Oman’s transport infrastructure lags behind that of its GCC neighbours, a situation the government has become increasingly keen to rectify as it looks to boost economic development. Muscat is now prioritising a nationwide programme to upgrade the country’s road network, expand its airport capacity and develop a national railway network.

The government says the development of a modern, multi-modal integrated transport network is vital to its efforts to diversify its economy away from energy-related industries and to opening up more areas of the country to development and tourism.

The sultanate faces a huge challenge to secure the resources and skills necessary to execute the projects while similar schemes are being carried out elsewhere in the region.

Priority spending

Under the country’s most recent five-year economic plan, which runs to 2015, a total of RO1.2bn ($3.2bn) has been allotted for road construction, making it the second-highest category for project spending after airports.

Muscat has some 46 road projects worth a combined $7.5bn currently under construction, with a further $3.4bn-worth of road schemes at the bid and design stages. This compares to the award of just $1.8bn-worth of road contracts by the Transport & Communications Ministry in 2013.

Mountain route

The largest road project currently under way is the Batinah Expressway scheme, which will extend the Muscat Expressway up to the Oman-UAE border at Khatmat Malaha. The Batinah Expressway is a particularly challenging road to build, due to the need to traverse the mountains between Muscat and the UAE border. Once complete, the new link is expected to play a key role in furthering Oman’s economic development.

The expressway will support the development of Sohar Port and its surrounding economic zone’s expansion by providing a faster way to transport goods from Muscat to markets in the UAE. Sohar is expected to become a far busier port in the coming years as it begins to handle the commercial traffic transferred from Sultan Qaboos Port in Muscat, which is being redeveloped as a cruise and leisure terminal, with commercial traffic to stop at the end of 2014.

Integrated transport

The development of the Batinah Expressway will take place in parallel with the development of a $15bn, 2,444-kilometre national railway, making it part of a comprehensive, multi-modal transport network.

After years of waiting in the wings as its neighbours moved forward with their railway projects, Oman is almost ready to start building its own national rail network.

Muscat’s plans are ambitious. The sultanate is the GCC’s second-largest country by area and the most topographically diverse. Consequently, the development of a national railway is one of the most challenging rail schemes in the region, with the proposed system passing through mountains and crossing deserts.

Joined-up thinking

The network will connect Oman’s major ports and cities, including Muscat, Sohar, Duqm and Salalah, in addition to linking with the UAE’s Etihad Rail project and the wider GCC rail network.

The first phase of the scheme comprises a 242km section from Sohar port to Al-Misfah in Muscat, an 8km spur line to the Sohar railway yard, a 20km link from Al-Misfah to Muscat central station, a 486km track from Muscat to Duqm port and an 84km section from Sinaw to Ibra.

A 136km track from Sohar to Al-Ain in the UAE, with a 27km spur to Buraimi, and a 58km line from Sohar to Khatmat Malaha on the border with the UAE are also part of the first phase of the project.

The timeframe is tight with the first segment of the railway due to start operations in 2018. To manage and help expedite the development of the railway, Oman’s Transport & Communications Ministry has established an operating company named Oman Railway Company and has awarded the UK-based Grant Thornton a deal to study the organisational structure of the new entity.

Air travel

Muscat is also pushing ahead with plans to develop regional airports at Sohar, Ras al-Hadd, Duqm and Adam as well as expanding existing international airports at Muscat and Salalah.

The new terminal at Salalah International is designed to handle 1 million passengers a year, while the new terminal at Muscat International will have the capacity to handle 12 million passengers a year. Both were scheduled to begin operations in 2014 although progress has been slower than envisaged.