OPAZ Awards the Investor Service Platform Project

OPAZ Awards the Investor Service Platform Project

Muscat, July 14, 2024

The Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) has awarded the Central Platform for Investor Services Project. This Project aims to provide government and operational e-services in the economic, free and industrial zones supervised by OPAZ. Through the platform, investors can access all required services. This platform will be upgraded in order to be integrated other national government service platforms managed by the government bodies.

This platform is a strategic step on the road to develop digital infrastructure to meet sustainable development goals and further help Oman's economic zones and free zones be chosen as trustworthy and sustainable investment destinations.

The Planning and Information Technology Director General, Mr. Mahmoud Hamoud Al-Rawahi, gave the following explanation: "This platform will serve as a single one-stop shop where investors can access all investment services." It will produce centralized statistics and facilitate the verification of KPIs in the areas under OPAZ supervision. Additionally, it will facilitate the integration of various investor e-service channels and systems and make it simpler to connect government services to those that are in operation in the zones under OPAZ supervision. In addition, it will ease the process of overseeing, managing service termination, establishing protocols, and lowering the administrative and financial costs associated with setting up and maintaining several service channels. To prevent the loss of paper files and project data, it will function as an investor portfolio.

According to Al-Rawahi, "the platform will decrease the time and effort needed for services and investors will be required to repeatedly go to one-stop shop in order to obtain the required data and apply for services in order to improve service quality as part of OPAZ's plan for digital transformation and improved investor services." The quality of services provided to government investors in the zones under OPAZ supervision will be enhanced by transparent service requirements and expedited service procedures.

It is noteworthy that OPAZ has taken several actions to enhance the services provided to investors in the affiliated zones since its founding in September 2020. The creation of the Digital Transformation Committee is the most prominent of these actions. Furthermore, the study has identified the government and operational services provided to investors in the Special Economic Zone at Duqm, free zones, and industrial cities. It has also documented administrative procedures, created requirements for each service, used forms, and reviewed service fees, tariffs for business activities, and related approvals. Additionally, it has introduced an investor land selection e-service that lets investors choose from over 800 different business activities once they choose the project type and input the necessary land acreage. Along with granting its zones the ability to issue work permits, OPAZ has also launched investor residence visa, granted its zones the authority to issue work permits. It also created the investor call center (toll-free number 1919) and continued its coordination with the military and civil bodies in order to link its system with the customs exemption system. It has also categorized and documented its services offered through government e-services assessment system (Oman digital portal). It has also worked with the Directorate General of Customs to develop the requirements for the import and export of dual-use goods and other products.