Sunday 17 / November / 2024
Muscat: Ambitious plans to create a multi-million rial Oman riviera are set to rise from the ashes, after a tourism think tank resurrected the project.
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Eight years ago, work on the ambitious Yiti golf resort project stopped due to the global credit crunch. All that remains at the scenic fishing village near Muscat is a canal built by previous developers.
But tourism executives and ministry officials, meeting at the recent Tanfeedh tourism lab, have decided the project should go ahead to transform that corner of the Sultanate into a Riviera for the Gulf.
Some villagers in Yiti have been relocated while those who chose to stay are eagerly awaiting news about jobs at the new development.
“The project is going to begin soon,” Shukoor Ghammari, a Tourism Lab participant at the recent Tanfeedh think tank and shura council member, told Times of Oman, confirming the new plans for the project.
According to Majlis Al Shura member Ali Al Jabri, though development has been on the table for eight years, Yiti is ready to move forward.
“Nothing has started, but the project has been handed to the Oman Investment Fund,” Al Jabri said.
“In preparation for the development, villagers were relocated years ago. Everything is ready, they just have to start,” he added.
The Shura member said that some 15 families have left Yiti, leaving only five in the area.
Tanfeedh officials confirmed that the project is on the table and in the process of negotiations.
The $2billion project was created based upon a Royal Decree, and properties were transferred under a compensation agreement.
The company that was in charge of the project stopped work on the riviera plan during the 2009 financial crisis.
At that time, only a canal had been dug. There are impressive plans for luxury apartments, hotels and even a golf course in the sleepy hollow.
Khalaf Al Jabri, a resident of Yiti, said: “No movement has been seen yet in the area.
“I saw tourism ministry officials visiting the Bandar Khayran area, but no one came here, yet. It will be good if tourism investment comes here, since the previous company employed some of the locals in jobs, such as security guards, which is good,” he said.
In 2013, the Times of Oman reported that Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company (Qatari Diar) was taking over a 70 per cent stake in the Yiti project.
The original plans for the development with included construction of three five-star hotels, more than 1,000 apartments, 720 townhouses, some 400 villas and a golf course. Tanfeedh has proposed initiatives in the tourism sector to aid Oman’s economy. One of the proposals is to make the Yiti project a reality. Negotiations are currently on-going with investors.
Tanfeedh says that 10,000 jobs for Omanis will be created in the tourism sector by 2020 through the development of projects and seeking private investments.
“By attracting private investments of at least OMR1.8b, and by increasing international tourist arrivals from 1.9m to 2.7m, 10,000 jobs for Omanis can be created,” Tanfeedh reports.
According to Tanfeedh, private management companies should be hired to take control of heritage sites and protected areas, to develop a year round calendar of events, create tourism projects and assure the delivery of ITCs, hotels and themed attractions.
Last week, Tanfeedh unveiled 121 proposals, as the result of a series of “labs” in which public and private sector officials cut through red tape to create a road map for the Sultanate’s future.
The plans were the result of six weeks of discussions attended by more than 250 officials from 160 government and private institutions at Tanfeedh.
The Tanfeedh process is Oman’s solution to issues surrounding a non-oil future for the Sultanate, bringing together private and public sector agencies to streamline doing business in the country and seek solutions to problems.
