, after suffering COVID-related delays.
Singapore-based aquaculture service provider Blue Aqua also recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Fisheries Development Oman to build a large shrimp aquaculture project, though details of that project have yet to be announced.
The seafood industry has been a growing source of revenue in the country. Its total fish production was estimated at 840,000 metric tons in 2020, with a growth rate of 44.5 percent. The value of the country’s fish output increased 9 percent to OMR 365 million (USD 948 million, EUR 959 million).
Photo courtesy of Fisheries Development Oman
