Muscat – The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) has attracted a consortium of local and international investors in the area of data hosting and processing in Dhofar. Green Data City is building a large data center for hosting, processing and mining data for various applications, such as distributed ledger technologies, blockchain and fintech as a result in partnership between local and international digital innovation companies.
MTCIT’s mandate is to attract digital investments in the country in advanced technologies including data hosting and data processing. The ministry hopes through this investment opportunity to accelerate the adoption of distributed ledger, blockchain and fintech technologies. MTCIT believes that such advanced technologies have a bright future globally and strives to localize these technologies and create job opportunities for young Omani IT specialists.
The investment opportunity amounts to more than RO150mn in the full setup of the facility and will help provide more than 150 job opportunities during the construction and operation of the center.
Investment opportunities take advantage of the digital investment incentives offered by Oman and especially the abundance of submarine data cables landing in the sultanate that offer high-speed connectivity around the world.
In addition, Dhofar enjoys natural competitive advantages in providing alternative energy sources to power the data center, including wind, solar and deep-sea cooling.
HE Saeed bin Hamoud al Mawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, said Oman is positioned as a test-bed hub for advanced technologies due to the competitive advantages the sultanate enjoys in attracting digital investments. Green Data City is one of the unique digital investments in this domain.
HE Mawali also added that attracting digital investments will facilitate the objectives of the National Digital Economy Program and help achieve the desired growth in the use of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, and maximize the use of submarine data cables and renewable energy opportunities to make Oman a hub for green and sustainable data centers in the region.
Olivier Ohnheiser, CEO of Green Data City, stated that Dhofar is strategically positioned and has unique advantages to establish a sustainable hyperscale data center, such as a strong economy, cool weather in the Salalah region, unique access to cold deep sea water next to the coast, and available renewable energy.
