Oman's leading steel products manufacturer Al Jazeera Steel has broken ground on a new rolling mill project in Abu Dhabi that is expected to play an important role in the supply of steel rails for the rapidly expanding GCC and regional rail networks.
As the first project of its kind in the Middle East with rail production capability, the new $68 million (AED 250 million) investment by Suhar-based Al Jazeera Steel Products Co SAOG is expected to emerge as a serious contender for the supply of steel rails, currently imported into the region for the Gulf’s multibillion-dollar rail industry.
The project is coming up at a site within Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD), an integrated trade, logistics and industrial hub in Abu Dhabi. At the heart of the project, set on an area of 210,000 sq metres, is a state-of-the-art 450,000 tonnes per annum medium section mill (MSM) designed and equipped to meet the Gulf’s burgeoning requirements for steel products, including railway steel parts.
A likely beneficiary of the project’s rail output is the 303km Oman-Etihad Rail project, which will link the Port of Sohar with Al Ain (in the UAE) at an estimated cost of $3 billion.
A statement issued by KEZAD on the ground-breaking quoted Shaikha Amal Suhail Salim Bahwan, Chairperson, Al Jazeera Steel Products Co, as saying: “By providing quality steel products that adhere to the highest standards of international excellence, we have developed a solid base of clients all around the world. Operating within KEZAD, we will give our company a strategic base in the UAE. Upon commissioning of the mill, it will be able to easily supply rail products along with other MSM products to the upcoming infrastructure, construction and oil and gas projects to the GCC markets, in conjunction with our global customers. We look forward to setting up in Abu Dhabi and contributing to the exciting upcoming projects that will transform the region.”
Mohamed al Khadar al Ahmed, CEO, KEZAD Group, stated: “The steel industry forms the base of industrial development everywhere. Augmenting KEZAD’s ongoing efforts to provide an integrated ecosystems for various sectors, the addition of Al Jazeera’s rolling mill to our portfolio goes a long way in enhancing the quality and product line emanating from Abu Dhabi, as KEZAD continues to strengthen the industrial production capacity in line with the vision of the leadership. Al Jazeera’s products will further enhance the self-reliance on quality products for the upcoming projects in the country and the region and give a significant boost to the well-establish infrastructure and connectivity that Abu Dhabi has to offer.”
Significantly, the groundbreaking builds on a strategic MoU signed recently by Al Jazeera Steel Products with UAE-based Emirates Steel Arkan, one of the largest publicly traded steel and building materials manufacturers in the region. The MoU aims to “establish a strategic framework for collaboration, utilising joint product expertise of both companies as well as exploring new opportunities in the steel business ecosystem,” Al Jazeera said. It also covers Al Jazeera Steel’s existing facilities in Oman as well as its new subsidiary company in UAE, the Omani company added.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
