NEW VENTURES
Perfume firm expanding factory
Al Haramain Perfumes is expanding its factory in Ajman. The Dh25 million ($6.8 million) expansion will make the facility one of the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
Managing director Mohammed Mahtabur Rahman said the new 91,000 sq ft plant, located near the existing one, would go on stream by late 2004. The plant will then occupy a combined area of 177,000 sq ft.
The expansion will allow for a two-fold rise in capacity, giving the plant an installed capacity of six million pieces of oriental perfumes and 10 million pieces of spray perfumes
With the projected rise in capacity, the company is aiming for a 100 per cent upturn in sales.
Last year, Al Haramain Perfumes recorded a sales turnover of Dh55 million, up 14 per cent on the previous year. This year, it projects a 10 per cent jump.
Roughly 60 per cent of the company's sales come from exports, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 20 per cent.
The company has production facilities in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam where Agarwood is processed and then shipped to the Ajman plant for final production processes involving the extraction of Dehnal Oudh (oil).
Sipco coatings introduced in Oman
Technical Trading Company (TTC), the sole distributor of Saudi Industrial Paint Company (Sipco), has introduced a range of Sipco speciality decorative coatings for the Sultanate's market.
The range includes Stoneshield, Marblesque, Sipco Fractalis designer finishes and Sipco colour-dek.
Work on Omifco begins
The much-delayed plant of the Oman-India Fertiliser Company (Omifco) involving a total capital outlay of nearly a billion dollars has at last taken off with work commencing in Sur, 200km south of Muscat.
The plant will produce 1.65 million tonnes of granulated urea and 0.25 million tonnes of surplus ammonia annually, using Oman's natural gas as feedstock. It is expected to go on stream in the middle of 2005. The project cost was put at $969 million.
Omifco is a 50:50 joint venture between the Oman Oil Company (OOC) and the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative (Iffco) and Krishak Bharati Co-operative Limited (Kribhco).
Agreements for financing of the $677.7 million were concluded earlier. The figure includes $350.7 million in commercial loans, a $115.5 million Coface French export credit facility and a $211.5 million Sace Italian export credit facility.
Expansion planned
Globalpharma, which is set to commence production next January, is likely to go in for a Dh10 million ($2.7 million) expansion of its non-penicillin division next year.
Two reputed pharmaceutical companies from Holland and Germany have approached Globalpharma for contract manufacturing and talks are in the final state.
Globalpharma general manager Anil Matai said once a deal was reached, the capacity utilisation of the non-penicillin division would reach 100 per cent, requiring the company to seek new capacity.
Matai said the European companies had already conducted a successful technical audit of the plant for contract manufacturing.
Chiller plant coming up
A new Dh3.5 million ($952,000) chiller plant is being constructed in Al Quoz by Geo Electricals. The company has bought a 30,000 sq ft plot for the plant and manufacturing is expected to begin within a few months, a senior official of the company said.
George V. Nereaparamban, managing director of the Geo Group, said the group was investing Dh3.5 million for establishing a new air conditioning and chiller plant in Al Quoz. The group has offices and plants in Sharjah, Qatar, India and Thailand.
He added that currently the group manufactured 1,500 units per year. The new unit in Al Quoz would help it increase capacity to 6,000 units.
Nereaparamban said the plant would be used to manufacture chillers and components of air conditioning units for the re-export market.
The group exports products to the GCC, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, among other countries. Nereaparamban said the GCC had a growing chiller and air conditioner market.
Firm's plans in UAE, Qatar
Oman's Al Hassan Engineering says it is planning to begin operations in the UAE and Qatar. The firm has business interests that span engineering and construction in the oil, gas and power sectors.
It is part of a consortium with SNC-Lavalin Canada that won the $100 million engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Saih Nihayda gas treatment plant. The client is Petroleum Development Oman.
Engineering and project management will be handled by SNC-Lavalin while Al Hassan Engineering will carry out construction.
Al Hassan has also carried out many electrical transmission and distribution projects in Oman. The company has the ISO 9002 certification and has been awarded a "green card" from the labour authorities for employing a high number of Omanis.
Kahramaa signs contracts
Work on setting up a power network for a new industrial area for small- and medium-scale industries will start soon, the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) said.
A contract worth QR66.79 million ($18 million) for the electrification works was signed between Kahramaa and the National Contracting Company of Saudi Arabia in Doha. The project is to be implemented in two phases over 30 months.
In Phase 1, high-tension cables will be laid out between the power supply station (PSS3) and the main network. This is to be completed in 14 months.
In Phase II, the work for setting up of the PSSI station over a period of 16 months will be taken up. The two stations will be commissioned consecutively, Phase 1 on July 30, 2003, and Phase II on September 30, 2003. This is the first major project being taken up by Kahramaa since its inception.
Factory being built in Dubai
Al Shirawi Group of Companies has awarded a Dh20 million ($5.4 million) contract for the construction of a new industrial unit in Dubai.
The industrial facility will have a total built-up area of around 350,000 sq ft. Senior vice-chairman and managing director Mohan Valrani said the new factory involved an investment of Dh60 million.
The new facility will be used to manufacture a wide range of engineering products and industrial applications.
