Silal’s opening ceremony

Silal Fruit and Vegetable Central Market (“Silal”) held its grand opening ceremony, officiated by the Minister of Economy, Dr Said bin Mohammed Al Saqri.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries Wealth and Water Resources, the President of Muscat Municipality, government officials, dignitaries and senior individuals from the partnerships responsible for the project development and operations attended to officially commemorate the opening of this world class facility in Oman.

Rakiza as the lead investor in the project with a 60% ownership played an instrumental and active role in delivering the project. Silal has achieved full occupancy on the first day of operations, a great testament to the effort of the Silal team and to the attractiveness of the project to market participants. Silal serves the largest population footprint in Oman and provides modern facilities and acts as an integrated logistics hub for fresh produce. Operationally, it supports local framers, importers, exporters, re-exporters and wholesale buyers to trade fresh produce while sustainably reducing wastage and supporting economic growth.

The 500,000 sqm logistics facility has the capacity to house 25,000 tons of produce from import, local farms and neighbouring markets, held in over 260 cold storage units. The design of wholesale market floor took into consideration the growth in the food sector in Oman and was built on a 30 thousand sqm footprint, 6x the size of its predecessor. Its aim is to improve the standard of produce sold in the wholesale market as well as contributing to Oman’s food security, while facilitating fruit and vegetable trade and developing and upskilling local traders and offering more than 300 direct jobs and 450 indirect jobs to Oman’s youth.

This significant piece of critical infrastructure marked Rakiza’s first greenfield project in Oman, which began construction in May 2022 as an anchor project for the Food City within Khazaen Economic City, and consolidate importers, exporters and wholesale buyers in one location. Silal opened its doors and commenced operations in June 2024.

 “It is our privilege to be able to host the grand opening of this world-class facility, a truly life-enhancing piece of critical infrastructure for the people of Oman and testament to the unrelenting hard work of our teams and all our partners” – Khalid Al-Khatib, Chairman of Silal and Senior Dir. of Investment (Rakiza), said

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About Rakiza
Rakiza Fund I is co-managed by OIM, a specialist infrastructure manager based in Oman, and Equitix; a leading UK investor, developer, and fund manager of core infrastructure assets. OIM and Equitix partnered to create the fund to invest in public private partnership (PPP) and other core infrastructure projects in Oman and Saudi Arabia. Rakiza Fund I seeks to capitalize on the drive towards increased privatization and greater access to foreign direct investment (FDI) across the region, where first mover investors can achieve higher returns whilst enhancing long-term impact.