Friday 27 / December / 2024
MUSCAT: It is that time of the year when people not just in Oman but in the GCC region chalk out plans to visit the beautiful Dhofar Governorate in the Sultanate of Oman.
As Oman welcomes the onset of the Khareef Season 2023, Salalah and its adjoining regions are transformed into a picturesque postcard destination with drizzle and greenery making it an ideal getaway from the blistering heat in the other parts of the region.
A majority of tourists opt to travel by road from neighboring GCC nations and the government is keen to provide the best road infrastructure and ensure the safety of the visitors.
With thousands expected to travel by road, road construction and repair works are going at war footing to welcome tourists.
The construction and maintenance of roads is being carried out by the Directorate General of Roads and Land Transport in Dhofar Governorate.
Engineer Said bin Mohammed Tabuk, Director General of the Directorate General of Roads and Land Transport in Dhofar Governorate, said: “The work to design and implement slope stabilization works on Argut-Sarafit Road in the Wilayat of Dhalkut is being carried out at a cost of OMR11.36 million and 31 percent of the project has been completed.
“The project includes lane change works, severance works and landfills, in addition to the accompanying construction and protection works. It is hoped that it will be completed in the middle of the last quarter of 2024.”
With an expenditure of about OMR1.5 million, the cumulative completion rate of the box ferries of Wadi Adonab in the Wilayat of Salalah reached 85 percent. It is hoped that the work will be completed and traffic on the road will be open by the end of June, Engineer Said added.
A full bridge project in the Wilayat of Rakhyut, which cost OMR3.2 million, has been 60 percent complete by the end of May 2023. It includes the construction work for box culverts and protective works. It is hoped that the project will be completed by the beginning of Q4 of 2023.
Engineer Said added that the directors are intensifying maintenance work for roads in various locations in the governorate, including the annual maintenance project for the asphalt road network in Dhofar Governorate for five years at a cost of OMR3mn.
The project includes routine maintenance of the asphalt road network with a length of 2,110 km, road components in separate locations, and removal of damaged road parts with the tender continuing until June 2027.
He referred to the annual maintenance project for the mountain dirt road network, which cost OMR 2.1 million, as well as the maintenance of the desert dirt road network, at a cost of OMR 2.4 million.
These tenders include filling potholes, removing dirt and surveying roads, in addition to opening roads and maintaining guiding regulations. The tender will continue until January 2027.
Regarding the project to repair the damages on the Mirbat-Hasik-Al-Shuwaimiya road as a result of the tropical depression in 2020, he explained that the project, which costs OMR1.18 million, includes removing damages on the road and re-implementing the asphalt layers at the affected sites, in addition to concrete protection works.
“Our department periodically removes accumulated sand on the main road, starting from the Al-Ghaftin area, passing through the Wilayat of Muqshin and the Qatbit region, where the monsoons are active during the Khareef season,” he added.
