Khazaen Fruit and Vegetable Central Market to open end of first half of 2024

Barka: Khazaen Economic City announced the imminent opening of Khazaen Central Market for vegetables and fruits at the end of the first half of 2024, as the completion rate in the project has exceeded 98 percent.

Eng. Salem bin Sulaiman Al Dhahli, CEO of Khazaen Economic City, said that the Central Market for Vegetables and Fruits (Salal) project is one of the main components of the Food City and is considered the largest and most modern market in the region, as the total volume of investments to develop it from the private sector reached more than 50 million Omani riyals, pointing out that the market, in its new form, is an international and local platform for marketing, distributing, storing, importing and re-exporting vegetables and fruits.

He stressed in a statement to the Oman News Agency that the market is a national marketing window for local agricultural products, as it was established on an area of ​​500,000 square meters, subject to future expansion, which is equivalent to 5 times the area of ​​the current market.

The new market (Silal) will also contribute to reducing lost or damaged fruits and vegetables, which currently amounts to approximately 30-35 percent. The new market also offers many investment opportunities for small and medium enterprises in the field of ground handling, the business center, various sales kiosks distributed in the market, and many more opportunities. Commercial, in addition to restoring the concept of agricultural marketing for local products.

He pointed out that the market includes several integrated facilities that support the food logistics sector, most notably central refrigeration, a wholesale market, dry warehouses, workshops for sorting vegetables and fruits, a platform for customs inspection, agricultural quarantine, a food safety laboratory, and places designated for selling and marketing local products and administrative offices for wholesalers.

He stressed that there are strategic objectives for the Khazaen Central Market Project for vegetables and fruits, the most important of which is to contribute to achieving the food security strategy by attracting local and foreign investments in the food sector in addition to improving the performance and quality of work in the vegetables and fruits sector, and providing integrated logistical solutions for central cold and dry storage to reduce the loss of vegetables. fruits, improving cold and supply chains, in addition to creating direct marketing opportunities for the local product, Omani farmers, and local companies operating in the agricultural production sector.