At Sohar Industrial Port Company, involvement and integration with the surrounding communities figures high on the agenda. The port’s 2,100 hectares encompasses two Wilayats, Liwa and Sohar and the port is active in both.
Port of Sohar’s community involvement programme involves meeting as many inhabitants of Liwa and Sohar as possible. Much time has been spent making time to share with local school children information about how an industrial port works and how safety, security and the environment are essential. All 56 schools in the Wilayat's have been invited and to date over 25 schools have enjoyed finding out about the Port of Sohar. Another worthy initiative was a three year learning project entitled “Learning Village”. This learning project, sponsored by Port of Sohar commendably reached out to ladies in the Liwa area and brought support and guidance in terms of literacy skills. This has undoubtedly proven invaluable and as a result, the project has been chosen as the most important project in the Northern Batinah region.
During 2009 Port of Sohar enthusiastically sponsored the first “Move for Sohar Day.” This occurred in April and encouraged all people in Sohar to join in running or walking and enjoy the benefits of exercise. This was accompanied by helpful health information for women regarding prevention or early diagnosis of breast cancer. This positive event was well received and Port of Sohar looks forward to annual involvement in the years ahead.
Good communication is key to promoting bilateral relationships with the community. Soharlinks, the forum for all CEOs and DCEOs of the port to communicate with surrounding communities has been particularly successful. In addition, regular meetings with Sheikh’s from the surrounding areas have been invaluable as a channel of enquiry and information.
There is a large group of fishermen living around the port. Several projects have been executed for the benefit of these fishermen and their families. The beach area has been cleaned from stones and debris, a fence has been put up for protection and contributions to a project to build artificial reefs have been made.
Later this year. Port of Sohar is looking forward to opening its Exhibition/Visit centre. This will prove a key source of information to the community and will make the very restricted port area more accessible.