Projects including SOM-materplanned city extension aim to diversify country’s economy
Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster & Partners are among 30 companies which have signed contracts with the sultan of Oman on plans which include more than 100,000 homes in the country.
Worth £2.6bn in total, the majority of the agreements are for the first phase of Sultan Haitham City, a planned extension to the capital city of Muscat named after Oman’s sultan Haitham bin Tariq.
Masterplanned by SOM, the city will span 1,480ha to the west of Muscat, with the first phase accommodating 39,000 people in over 7,000 residential units across 6 million sqm.
A total of eight residential neighbourhoods will be built over the next six years under deals signed with local and international developers, along with zoned areas for commercial, retail, life sciences, leisure, logistics and manufacturing schemes.
A 1.67 million sq m central park, a university precinct, a women and children’s health centre, a rehabilitation centre for people with special needs will also be built.
Other projects include the Khawair Downtown project in the heart of Muscat by Zaha Hadid and CBRE, while Foster & Partners are working on an agricultural city in the Al Najd region with Dar Al Handasah Consultants.
The projects are planned to align with the country’s vision for 2040, which aims to diversify the national economy.
Sustainable urban development is essential to the strategy, which seeks to prioritise social and environmental wellbeing with fair distribution of development gains and protection of natural resources.
The city will be the first project realised within Oman’s $33bn pipeline of planned sustainable urban development. Further schemes are due to be announced over the coming weeks and months.
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