Government offers land plots in Muscat to private investors for development

Starting next month, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will be offering three of its lands parcels in Bausher, Al Khuwair, and Ghala, to investors in the private sector.

The initiative is a part of the government’s plan to promote partnership between public and private sectors in Oman, especially in the commercial, tourism, and real estate sectors.

“The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, has prepared an inventory of all government-owned lands in all governorates of the Sultanate. The aim is to offer them to the private sector for investment,” an official said.

The Ministry has officially invited all investment and real estate developers to invest in the development of these three sites.

“The plot of Oman International Exhibition Centre at Airport Heights in Bausher has an area of 127,224 square metres, the plot in Al Khuwair in Muscat has an area of 14,588 square metres, and the plot at Ghala heights has an area of 13,267 square metres,” the official added. Economists and investors in the Sultanate have welcomed the invitation. “This is a very welcome development as it strengthens the trust and cooperation between public and private sectors,” Fabio Scacciavillani, Chief Economist of the Oman Investment Fund, said.

He added, “If public assets are sitting idle, any proposal to generate income and return on these assets is a positive development.”

In this regard, the ministry has almost completed the preliminary studies of the three mentioned locations, as well as the preliminary plans for the nature and components of these projects.

The first plot at Airport Heights will have a four-star hotel, hotel apartments, 12 office and residential buildings, a health club with a kindergarten, a medium-sized independent building for conferences, a mall, and housing units for the Ministry.

In addition, it will contain the headquarters of the ministry, which will be developed by the investor at his expense without any financial implications for the government, in return for utilisation of the rest of the land to implement and develop the component in accordance with the long-term usufruct agreement.

The design includes a 600m shaded walkway, interspersed with office and residential buildings and overlooked by restaurants and cafes located on the ground floor of the building. The other two locations at Al Khuwair and Ghala will see mixed-use development.