The 11 million riyal plant, to be imported from Brazil, will immediately create 4,000 jobs for nationals, besides turning in a profit of $225 million in its very first year of operation, its promoter, an enterprising Omani businessman, claims.

Mohammed Saif Al Harthy said yesterday that the uniqueness of the project was that cellulose, that will be converted into ethanol, would be extracted from the date palms "without cutting a single tree."  His 'Oman Green Energy Company' (OGEC) plans to set up a string of 'bio-fuel filling stations' all over the country and aims to cut carbon monoxide emission by up to 20 per cent by 2020.

The plant, expected to be ready by the end of the year or early 2008, will have an initial capacity of 900,000 tonnes per annum, which will be doubled within two years.

The new 'green' fuel will be sold at 80 baisas per litre, compared with an average price of 125 baisas a litre for petrol and 130 baisas for diesel in Oman. Eighty per cent of the output will be exported, mainly to Europe, China and India where the demand for alternative fuels is surging as it is in the United States, Canada and Brazil. The rest will be consumed in Oman and other GCC countries where, Harthy said, the trend was just catching up.

"Our cost of production, according to detailed studies we conducted, will be $200 per tonne against the average worldwide price for the finished product of $450 a tonne.  Hence, on an initial production of 900,000 tonnes annually, we are looking at a profit of $225 million in the first year," he added.

Harthy, 43, has been working on the project for the past two years and has extensively studied the experience of Brazil, a pioneer in the field and which has been successfully producing fuel from sugarcane for decades.  He said 95 per cent of cellulose required for the project would come from date palms. "The beauty of the whole thing is that we will extract cellulose from the trees without cutting a single tree.

"Each tree can produce nine kilogrammes of cellulose every five days. So you can imagine the potential," he added.  Rest of the cellulose needed for the project will come from plants such as Arunda Donuts, which also grow abundantly in the Sultanate.

"Most significantly, these trees and plants do not require too much water," Harthy said, adding that the project would give a boost to the agriculture sector by encouraging farmers to go in for date cultivation on a much larger scale.

Although the plant as such is not very labour intensive — needing only around 50 people to operate it, it will create thousands of job openings immediately.

In fact, OGEC, which will start collecting bio-mass by mid-August, will recruit 4,000 nationals the same month.

Harthy explained: "They will be trained in the pre-treatment of the raw material and converting the waste into coal.

The workers will be trained for five months on operating the 'pressuring' machines — the company will  be importing 4,000 of these machines — and will be absorbed as full-time employees.

"This is really a huge project," Harthy, who is also the CEO of the company, said, adding: "Once in operation, not only will it be one of the country's largest employers, but will significantly contribute to the  economy boosting the agriculture sector, besides considerably reducing pollution."

He said the company plans to set up a chain of bio-fuel filling stations across the country. "As people here become more and more aware of the advantages, both in terms of costs and environmental impacts I am certain, ethanol will replace petrol and diesel as the main source of fuel all over the Gulf."