MUSCAT : The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning organized the fourth media dialogue under the slogan “Determination to Implement” at the Royal Opera House in the presence of His Excellency Dr. Khalfan bin Saeed Al-Shuaili, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, in the presence of representatives of government and private media, during which the Ministry reviewed the most prominent achievements and goals it achieved during the year 2023, in addition to reviewing the executive plan for 2024.

The Most Prominent Achievements of 2023

Concern to Customer Service

Regarding the most prominent achievements in 2023, the Ministry began working with the slogan “Citizen First” by simplifying procedures, improving services, and improving communication points with the beneficiary through several channels that facilitate the process of direct communication and the quickly and smooth completion of transactions. This raised the satisfaction rate with the Ministry’s services by 65%, as the Ministry provided its services to more than 280,000 visitors in the unified service halls, responded to more than 75,000 calls through the call center, and responded to 6,000 letters through the customer service account on social media platforms. As part of the efforts made to provide facilities to investors and real estate developers in transactions related to investment project, the Ministry launched the “Excellent Service Hall,” which is concerned with providing a package of services to investors and real estate developers. The hall completed more than 353 transactions during 2023.

Digital transformation

In the field of digital transformation, the Ministry was able to automate 56 services, including the Tatwir and Amlak platforms, as more than 133,000 transactions were completed through Amlak, while Tatweer serviced more than 1,500 users, completing 4,000 transactions.

Social Housing Program

As for the efforts made to achieve family stability through the social housing program, Ministerial Decision number (9/2023) regarding raising the value of housing assistance was issued. During 2023 the program achieved the provision of assistance to 1,382 families. In order to provide integrated and innovative architectural maps for citizens benefiting from the housing assistance program, and raising the efficiency of designs of the houses, the Ministry launched the Map Bank Competition in which 15 technical consulting offices participated. With regard to the housing loan program, the specialization of housing loans was moved to Oman Housing Bank, and in last January the housing loan program was launched to finance more than 60,000 Omani families within 5 years, in cooperation with the Oman Housing Bank.

Real Estate Trading

On the aspect of real estate trading, the total real estate trading value recorded an increase of 6 percent to reach a value of OMR 2.6 billion, and over OMR 65 million total fees collected for legal transactions. In proving ownership, more than 23,000 ownership approvals were given. As for land grants, the Ministry distributed more than 25,000 land plots in various governorates through the Choose Your Land platform, 75 plots through the Own Your Land platform, and 16 plots through the Plan Your Land platform. More than 48,000 plots of land were registered for the first time, along with issuance of 1,316 title deeds to citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

Usufruct Program

To achieve optimal exploitation of government lands, the usufruct program witnessed the signing of 781 usufruct contracts, with the total fees collected reaching more than OMR 782,000 in various governorates, this included projects in commerce, industry, tourism, food security, education, health, and services such as integrated fuel stations.

Sorouh Program

Regarding the efforts made in Sorouh Program aiming to provide integrated residential neighborhoods, 7 projects are under implementation namely “Al Naseem Neighborhood” in the Wilayat of Barka, with an area exceeding 335,000 square meters and providing more than 1,100 housing units, “Al Luban Neighborhood,” with an area of ​​more than 637,000 square meters and 1,300 housing units, “Al Ahed Neighborhood” in the Wilayat of Al Amerat, with an area of ​​445,000 square meters and more than a thousand housing units, a neighborhood located in the Wilayat of Sohar on an area of ​​​​more than 370,000 square metres providing more than 680 housing units, a neighborhood in the Wilayat of Bidbid, on an area of ​​​​more than 286,000 square meters, to provide 630 housing units, and another site in the Wilayat of Salalah, on an area extending over 321,000 square meters, to provide more than 550 housing units, in addition to offering 4 sites for investment on Tatwir platform in the wilayats of Ibra, Samail, Sur, and Al Buraimi.

Future City Projects

In the field of structural plans projects and future cities, a group of projects were launched, namely the structural plan for Greater Salalah and the structural plan for Greater Nizwa, in addition to the completion of the structural plan for Greater Muscat, which is nearing completion of the study stage and moving to the implementation stage, beside the future city of Salalah, the future city of Bawshar, and the future city of Sohar.

Building Competencies and Capabilities

Regarding the Ministry’s efforts to build competencies and capabilities, the Ministry launched the capacity building program in urban planning “Rafid”, second batch, with the participation of 40 trainees from 19 government agencies, in addition to providing 56 training programs inside the Sultanate of Oman for more than 1,200 trainees, and providing 4 training programs outside the Sultanate of Oman to 6 trainees.

Identity and Communication

In the aspect of identity and communication, the Ministry achieved media momentum and community communication as more than 200,000 participants and visitors participated in the activities held by the Ministry during 2023. These events can be summarized locally in: the 3^rd media dialogue (for prosperous societies), participation in Muscat International Book Fair, targeting more than 60,000 visitors, holding the Second Real Estate Development Conference (Oman Design and Build Week) in which more than 30 institutions and 30 speakers participated, with the number of visitors exceeding 12,000. The most prominent event was the inauguration of Sultan Haitham City (Treasure the Future) and the signing of development and partnership agreements for the first phase. Also 2023 saw the Urban October Conference and the First Gulf Housing Week in which more than 65 working papers were presented by more than 70 speakers, and more than 30,000 visitors in addition to the participation of 80 people in the first Gulf Urban Planning Hackathon, and the Youth Session (Visions of the Future) which was held at Sultan Qaboos University. As to transfer knowledge and exchange experiences, the Ministry participated internationally in a number of forums, the most prominent of which was: the participation in the second edition of the Real Estate Forum held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a dialogue session on “Regional Efforts and their Impact on the Development of the Real Estate Sector” and the participation in Qatar Real Estate Forum, and in the first session of the Executive Board of the United Nations Human Settlements Program (UN-Habitat). The Ministry also participated in the Omani Land Administration Project workshop affiliated with Geographic Information Systems in the United Kingdom, and in the Cityscape Exhibition Conference in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to the participation in the 9^th meeting of the Permanent Committee for Building Codes in the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Executive Plan of 2024

The 2024 executive plan is based on 130 initiatives in the housing and urban planning sectors and the four priorities (competencies and capacity building, digital transformation, governance and legislation, identity and communication). With regard to the urban planning sector, the structural plan for the city of Greater Muscat was implemented, and the preparation of the structural plan for 14 cities, including 3 major cities which are Greater Sohar, Greater Salalah, and Greater Nizwa, which are the cities of Ibri, Haima, Al Rustaq, Sur, Al Buraimi, Ibra, Al Mudhaibi, Sinaw, Saham, Al Khaboura, Al Suwaiq.

Concerning future cities, implementation will be completed regarding the first phase of two cities (Sultan Haitham – Al Jabal Al Akhdar), and preparing a plan for the two cities of Khor Garma in the Wilayat of Sur, and the agricultural city in Najd in Dhofar Governorate, beside plan design for (5) future cities (Salalah – Sohar – Bawshar – Nizwa – Al Khuwair), and the development of Khasab down town.

Work will continue with regard to the urban renewal initiative, which aims to: improve the quality of life, develop cities and communities, and enhance environmental, social and economic sustainability in 5 governorates; Muscat, Dhofar, Buraimi, Musandam, and South Al Batinah,

In the field of detailed urban planning, work will be completed to approve 3 detailed schemes within Masirah structural plan, the approval of the structural and detailed plan for North Al Batinah Governorate, and commencing the implementation of the second phase of land planning on both sides of Al Batinah Coastal Road in North and South Al Batinah Governorates.

One the aspect of housing sector, work will be carried on to translate the Royal Orders into reality, work will start on Mendaa Project (Jabal Shams, Wilayat Al Hamra) with the construction of 10 housing units, and the transfer of affected families of Qalhat, Sabakh, Al-Janat, and Maslaq villages with a total number of 255 families from the affected areas to new and safe locations. Moreover, 84 housing units are to be costructed in 22 mountainous villages in the Wilayats of Sur, Jaalan Bani Bu Hassan and Jaalan Bani Bu Ali, 20 housing units to be constructed in the village of Kamzar in the Wilayat of Khasab in Musandam Governorate, the construction of 20 housing units beside the maintenance of 32 housing units Al Halaniyat Islands, the construction of 45 housing units with modern architectural designs in addition to a mosque and a council with internal roads (3 km long) in Al Rehaibat for families transferred from Soqarah village. More housing projects are also planned to be implemented in Bawad area in Wadi Bani Khalid which involves the construction of 19 housing units, and in Jinn Cave area in the Wilayat of Qurayyat to construct 14 housing units.

The Ministry also seeks to achieve a number of institutional performance goals, most notably: distributing one thousand lands to families as part of requests for government residential land grants. Replanning excess lands set as government lands for major cities (Greater Muscat – Greater Nizwa – Greater Salalah – Greater Sohar). In terms of social housing and projects, the Ministry aims to establish 1,200 housing units within the housing assistance program with a total value estimated at OMR 35 million, and the provision of OMR 1.9 billion to finance housing loans in cooperation between the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and the Oman Housing Bank, in addition to the approval of the national plan for social housing.

In the field of real estate development, the Ministry aims to complete 1,051 housing units within Al Naseem neighborhood project in the Wilayat of Barka, 5,300 housing units (within the Sorouh Program) to be offered to beneficiaries in 5 locations (Al Lubban (in Halban) – Salalah – Sohar – Bidbid – Al Ahed (in Al Amerat and Khasab). Furthermore, the Ministry will assign 4 new sites for integrated residential neighborhoods (Sorouh) in each of Ibra, Musandam, Samail and Sur, beside tendering and assigning two sites of Sorouh plans in each governorate.

In the field of compensation, compensation was made to 1,400 cases for lands affected by projects, i.e. railway, production mines, development of Al Haffah area, dualization of Sultan Qaboos Street, development of Al Darah and Tibat villages, and the sanctuaries of Salalah Free Zone).

The Ministry aims to sign 800 usufruct contracts during 2024 under the land usufruct program through ‘Tatwir’ platform; 350 contracts within the Choose and Invest service, 250 contracts within the Investment Opportunities service, and 200 contracts within the auction service.

In terms of priorities, the Ministry seeks, through the competencies and capacity building priority, to implement the 2024 training and development plan. Accordingly, 10 training programs involving 60 workshops in institutional culture and communication will be provided to 800 employees. In addition to that, the Ministry looks forward to completing ‘Rafid’ capacity building program in urban planning (3^rd batch), and the empowerment program to qualify customer service employees.

With regard to the priority of digital transformation, work will continue to launch the second version of the Choose Your Land program (plan your land – own your land – change your land – Sorouh – Sorouh plans – loan and land – exchange your land – future cities), and the launch of all of the Ministry’s services digitally, with a total number of 86 services, beside the completion of electronic connectivity with partners, and the launch of the Ministry’s unified electronic services portal, and finally the launch of a real estate platform for real estate transactions using blockchain technology.

On the topic of governance, legislation, and real estate registry secretariat, the Ministry aims to issue the Urban Planning Law and its executive regulation, real estate valuation regulation, real estate mediation regulation, regulation on the law of expropriation for public benefit, housing law, and launch of external documentation for the real estate registry.

In conclusion, with confident steps and a clear vision, the Ministry seeks with its slogan ‘commitment to achievement’ for the year 2024, through partnership and complementarity at local and global level, to continue its efforts in implementing the drawn-up plans stemming from the comprehensive transformation in the provided services and the established projects in the housing and urban planning sectors, which are based on four priorities; competencies and capacity building, digital transformation, governance and legislation, identity and communication, all towards a sustainable urban development for prosperous communities.