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Sohar Freezone has signed six land-lease agreements covering more than USD 163 mn in planned investment across about 440k sqm, according to a press release. The largest is a USD 100 mn automotive and advanced-industries park that EW Partners will set up on 317k sqm, with a first phase of around 180k sqm of manufacturing plants, workshops, and warehouses.
Manufacturing takes most of the rest: Voltamp International will invest USD 39 mn in a transformer plant, and Lalan Middle East will invest about USD 12 mn in expanding its medical-device manufacturing and warehousing. Five Star Group will spend USD 10 mn on a used-clothing sorting facility serving Angola, Congo, and Tanzania, which the zone says will add cargo volumes at Sohar Port. The other two agreements are smaller storage and re-export facilities.
IN CONTEXT- The leases follow two larger projects at Sohar this year. Subsidiaries of MAK Germany and OQ are setting up a USD 550 mn PTA and PET complex with a combined 1.5 mn tons of annual capacity, using assets relocated from a shuttered plant in Rotterdam. CMA CGM and Asyad Group also signed a framework agreement to develop a USD 400 mn multipurpose logistics terminal at the port.
Lending, then flying
The Saudi Fund for Development has signed six concessional loans worth more than USD 403 mn with Syria’s finance ministry, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa present at the signing, state news agency SPA reports. The loans cover energy, water, health, housing, infrastructure, and digital government.
The largest loans are USD 105 mn for 25 civil-defense centers, USD 100 mn for hospitals and health facilities, and USD 90 mn to rehabilitate the Aleppo thermal power plant. Smaller loans cover 300k smart water meters, the rehabilitation of 10k damaged homes, and a digital overhaul of the finance ministry.
IN CONTEXT- The loans add to a rebuild where Saudi money now reaches most of Syria’s layers — power, water, telecoms, housing, airports, and roads — without a plan connecting them. As we reported last week, the projects run through separate ministries and contracts: STC’s SAR 3 bn SilkLink fiber-and-data network, Elaf’s SAR 7.5 bn Aleppo airport, and the new flynas Syria often sit side by side with no stated link between them. With five or six foreign investors now sharing the reconstruction, no single player controls enough of the handoffs between assets to make the infrastructure work as one.
