The foundation of mega vehicle assembling unit, which is a joint venture of Mowasalat Qatar and Oman Investment Fund (OIF), will be laid today in Al Duqm Special Economic Zone, Oman.
It is a $416m joint venture between Mowasalat, Qatar’s public transport company and Oman Investment Fund (OIF). The new vehicle assembling unit will be named Karwa Automotors. The facility will assemble big buses, school buses, cars. According to Lusail newspaper, total investment for the project is $416m with 70% shares of Mowasalat and 30% of Oman Investment Authority.
The unit will have capacity to produce 2000 buses per year and create employment opportunity for 500 people directly or indirectly. It will also create benefits for 2000 people employed by related companies or industries like suppliers etc.
In the first phase, $90m will be invested in the project and the unit will have capacity to produce 1000 buses per annum and give employment to 200 people. The vehicle assembling unit spans over an area of 1 million square meters and the renewable agreement between Mowasalat and OIF is for 25 years.
The facility will include a number of supportive administrative facilities including admin offices, labour camps and test drive tracks. The factory will also have storage facility as well as showrooms. Lusail also reports that current strength of Mowasalat’s Karwa taxis is 4000 which will increase to 7000 taxis in 2020 while current fleet of 520 Karwa buses will reach to 1000 in 2020.
The agreement for establishing a bus assembly unit in Oman was signed between Oman Investment Fund (OIF) and Mowasalat, national transport company of Qatar, in 2014.
The target markets for assembled vehicles are Oman, other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and North Africa.
The Peninsula Qatar
November 28
