Friday 26 / April / 2024
Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman’s focus on the Musandam governorate as part of Oman Vision 2040 has already witnessed development projects kick-started and with the progress gathering pace, the governorate will be one of the major destinations for tourism and investments.
The strategic location of the governorate of Musandam, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, with its islands and bays makes it unique compared to the rest of the Sultanate’s governorates.
The governorate receives great attention from His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, who issued Royal Directives in 2021 to focus on the development of the governorate to make it a hub for local and international investors.
Speaking at a recently-held forum, organised by the Journalists Committee in Musandam under the auspices of the Oman Journalists’ Association, Sayyid Ibrahim bin Saeed Al Busaidi, Governor of Musandam, said: “Musandam is a land of opportunities. A lot of development projects have been launched in the past couple of years and we hope the aspirations and the ambitions of the local people will be fulfilled.
“At present, the major projects include the construction of a new airport at Khasab, a university (campus of University of Technology and Applied Sciences) and launch of sea taxis in the Musandam peninsula.”
Al Busaidi said: “The location of the airport and the preliminary design has been approved. The site and the road leading to the airport was selected from 39 options.” The Musandam Governor added: “Plans are underway to launch a mobile app for use of taxis in Musandam as people prefer to use their own cars as taxis. We have invited companies to operate this application.”
There are also major road projects underway with plans to develop the picturesque route connecting Kumzar village and Khor Najd that has been undertaken by the Ministry of Defence. The road will bring a lot of relief to people of Kumzar village. He said that expansion of Kumzar port is being studied by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, and the project, which is likely to cost OMR16 million, was not included in the current five-year plan.
Al Busaidi said that plans are afoot to develop khors (rocky inlets) and coastline around Khasab. Musandam is dotted with plenty of khors and the government is keen to develop these places to attract tourists with a waterfront set to come up.
On the operation of ferry services, Al Busaidi said that “at present ferries operate between Shinas and Khasab, Shinas and Dibba and Shinas and Lima via Dibba.”
He added: “The government is keen to change the model with focus more on freight services and less on passenger traffic with the first exclusive freight ferry to be launched in 2024.”
The Musandam Governor said: “People in Musandam are used to sea travel and there is a lot of movement between Kumzar and Khasab. An investment opportunity for sea taxis has been studied but because of the high cost of the operating model, there have been no takers. We are working with the Otaxi Company to develop a sea taxi model and a feasibility study is underway.”
The top government official said that major plans to beautify the city are on and the urban development will witness creation of city centres with the first tender to be awarded next month for Khasab city centre development.
On the hospitality and tourism fronts, Al Busaidi admitted “investment in the sector was slow.”
He said: “We had a contract signed to develop hotels in Bukha but lack of investments meant that it is now on a back burner. The occupancy rate in Dibba was good, and in 2022 the inflow of tourists increased with the past three months witnessing the highest number of tourists in Khasab. A total of 90 cruise ships visited Musandam during the 2022 and early 2023. Smaller ships have also begun to arrive and ship owners have confirmed that Khasab is a major destination for cruise ships”.
Al Busaidi said work is underway to develop economic and tourism zones, including Mahas, which will be focused on light and medium industries, a fish market and a quarry.
Work is also on to expand the fishing port in Dibba to a multi-purpose port with an investment of OMR40 million and setting up of a waterfront in Dibaa, Bassa Beach development project (likely to open in May 2023), and infrastructure development in Madha.
In September 2020, National Development and Investment Company (ASAAS) inked a usufruct agreement with the Office of Minister of State and Governor of Musandam to develop Bassa Beach in Khasab. The agreement involves developing a land area of about 73,000m2 that will feature two key components – a four-star resort and a public park to cater to the growing number of tourists visiting Bassa Beach. A beautiful sandy beach nestled between the rugged mountains of Musandam, Bassa is strategically located near the current Khasab Airport and 2.6km from the city centre.
