18 November 2015
The new Land Transport Law that is expected to come into force soon will change the way we travel across the length and breadth of Oman. The first signs of change are already visible with the introduction of low-floor buses for Muscat with advanced features and through rebranding of the national public transport company -- Mwasalat.

The new law will help in the regulation of taxi services in Muscat as they will be required to meet some requirements, like having meters and other specifications. The government is also planning to launch high-end luxury taxis to be operated by companies, amid reports of tourism taxis to be launched by the Ministry of Tourism.

The government said it is working very hard towards developing the public transport in the capital, which will be later expanded to the entire country.

There are also plans for a light rail network over the next years, but it will be based on the success of the revamped new bus operations.

Development in the field of aviation has been the focus in the last five years and the results of which we are realising now.

Oman's gateway in the South, Salalah has a new airport officially opened on November 11. This airport will have boarding bridges for the first time in the country and a terminal building with the capacity to accommodate two million passengers annually that can upgraded to handle up to six million in four phases of development. It has a gross floor area of 65,638 sqm and new runway specifications of 4,000m long x 60m wide, which can receive big aircrafts, including the Airbus A380. The airport has an exclusive Duty Free and lounge facilities, which were elusive to the old airport that served the city effectively for many years.

Muscat Airport development is arguably the costliest project to be undertaken in Modern Oman's history, though the project is slightly behind schedule. It is expected to handle 12 million passengers annually on the completion of its first phase.

Sohar Airport was soft launched in 2014 and is now operational with scheduled flights of Oman Air. The third phase of construction will include a 5,600 sq m passenger terminal with a capacity of 500,000 passengers annually and a cargo terminal with an expandable capacity of 25,000 tonnes a year.

Duqm airport is also operational from and is expected to be ready in the next few years with full fledge facilities.

The Public Authority for Civil Aviation (PACA) recently reported that four firms are in the fray to set up the second commercial airline operator in Oman. Several foreign and local investors have taken keen interest in the project.

A portion of the Al Batinah Expressway -- the Sultanate's first four-lane motorway -- from Halban bridge to Barka, was thrown open to traffic this year. The 18 km stretch is a motorway without roundabouts or intersections. The entire Batinah Expressway project is expected to be ready in 2017. The total cost of the Al Batinah Expressway is about RO 1.5 billion and will include eight lanes, 75 interchanges and tunnels. The 270 km long road will have sub-roads of four lanes (about 250 km) that will connect the main road to the residential areas on the Al Batinah costal road; parallel to the project. It will also have weighing stations, pedestrian flyovers and rest houses. Once completed, the Expressway will be an eight-lane road linking Muscat, to the new Sohar Port and industrial area and on to the UAE border.

The 600 km road that links Oman directly to Saudi Arabia is expected to open soon is shorten distance by nearly 500 km, Called an engineering marvel, it is built through the moving sands of the vast Empty Quarter, the largest contiguous sand desert in the world, with an area of about 640,000 square kilometres.

The project involved constructing sand bridges between high rising dunes, according to Famco, the Saudi contractor. 130 million cubic metres of sand was transported to construct the bridges.

The government has also signed agreements worth over RO 200 million for the first phase of Adam-Thamrait dual carriageway (120.4 km) and service roads with a length of (20.35 km).

These two phases of the project is expected to be ready in 2018. Agreements are in place also to complete the second phase of Adam-Thamrait dual carriageway (119.7 km) and service roads with a length of 5.25 km.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications plans to introduce the Road Management System for proper and efficient maintenance of the major assets built by the Sultanate over the past four decades.

Ports

The second half of 2014 saw Sohar Port establishing itself not only as Oman's main commercial port, but also that of the region. The port's businesses have got a major boost with rapid development in the logistics and industrial sector at the Sohar Free Zone.
A new liquid material terminal is expected to add to the value to the existing services at the Salalah Port, while technical and maritime studies are under way to develop Muscat's Port Sultan Qaboos as a major tourism hub. The port is now used exclusively only for tourism operations.

Oman Railway

Oman Rail has short-listed three consortiums for the segment one of the national rail network, which covers the 207 km stretch from Sohar Port to Buraimi.

Oman Rail, which is developing the Sultanate's 2,135 km eponymous railway network, received bids from eight groups for its operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts for the network's first phase. Oman Rail's Phase 1 spans 207 km, from Buraimi on the UAE border to the country's Sohar Port.

© Oman Daily Observer 2015