PSC sets terms for continued operation of Muscat port

By Business Reporter — MUSCAT: Dec 25: Port Services Corporation (PSC) has stressed that it will accede to the government’s request for the continued operation and management of Muscat’s Port Sultan Qaboos only if the current concession is extended by 12 months, and not the three-month term currently on the table. The conditional offer was issued at the end of an emergency meeting of PSC’s Board of Directors which met last week to study the request of Dr Ahmed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, urging the Corporation to oversee the operation of the gateway for a further three months beyond the expiry of its current license on December 31, 2016.

“After lengthy discussion and deliberations and taking into consideration the previous board resolutions and decisions taken by the shareholders in the 2nd Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on December 7, 2016, it was agreed by the majority of the Board of Directors as follows: To extend the concession agreement to manage and operate Port Sultan Qaboos, with the same terms and conditions, for a period of 1 year up to December 31, 2017 and not 3 months as requested,” Company Secretary Mohammed Osman El Hag Yousif said in a filing to the Capital Market Authority (CMA) yesterday.

Furthermore, the Corporation stressed that it would accede to this extension of the concession agreement for one year subject to the Ministry of Transport & Communications “accepting and agreeing to all the terms and conditions, making the operation viable, which will be conveyed to the Ministry of Transport & Communications”. “On receiving confirmation and acceptance of extension of the concession agreement along with the acceptance of the terms and conditions, the Corporation will write to the CMA to obtain their approval to convene an EGM in January 2017 to defer the liquidation of the Corporation,” it added.