Wednesday 08 / January / 2025
When was the last time you saw an entire city being built?
Or better yet, when were you last involved in the building of a mega city? Old black and white pictures of Muscat from the 1970s leave everyone in awe as they compare the images of yesteryear to what they see today, but if you missed the opportunity to watch His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said build, grow and nourish the country, you now have a second chance.
When I hear the word Duqm, I think of economic growth. I think of families moving to the city to start the first generation of businesses. I envision trading routes and large ships coming into the dock to bring trade and goods. I can almost feel the cool breeze of the Salalah monsoon dance across my face as I close my eyes and imagine what His Majesty has in store for us.
I visited Duqm recently, and it reminded me of a green field. A clean slate for anything and everything. If you want to build a factory, you can do it. If you want to build a house, you can do it. If you want to start a unique chain of coffee shops, that’s possible too. Whatever your mind can create, Duqm can offer you that opportunity.
The phrase plug and play (PnP) is used in computers and IT for when you have a motherboard and you simply “plug” something into it. The infrastructure of the board is designed to allow anything to fit into this device. Comparing Duqm to a PnP device makes perfect sense. Whatever ideas you have, just plug and play them into Duqm, and it will work. For those who were not born or living in Oman in the early 1970s and 1980s, this is the best chance to see how Oman or Muscat used to look when His Majesty’s reign began. This is what I remember Muscat looking like in the early 1970s when His Majesty first took power.
It’s a beautiful sight for someone to see how Muscat used to look back then.
A lot of people are surprised when images of Muscat from 40 to 50 years ago are compared to Muscat today. It will soon be the same for Duqm. I believe it is a great feeling to see Duqm so plain and empty because that means it can only grow and prosper and eventually become the new city of the future.
The climate throughout the whole year is cool. If it gets warm, it is no hotter than Muscat. Even in the summertime, the weather is affected by the annual Salalah monsoons that come to southern Oman during the Khareef Season and create a heavenly experience.
To call the weather in Oman “comfortable” during summer is a blessing.
Geopolitically speaking, the location of Duqm, compared to any city in Oman or the Arabian Peninsula, is among the best. It is away from any of the politics that surround the country. Far from all these conflicts, one can only feel safe. Businessmen, workers and families alike should feel safe and secure. It is like you are truly on a different continent.
At the moment, there are huge infrastructure projects under construction in Duqm, although some are in the initial stages of operations, including the ports, dry-dock and the refinery.
Personally, I refer to these projects as the Commanding Heights of a City. These three infrastructure projects
require a lot of suppliers and anything around these projects will grow.
Also, the implementation of a railroad in the city would connect us to the world. Can you imagine a railroad starting in Oman and spanning the country, before heading all the way to Europe? Ships coming from the Far East would come to Duqm, and the cargo could be taken all the way north to another continent. The possibilities are endless.
I genuinely believe that Duqm may very well become the new Commercial or Business City. CNN has already labelled it as “the Arab world’s next big city.” Even His Excellency Kim Chang Kyu, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Oman, visited Duqm and said to me, “the name OMAN reminds me of an Open Mind!”
When you think of the future, Duqm is your best bet in investing for this new age of infrastructure. Any amount invested, no matter how small or large, will see you doing a service to your family, business and country.
