Construction of Mazoon Dairy to start in October

Mazoon Dairy Company, the flagship dairy project of the Sultanate of Oman, has announced the appointment of Al Adrak Trading and Contracting LLC to build its state-of-the-art dairy and juice manufacturing plant. Construction will start from this October at its project site located in Al Sinaina, Al Buraimi Governorate and is planned to be completed by 3rd quarter of 2018. With the overall project investment of RO 100 million and the value of the main contract will be RO 27.9 million. It will comprise of diverse activities including: construction of the main dairy farm, feeding centre, milking parlours, staff accommodation, management office building, utilities and connecting road network. Senior Mazoon executives anticipate that the first of the initial phase of 4,000 cows will start arriving at the farm in early 2018. Announcing this milestone contract, Mazoon Dairy Company Chairman Dr Rashid al Masroori said, “The announcement marks the most important step yet in our plans to develop a truly world-class centre of excellence for the dairy manufacturing industry in Oman. “Our products will help to ensure a healthier nation and support the Sultanate become almost self-sufficient in the provision of dairy products in the next decade. “We undertook a comprehensive selection process for our main construction partner and are confident that Al Adrak will ensure the quality our facility needs as we move towards nourishing the nation in the future.” Backed by the Oman Food Investment Company alongside government pension and investment funds, Mazoon Dairy will provide quality home produced dairy and juice products. Moreover, it also envisioned to generate enormous economic benefits to both locally in Buraimi as well as the nation as a whole. Mazoon Dairy’s product range will cover a diverse mix of dairy and juice products, including milk, yoghurt, laban, cheese, ice cream and juices. The company intends to make its full product range available from the launch — a unique achievement for a large-scale project of this kind in the Gulf region. Commenting on the award of the contract to Al Adrak, CEO Dr Thomas Alexander said, “We are proud to have been awarded the contract to develop one of the most ambitious food production projects undertaken in Oman. A project that is set to become a landmark development of its kind in the wider region and become a quality benchmark for others to follow in the future.” Starting from an initial herd of 4,000 Holstein-Friesian cows it will eventually grow to 25,000 by 2026. By then it is planned that production levels will mean dairy imports to Oman would fall to nearly 10 per cent from the present 70 per cent and Mazoon dairy will also be exporting its high quality dairy products to regional GCC markets. Dr Arjun Subramanian, General Manager Projects at Mazoon Dairy Company added, “Mazoon Dairy Company since its inception has steadily progressed in its project objective of setting up this dairy facility of world-class standards. Initiating the construction of main works is another major project millstone and reaching this stage was possible through the able guidance of Members of the Board.” ZAINAB AL NASSRI