Tag: Casting Equipments Manufacturer

Three of South Africa’s most prominent companies in the stainless steel supply chain are completing a substantial supply to a gold mine in the Southern African Development Community.

The project entails the supply of 250 t of grade 2 304 stainless steel for the manufacture of ten tanks – the largest of which measures 12 m in diameter and 12.7 m in height.

The proudly 100% Africa-to-Africa supply chain includes raw materials being supplied by stainless steel manufacturer Columbus Stainless, while the material processing and manufacture is being headed up by metals supplier Stalcor and the tank manufacture by steel fabricators Betterect.

Columbus Stainless local sales and market development manager Lerato Mashigo says the company supplied grade 2304 for the project, which is in duplex stainless steel.

She highlights that this family of stainless steel grades has a dual or mixed crystal structure consisting of relatively equal proportions of austenite and ferrite, which contributes to its high strength and superior corrosion resistance.

“Lean duplex, such as the 2304, is classified such because they are not highly alloyed. The grade predominantly comprises 23% chromium and 4% nickel, with manganese and nitrogen added for strength.”

Mashigo notes that Columbus Stainless has successfully produced various grades of duplex stainless steel – including 2001, 2304 and 2205 – since 2005 for the local and export markets.

“The challenge is addressing South Africa’s confidence in brand SA. South Africa needs to continuously support locally manufactured products, and realise that South African manufacturers have the skills and capabilities,” she adds.

Stalcor projects manager James Barnard highlights the success of “team South Africa” in terms of its ability to produce duplex stainless steel, manufactured for critical applications. This project will be a great reference point when promoting local products to the South African steel industry.

He explains that the coils were supplied as 20 t mother coils. This enabled the fabricator to get the optimum lengths required according to the product design. “The result of this was a decrease in welding and scrap, also resulting in time and consumables saved.”

The collaboration among the three companies assisted in mitigating not only shipping costs but also the extra five to six weeks of shipping delays, which would have been incurred had the client ordered the same product from an international supplier, adds Barnard.

He enthuses that Stalcor is a fully fledged stockist and supplier that supports clients. The company also does not compete against but rather works alongside respective markets in processing and fabrication. “We have the infrastructure, and the people who have a vast amount of experience and product expertise to easily navigate through a project of this size.”

“With this, we hope that South African mines, engineering procurement, construction management, as well as fabricators, would see the benefit of buying locally produced stainless steel,” says Barnard.

Betterect MD Nicolette Skjoldhammer tells Engineering News that some tanks were sent to site fully fabricated, while the large tanks were partially fabricated for final completion on site. “We saved the client between six and eight weeks of the total lead time using locally manufactured material.”

She suggests that there is still a wealth of expertise in South Africa and the industry needs to highlight and celebrate it to encourage growth in the sector.

“South African companies are perfectly situated to service growing local and export demand, especially since the steel industry is still one of the biggest employers and with an enormous amount of growth forecast in Southern and Central Africa,” concludes Skjoldhammer.

Source:https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/trio-makes-for-steely-supply-2019-10-25

The Southern Africa Stainless Steel Development Association (Sassda) is at a turning point in its history as it gears up for the future with the introduction of a new tiered membership model that will launch in March 2020, says Sassda acting executive director Michel Basson.

As opposed to a standard flat-rate-type membership fee, which Sassda’s members had paid every year since the early seventies, the new structure offers a set of highly competitive membership packages, in terms of cost and, most importantly, inherent added value.

This means that membership is tailor-made for the specific requirements of each member and packed with the support and services required to grow the client’s business. The new membership fee structure is based on the member’s level of activity in the stainless steel industry. In most cases, this is based on the number of employees involved in the direct conversion of stainless steel and even ‘entry’ level membership holds the core services and added value synonymous with Sassda’s new approach. Sassda now offers a tangible value proposal to members and members will be able to not only get tangible value for the membership fee, but will be able to generate even more value through active participation in Sassda initiatives.

Basson asserts that being a Sassda member automatically offers the benefit of proven technical support and advice as well as access to world-class training. Sassda helps clients market their business, while effectively lobbying and promoting export potential, essentially increasing the client’s influence and networking opportunities.

“The new membership model follows months of researching and benchmarking the new membership packages against the best in the world to come up with a set of options that are in touch and in tune with local business needs. Membership will be very similar to that of the Australian association with a proven track record of effectively serving the industry for more than a decade,” highlights Basson.

He adds that, for its members to be fully informed of the new developments, staff are currently travelling across South Africa, conducting face-to-face meetings with each member company to inform them of Sassda’s vision for 2020.

Moreover, Basson says it is Sassda’s goal to continue developing the local industry by assisting it in converting more stainless steel tonnage into world-class products.

“This, in turn, will stimulate technology use, people development and job creation,” he adds.

The South African stainless steel industry has aligned itself with the notion of Industry 4.0 and understands that local manufacturers need to be at the forefront of any developments, Basson points out.

“This can only help South Africa to remain globally competitive, which is a drive that has become increasingly important amid a stagnating South African market.”

Moreover, it is critical to find alternative markets for organisational growth.

Basson asserts that, in years past, many companies conducted manual operations in their production departments. This has changed to outsourcing specialised services such as laser or high-definition plasma cutting and other highly technical operations.

Currently, many companies regard activities such as computer numerical control cutting and bending, even robotic welding, as a commodity, with most competitive workshops now equipped with these technologies.

“It is believed that this will now be followed by a wave of higher skill level training, since adding this type of technology to production facilities creates a requirement for new positions, such as operators and programmers.”

Basson points out that job creation and training are a couple of the many challenges that the stainless steel industry faces. Other challenges include the industry’s heavy reliance on continuous and affordable energy and growing more competitive in a global market. Sassda assists in mitigating these challenges by making industry- and market-related intelligence available, assisting members through training and technical support and continuously lobbying government in this regard.

In the past year, Sassda has worked on the Steel Master Plan initiative with the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), as well as other relevant government departments.

Following a meeting with Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel in August, an industry input document was submitted to the Minister last month, addressing the needs of the industry, as well as suggestions on the best way forward.

Subsequently, Patel noted at the fifth Southern African Steel and Engineering Indaba, at the Industrial Development Corporation Conference Centre in Sandton, held on September 12 and 13, that all submissions to the DTIC were being scrutinised and that a plan of action would be released in the next couple of months.

In the document, Sassda conveys its hopes to open communications with various African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique, to extend outward-bound trade channels.

Sassda has historically found that the outward-bound trade missions – together with the DTIC’s support and endorsement – are the most effective way of obtaining business leads and enquiries.

Basson notes that the National Pavilion in Kitwe, Zambia – where Sassda has made significant inroads in building relationships with business in the area and government bodies – has requested that Sassda offer some of its training courses and other technical services in Zambia.

“In future, we would like to expand our network into other African countries in a similar vein.”

Sassda has had a very good working relationship with the Department of Trade and Industry – developed through years of interaction – which it continues to strengthen now that the department has morphed into the DTIC, and believes that its constructive participation in government initiatives contributes to the wellbeing of the stainless steel industry, Basson concludes.

Source:https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/new-membership-structure-set-for-stainless-steel-sector-2019-10-25

Despite a marked downturn in the global stainless steel industry, there are a few medium-term developments on the horizon for Southern Africa, notes research institute Afriforesight Commodities chief commodity economist Nathan Musson.

“There are glimmers of hope in terms of investment in Southern Africa’s stainless steel industry.”

There are four noteworthy investments in this regard.

The first comprises the Chinese-supported $10-billion integrated metallurgical complex mooted for Limpopo’s Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which would include three-million-tonne-a-year stainless steel capacity. The timeline for the plant execution is unclear currently as work on the supporting infrastructure and power generation capacity is expected to continue for the next few years.

Secondly, a reindustrialisation project by stainless steel and alloy manufacturer Lamergyre Alloys is in the feasibility stage and planned for the Eastern Cape’s Coega SEZ.

“If all goes according to plan, construction will begin in 2021, with Phase 1 of production resulting in 2.5-million tonnes a year of stainless steel and 1.5-million tonnes a year of alloy steel from about 2024,” suggests Musson.

The third investment involves the world’s largest stainless steel producer Tsingshan, headquartered in China, which is constructing a fully integrated, two-million-tonne-a-year stainless steel mill, in Zimbabwe, after recently signing a $2-billion agreement with the Zimbabwe government. Musson enthuses that this project’s investment potential is up to $10-billion, if the full scope is realised.

Stainless steel manufacturer and supplier Columbus – currently the only local stainless steel producer – has made minor investments to support its existing operations in recent years, with the construction of a new ladle furnace currently also under way.

Global Influence

In referring to the global stainless steel market, Musson says weak global demand growth and fast-growing Asian capacity are headwinds the local industry has “very limited potential to influence”.

Globally, the stainless steel industry is struggling, with a broad slowdown in economic growth, caused by the ongoing US-China trade disputes, he mentions.

While China’s transitioning to a service-based economy has led to a fundamental moderation in economic growth in recent years, its various trade concerns are compounding this effect.

A major ramp-up in low-cost capacity in Asia, primarily in Indonesia – where government will implement policies to restrict the export of nickel ore to promote the domestic beneficiation capacity –is adding to current industry woes.

This slowdown in global demand, coupled with accelerating supply growth, has resulted in lower prices and tighter profit margins for stainless steel producers globally, leaving marginal or inefficient operations at risk.

Musson points out that the local industry must deal with slower global growth and lower export demand – the latter not only because of weaker economic activity but also increasing competition – as well as very weak local demand growth, coupled with limited investment in large-scale metal-intensive projects.

This pressure is also amplified by steadily rising manufacturing costs, especially for electricity and labour, although the industry does still have the current advantage of mining and beneficiating the necessary chrome and manganese raw materials locally. Musson says chrome, nickel and to a lesser extent manganese are the key raw materials required to produce stainless steel.

Source:https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/medium-term-investment-buoying-stainless-steel-industry-2019-10-25

Branded welding supplier Unique Welding has significantly upgraded its range of stainless steel consumables to improve weld performance to combat a market flooded with low-quality imported stainless steel welding consumables, Unique Welding CEO Nazmi Adams tells Engineering News.

In addition, Unique Welding has partnered with renowned welding expert John du Plessis from welding and metallurgical consulting service provider Spesmet Technology to support clients with welding technology.

“The successful welding of metals, such as stainless steel, can help mitigate expensive base material waste and, subsequently, prevent welding failures, which would be significantly more costly in the long term,” says Du Plessis.

He notes that welding austenitic stainless steel successfully is not more difficult than welding mild steel; however, it is important that the welder follow the rules and standards set out by the industry.

Du Plessis says these rules include using symmetrical double-sided weld joints instead of single-sided joints. “It is also imperative to always weld in a symmetrical fashion while keeping root gaps to a minimum size.”

Moreover, one must keep bevel angles to the minimum angle stipulated for the weld, as well as heat input in the weld required for fusion and penetration, and finally use back stepping as a welding technique.

Stainless Steel Structure

Du Plessis explains that stainless steel is not a single alloy, but rather a large range of different alloys that can be categorised into austenitic stainless steels, ferritic stainless steels, martensitic stainless steel, duplex stainless steels and the precipitation-hardening stainless steels.

Notably, the most widely used alloy group in industrial applications is austenitic stainless steels.

To account for a better weld, the correct welding consumable grade must be used for each of the austenitic stainless steel grades, he emphasises. The austenitic stainless steels consist of the 200 and 300 types, with the latter the most widely used.

There are matching consumables for most of the grades, the exceptions being grade 304, which is normally welded with a 308-type consumable, and grade 321, which is normally welded with a 347-type consumable.

Consumables – which are your welding rods, contact tips, nozzles and diffusers – are either categorised as a straight consumable or carry a suffix. The suffix can be L (a low carbon alloy), H (higher carbon) or N (nitrogen bearing).

For shielded metal arc welding, the 15, 16 and 17 types are used. A 15-type electrode has a lime-based coating and is intended for direct current (dc) electrode positive polarity only. The slag covering is not as thick as that found on the 16- and 17-type coatings.

The weld bead is normally convex in a horizontal fillet weld, with excellent crack resistance. The 15-type electrode provides the best all positional weldability; however, the arc is harsher than the other types.

The 16-type electrode has a rutile-based coating and can be used with both dc and alternating current (ac) polarity. The weld bead in a horizontal fillet is almost flat, while the arc is much softer than the 15-type electrodes, with good all positional welding.

The 17-type electrode has a silica-rutile type coating, and can be used with dc and ac polarity. The additional silicon in the coating acts as a wetting agent, increasing puddle fluidity.

The 17-type electrodes produce a concave weld bead in a horizontal fillet weld and are often used for flat horizontal position welding. These electrodes have limited vertical welding capability. The arc is smooth and relatively soft when welding.

“Given the price difference between these types, the cheapest and often incorrect type is selected by the client or sold incorrectly by a supplier,” highlights Adams.

The austenitic stainless steels do not undergo phase transformation during the heating and cooling cycles during welding as do carbon and low-alloy steels.

Preheating is, therefore, not required to slow the cooling rate in the heat-affected zones to prevent the formation of hard brittle microstructures, such as martensite, which promote cracking.

Austenitic stainless steels are prone to weld metal cracking – hot or solidification cracking – during solidification of the weld pool.

Challenges when welding austenitic stainless steels include hot cracking, contamination, corrosion because of the welding and also distortion.

Adams concludes that a client must “carefully scrutinise the type of consumable, compare actual alloying compositions and consider the risk of weld rework before buying the consumable”.

Source:https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/correct-use-of-consumables-makes-a-good-weld-2019-10-25

United States consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (P&G) said on Monday it had delivered on a commitment announced last year by investing R300-million in a manufacturing facility in South Africa.

It said the investment in the Kempton Park site had increased employment at the facility by 30% and included upgrades to P&G’s Pampers production facilities.

“The facility is a zero waste to landfill site and the latest energy saving initiatives means that even with the additional manufacturing demand of a new product line, energy consumption has not increased,” the company added.

P&G’s presence in South Africa has created over 4 000 direct and indirect jobs throughout its value chain.

“The commissioning of the new manufacturing facility represents P&G’s dedication to the development of, and investment in, South Africa and Africa as a whole, responding to the growing needs of our consumers,” P&G vice president for southern Africa Vilo Trska said.

“This supports the government’s National Development Plan objectives relating to job creation and President Cyril Ramaphosa’s quest to promote investment into South Africa.”

He said the company was committed to addressing the needs of women and girls in South Africa and Africa, through its products, operations and its social programmes, with 40 percent of managers at the plant being female.

“Our partnership with WEConnect International upskills women-owned businesses and integrates them into the company’s supply chain, and we have committed to tripling our spend with women-owned businesses,” said Trska.

“Over the next five years, we will deliver puberty education to over 1.5-million girls in South Africa, and our Always Keeping Girls in School programme complements this with the provision of free Always sanitary pads to another 13 000 girls every year.”

Source:https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/pg-invests-r300m-in-manufacturing-facility-in-south-africa-2019-11-04

South Africa looks increasingly likely to miss its projections for GDP (gross domestic product) growth and faces a potential “junk” credit rating from all three major ratings agencies, as domestic and international pressures weigh on Africa’s second-largest economy.

The World Bank has cut South Africa’s growth forecast for 2019 through to 2021, citing weak investor sentiment and lingering policy uncertainty. Growth for 2019 is now projected at 0.8%, half a percentage point lower than April’s forecast and unchanged from 2018, according to the bank’s October Africa’s Pulse report.

Growth is expected to hit 1% in 2020, 0.7 percentage points lower than the previous forecast, and 1.3% in 2021, again half a percentage point lower than prior estimates.

Africa’s second-largest economy sidestepped a second recession in two years in the second quarter, as GDP posted a 3.1% quarter-on-quarter expansion after contracting in the first quarter.

However, growth is expected to be almost flat in the third quarter, according to BankservAfrica’s monthly economic transactions index.

In a recent note, UBS Chief Emerging EMEA Economist Gyorgy Kovacs said early indications point to zero GDP growth in the third quarter, though suggested this was lower than analysts’ models and a lot could change once full figures emerge for August and September.

The Absa Manufacturing PMI dipped to 41.6 in September from 25.7 in August, the second consecutive sharp decline in factory activity and South Africa’s largest in a decade.

“As regards to sectors, July high-frequency data points to weakness in mining, mainly in PGMs (platinum group metals), manufacturing (mainly in petroleum and chemical products and basic iron & steel), utilities and vehicles sales,” Kovacs added.

The Reserve Bank of South Africa’s latest quarterly bulletin showed the economy entering its 70th month of a downward cycle, its longest since 1945.

Losing power
Recent electricity production figures also showed a significant downturn, highlighting a long-running obstacle underpinning South Africa’s economic headwinds.

“The electricity sector has been a problem for years, but particularly in the first quarter, there were really serious power cuts, and it looks like the state run electricity generator is still failing to boost output,” said John Ashbourne, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics.

“That was still a problem in the third quarter and looks like it will continue to remain one.”

South African state power utility Eskom Holdings, which splashed the cash to approve over $13.2 billion worth of projects around the country when the economy was booming in 2007, has now become a debt-stricken headache for Pretoria.

Eskom supplies 95% of the nation’s power and has been without a permanent CEO since July, while failing to generate enough revenue to cover costs. The company has been allocated bailouts totaling 128 billion rand ($8.46 billion) over three years.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is due to deliver his mid-term budget policy statement on October 30, and will need to reconcile substantial bailout packages for Eskom with slow growth and falling tax revenue.

“There have also been some pretty widespread strikes in mining and a few other sectors, so there isn’t one massive factor – there are a lot of different things going wrong all at once,” Ashbourne added.

“It looks like the bounce back that we saw in the second quarter wasn’t sustained, and that growth was very weak in the third quarter and it is even possible that the economy shrank again.”

Heading to ‘junk’
Two days after Finance Minister Mboweni unveils his budget policy, Moody’s makes a call on South Africa’s credit rating.

Both S&P Global Ratings and Fitch already have South African debt at sub-investment grade, colloquially labelled “junk,” with Moody’s the only major ratings agency yet to downgrade, with its rating currently sitting at “stable.”

Ashbourne told CNBC that the two big concerns for Moody’s would be slow growth, which has been causing debt to rise, and the power sector.

“There is a fear that if the situation at Eskom continues to escalate, and the amount of money that it needs to call on for aid continue to rise, then at some point South Africa will lose its last rating,” he said.

However, Capital Economics has taken the view that markets have largely priced in a downgrade, meaning that any short-term market move will most likely not cause sustained economic impact.

Corrective measures
Without corrective measures, UBS analysts anticipate that South Africa’s budget deficit could reach -5.4 to -5.6% of GDP, an overshoot of between 0.9 and 1.1 percentage points, based on fiscal pressures building on both the revenue and spending side of the budget.

“Tax revenues are clearly underperforming the targets, mainly corporate and personal income taxes and domestic VAT receipts,” Kovacs said.

“We see scope for a 0.4-0.6% of GDP lower tax collection than planned in the 2019/20 Budget. Time proportionate government spending is running at the fastest rate in recent years – which in part reflects advance payments to Eskom.”

Ashbourne said further monetary policy easing may offer some relief. South Africa cut its main interest rate in July, but expectations for further loosening this year are low.

“It seems like the central bank’s focus on inflation has precluded it from taking any action, which is unfortunate for the rest of the economy,” he added.

The “persisting policy uncertainty” cited by the World Bank included “whether a solution could be found for Eskom, fiscal slippages would be averted, and structural reforms would be undertaken.”

A key obstacle to reform that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has faced deep internal divisions within his governing ANC (African National Congress) party.

Mboweni’s recent growth plan for the South African economy proposed increased private sector participation in the energy, telecoms and transportation sectors, entering previously uncharted policy waters and surprisingly gaining the support of the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

However, promises of reforms in the past have shown little sign of progress, leaving market participants waiting for more concrete indicators of implementation.

“Eskom is the one that people worry about the most because of the power cuts which everyone can see, but there are also really big problems with the port operator, the railway company, a lot of these firms which honestly would be much better off just being broken up or sold off, or at least part of them being sold off,” Ashbourne said.

He added that while Ramaphosa had shown signs of embracing a big shift in policy, he had so far been unable to achieve consensus within his own party and unwilling to “railroad” internal opponents.

Source:https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/10/south-africas-economy-struggles-as-world-bank-downgrades-forecast.html

In today’s blog we take a look at South Africa’s economic performance over the last couple of years compared to their BRICS peers and certain developed economies. The graphic below looks at the economic growth rates of South Africa, UK, USA, Japan, Brazil, China, India and Russia.

What is concern to see is that all but one BRICS country showed improving growth from 2011 to 2014. Only one of the BRICS’s countries who’s economic growth was better in 2014 than 2011 was India. All other BRICS countries showed lower economic growth in 2014 than the growth they achieved in 2011. Hardly encouraging numbers for South Africa, especially considering the fact that the South Africa government seems more inclined to do business with these countries than the USA and UK.

While the BRICS countrie’s economic growth rates are slowing, the developed economies such as UK and USA have seen strong improvements in their growth rates when comparing it to the growth they achieved in 2011.

So the question is why? Do they have better economic policies? Are their economies less dependent on one specific economic sector?

Think about China. Largely based on manufacturing. They trying to change their economy to be more retail and services orientated.
Then there is South Africa, who’s economic performance seems closely tied to the fortunes of commodities. As our manufacturing sector has started to decline substantially since 1994. See our Economic History and South Africa’s animated GDP pie chart. As we import more instead of manufacturing locally. A contributor to this is the lack of reliable power in South Africa.
Russia and Brazil’s economies are largely based on commodities too. Russia with crude oil and gas and Brazil with sugar cane for use in ethanol. Significant declines in gas and crude prices have severely hampered the state coffers of these countries and has lead to serious economic contractions over the last couple of years.​

India being the only BRICS country to buck the trend is slowly rising to become a economic super power. They have large scale urbanisation taking place (similar to what China experience years ago, and to some extent is still experiencing). Demand for all goods and services are on the rise and there seems to be little stopping India’s growth for the medium term.
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The USA and UK’s economies are less dependent on resources as they have a more diversified economy with strong manufacturing sectors, strong retail and services sectors etc, and this does shield them a little more against volatile commodity movements. While their economic growth rates are lower during times of high commodity prices, compared to the more commodity based economies, their growth rates are higher during times of struggling commodity prices.

Perhaps South Africa, like China, should implement significant policy changes in order to change the level of dependence of the South African economy (and exchange rate) on commodity prices. As this will provide a more stable platform to build an economy on, and it will be easier for government to predict tax revenues as the economy will be a more stable one and less dependent on commodities.

Source:https://www.southafricanmi.com/blog-17may2016.html

Main contractor hired for Oman mixed-use project

A main contractor has been appointed to work on a new mixed-use project near Muscat international Airport.

Real estate developer Tasmim has named Unique Contracting as main contractor for its Habitat project in Al Khuwair, which is expected to complete by December 2021.

Construction works have already commenced on the site, and demolition works will begin soon, a statement said, adding that the development is touted to be a “destination to live, work, shop or simply hang-out”.

The project is being developed under a joint-venture between Omani conglomerate Shanfari Group of Companies and European architecture firm Mandressi.

“The appointment of the contractor and soon to commence substructure works, means that we are several key steps closer to creating great moments for everyone, every day, in the Al Khuwair community,” said Mr Alessandro Daverio, CEO of Tasmim.

Designed by Mandressi, Habitat will include 44 residential units, 44 retail units, one roof top restaurant and 118 office units.

For business purposes, Habitat will offer flexible layouts for any type of company, the latest technology, dedicated parking spaces and valet parking.

Jan-Willem Krijgsman, project development manager at Tasmim said: “Habitat is situated amidst a panoramic view, and will offer a mix of residential, commercial, shopping, and entertainment venues on an impressive scale.”

The project’s sales office is scheduled to open during the fourth quarter of 2019.

Source:https://www.arabianbusiness.com/construction/426065-main-contractor-hired-for-oman-mixed-use-project

Closure of iconic Muscat hotel sparks frenzied buyers

The closure of Oman’s iconic Golden Tulip Al Seeb has sparked a frenzy after its owners announced that the entire contents of bedrooms were on sale for as little as OMR 200 ($519), according to local media reports.

According to a report in the Times of Oman, the auction – which was scheduled to run between August 18 and 28 – was over in two days.

The hotel was closed in July after Oman Aviation Services announced that the land would be used for other projects.

“Oman Aviation Services is working hard to upgrade its various services, anticipating future developments in accordance with the latest updates in international hospitality,” said Dr Khalfan bin Saeed Al Shuaili, the firm’s CEO. “The ongoing development of the sector has led to a wide range of investment opportunities.”

“After 35 years of continuous success in the industry, we maintain our strong commitment to actively support the growth of the hospitality sector in Oman,” he added.

The hotel, formerly known as Novotel Al Seeb Muscat, was founded by Accor Hotels in 1984 and was one of the oldest hotels in the city. In 2004, it was taken over by Golden Tulip Hospitality Group, who renamed it the Golden Tulip.

Ownership was transferred to Oman Air in 2009, before finally being taken over by Oman Aviation Hospitality in February 2018.

Source:https://www.arabianbusiness.com/travel-hospitality/426150-closure-of-iconic-muscat-hotel-sparks-frenzied-buyers