OMAN has signed three contracts for the financing, dredging and construction of a 1,380-m-long and 25-m-deep jetty at the Port of Sohar.

The deals were signed by Minister of Commerce and Industry and Port of Sohar chairman Maqbool Ali Sultan along with Sohar Industrial Port Company CEO Jan Meijer.
The first RO95 million ($200 million) finance agreement was signed with a consortium of banks – comprising Bank Muscat, Oman Arab Bank, National Bank of Oman, Ahli Bank, Bank Sohar, Bank Dhofar and the State Bank of India.
The contract for dredging the jetty was signed with Van Oord of the Netherlands, which has been associated with the port work at Sohar earlier and has long experience in handling big dredging projects in almost all parts of the world. Van Oord will increase the depth of the existing approach channel from 18.5 m to 23 m and create a new harbour basin with a berthing pocket of 25 m in front of the jetty.
The third contract involves the construction of a 780-m-long trestle with a 600-m-long platform. The jetty platform consists of an import location of 400 m and two export areas of 600 m, each. The project is a joint venture shared on a 50-50 basis between Italian company Saipem and India’s Afcons. Saipem, a global contractor with innovational offshore activities, will focus on design and manage the project. Afcons, a pioneer in infrastructure and development, will look after the actual execution of the project.
The Port of Sohar will be one of few ports in the world with the potential to receive very large iron ore carriers of 400,000 dwt as the jetty will have a draft of 25 m. The jetty is set to be ready in the first quarter of 2011.