Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) and Dubai-based Majid al-Futtaim (Maf) have formed a joint venture to develop the OR5bn ($13bn) western area of the Madinat al-Irfan development in Muscat.

Omran and Maf will act as developer and master developer for the project, which will create a new downtown area for Muscat and be the sultanate’s largest urban development project.

The mixed-use development will cover an area of 4.5 square kilometres next to the Oman Convention & Exhibition Centre (OCEC) and will be completed in three stages over a 20-year period. It will have 11,000 residential units comprising villas, townhouses and apartments, 100,000 square metres (sq m) of retail space, 700,000 sq m of office space, as well as a number of cultural and lifestyle offerings.

Omran and Maf plan to start construction work on the first phase of the project by the end of this year. The first works will be infrastructure and the consultant is US-based Parsons.

Madinat al-Irfan is Maf's second mixed-use community project in Oman. Maf previously partnered with Omran and the Omani government on the Al-Mouj Muscat development, previously known as the Wave Muscat. Construction work began in 2006.

The community is currently home to more than 2,000 families and will include 6,000 residential units when completed by 2025.

Maf has other projects in Oman including City Centre Muscat, My City Centre Sur and City Centre Qurum.