Wednesday 18 / December / 2024
Muscat: Many of Muscat’s streets and districts will soon be renamed under a plan being rolled out by Muscat Municipality to make them more visitor-friendly.
The new plan, which will see streets and districts named after prominent buildings in the immediate area, or events of historical significance that took place in their vicinity, will begin in the Wilayat of Seeb, before being implemented to the other regions of the capital.
The changes of these names will also be shown in Google Maps, making it easy for people to easily identify and recognise these areas online. The changes will also take place in documentation dealing with official transactions, and government licences that deal with land ownership, in addition to making it easier for delivery services to reach their intended destination.
Under the current naming system, according to Salim Al Fori, a member of the Municipal Council at Muscat Municipality, areas had been assigned codes such as Block 391 or Block 302. Such blocks will now be assigned specific names. “The new names for the districts in Al Seeb have been approved by the Municipal Council, and the new names are inspired by landmarks in these areas,” he said.
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“For example, Mazoon district is named so because it takes inspiration from Mazoon bint Ahmed Mosque that is located in the area, and the University district is named after the Sultan Qaboos University, which is located there.”
“In addition, the new names of districts in Muttrah have been approved, but the other wilayats, such as Bousher, are yet to be approved. The streets and districts in these areas have been assigned new names. We are waiting for approval to be granted to these changes,” he added, saying that Muscat Municipality had decided to start with Seeb, because of its fast-growing popularity with locals and expats, and due to its proximity to other towns such as Barka and other areas of the South Batinah Governorate.
Al Fori also shed more light on how these districts would be renamed.
A mini-committee, consisting of the Wali of each wilayat, along with two representatives of this wilayat on the Municipal Council, and the mayor of the Directorate of each wilayat, would conduct research on the names, and this research, along with suggestions for their implementation, would be submitted to the Municipal Affairs Committee. In the case of the Wilayat of Seeb, this committee included the Wali, eight members of the Seeb municipal council, two inhabitants of the wilayat, and the mayor of the Directorate of Al Seeb.
“The various blocks will be renamed and be given names such as Al Zafarn, Al Rawyah and Al Kawther, to name a few,” he said. “We have finished renaming the residential districts, and this has been approved by the Municipal Council and the mayor. The Council looked at both the names that had been put forward, as well as the amendments we had suggested, and then approved the names with our amendments.”
With the blocks having previously followed a complex naming pattern, it was sometimes difficult for people to know exactly where they wanted to go. However, this new system will make it easier to travel, in addition to reflecting the history and culture of Oman.
“For example, South Al Mawaleh was divided into 11 blocks, but these have now been replaced with beautiful names,” he explained. “We faced some challenges in changing the names of some of the older residential districts of Al Seeb, but with the blessings of the elders of that area, we were able to come to an agreement about the new names of these places.”
