Galfar Engineering & Contracting Company has announced the successful completion of civil works for Vale's palletizing plant in Sohar.

Galfar was awarded the work package for the main plant civil construction in December 2008, which had to be completed in tight schedule of 18 months. The original scope of work was completed within the target date, with the expected level of quality and safety by the customer. The customer awarded further additional works with extended period of two months time.

The additional work was also completed as per customer requirement. Around 700 workers and 40 staff worked round the clock to meet the deadline set by the client.

The project was undertaken over a 21 month period from January 2009 to September 2010. Customer expressed satisfaction in Galfar activities, systems and functions especially safety, quality control and planning.

The Vale industrial complex, spread over an area of 500,000 square metres, comprise the construction of a palletizing plant to produce iron ore pellets and a distribution centre with a handling capacity of 40 million tonnes per annum. Vale's Sohar project is currently in its commissioning phase, preparing for operation commencement at the beginning of 2011.

Vale's palletizing plant and distribution center in Sohar will act as a distribution hub to Middle East, North Africa (Mena) and Indian clients, providing just in time operations framework. Vale's total investment in the Sultanate mounts to approximately USD 2 billion.

(Sourced from Times of Oman)