The Dubai-based retail developer Majid Al Futtaim has announced it will be investing 515 million rials ($1.33 billion) in Oman over the next five years, in a move it says will create 42,000 jobs.
The conglomerate plans to invest 275 million rials ($714.2m) in the Mall of Oman project, 45 million rials ($166.8m) in City Centre Sohar, and 15 million rials ($38.9m) in My City Centre Sur.
The rest – some 180 million riyals ($467m) – will be invested in existing retail, leisure and entertainment businesses such as Magic Planet, Carrefour and VOX Cinemas.
Mall of Oman will contain 350 outlets and 137,000 sqm of retail space, a snow park, a Carrefour hypermarket and a 292-room hotel. On completion in 2020, it will be the largest retail outlet in the sultanate.
City Centre Sohar will consist of 100 retail outlets when it opens in 2018 and My City Centre Sur will be the company’s first community mall in Oman when it opens in 2017.
Since 2001, Majid Al Futtaim has already invested 190 million rials in Oman and has created 23,000 jobs on its construction projects and operations.
“We are proud to renew our commitment to be the leading GCC investor in the Sultanate through our OMR 705 million investments, which include the development of Mall of Oman, City Centre Sohar, and My City Centre Sur, as well as additional investments from our retail, leisure and entertainment businesses,” said Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer of Majid Al Futtaim Holding.
The plans build on the company’s existing developments in Oman, which include City Centre Muscat, which received a OMR 35 million expansion in 2015, City Centre Qurum, which opened in 2008, and Al Mouj Muscat.