Muscat: Oman is poised to enter an exciting period of economic growth grounded in innovation, technology, and the development of regional governorates. With guidance from Vision 2040 and support from the Oman National Spatial Strategy, the governorates are well-positioned to accelerate their Smart City journey of urbanization and tap into the wealth of potential for social, economic, and environmental development. This report concentrates on the role the governorates can play in delivering the prosperous Oman of tomorrow.
The Oman 2040 strategy has made it clear that Smart Cities are a national ambition, as a source for growth, jobs, and a tool to diversify its economy away from oil exports. As such, the government developed the Oman National Spatial Strategy to guide progress in line with Vision 2040, and has been deploying a number of pilots and tools to support the development of the Smart City sector throughout the country, while increasing opportunities for collaboration with the private sector and academia. The 2017 launch of the national Smart City Platform underscored the importance of this sector for the country. It has developed to become a hub for knowledge sharing, solution enablement, and capacity building.
The rapid pace of the development of Oman has taken it to an advanced stage where there are now strong foundations to build upon and vast regional areas of potential to tap into. It is at this stage of development in a country when the concept of ‘smart’ becomes highly relevant and government, cities, industry, and society moves to improve structures and processes, do things better, and, in a word, smarter.
The concept of a Smart City is multi-faceted. In discussions with key stakeholders across academia, government and business, there were many interpretations of what a smart city was, ranging from technological applications to streamlined structures that delivered better services, efficiencies, and value for money.
A common theme was however that of improvement and of doing things better. This echoes the guiding principles of Vision 2040.
The chart below highlights the six main themes that common descriptions covered. And the segments can be considered constituent blocks of a city or region. For this report, when we refer to Smart Cities and the Smart City concept, we are referring to the sum total of these themes and the processes, policies, and projects that aim to deliver improvements in them. Policies, standards and regulations, projects, and developments can cover one, several, or all of these themes.
Smart Cities initiatives in Oman have been mostly led by a proactive government. The Oman 2040 strategy has made it clear that Smart Cities are a national ambition, as a source for growth, jobs, and a tool to diversify its economy away from oil exports. As such, the government has been deploying several pilots and tools to support their emergence throughout the country, and increasingly in collaboration with the private sector and academia.
The 2017 launch of the Smart City Platform underscored the importance of this sector for the country. It has developed to become a hub for knowledge sharing, solution enablement, and capacity building. Oman has spearheaded efforts with the creation of Special Economic Zones in Duqm, Salalah, and Suhar.
Duqm's special economic zone has received significant Chinese investment focused on an 11 square kilometer industrial park, which includes a methanol power plant, an SUV production plant, a desalination plant, and a 5-star hotel.
ther significant projects include a 500MW electrolyzer to create a large-scale green hydrogen production plant; Maysan Square, a residential and entertainment complex; and Duqm’s new oil refinery capable of processing 230,000 barrels of oil per day.18 The Sohar free zone contains over 26 companies and an oil refinery and aims to become the first green hydrogen generation hub in the Middle East.
An agreement has been signed with Eagle Ceramics, an Indian tile manufacturer, to open a new manufacturing facility in the region.
Salalah free zone has received $5.6bn of investments since its opening in 2006 and specializes in chemicals, logistics and manufacturing.21 Khazaen economic city, built from scratch on a PPP model, is positioning itself as a leading hub for logistics, food processing, and light industrial.
The city has completed 96 percent of the rollout of phase 1 infrastructure, despite the impact of COVID-19, and has recently signed three new tenancy agreements worth $7.8m.23
Overall, the majority of significant investment projects and innovation assets remain concentrated in Muscat and Al Batinah North, there is also a rapidly growing pipeline of investments located in Dhofar and Duqm.
Oman has at least 33 identified Universities and colleges, with nearly 100,000 students, as well as several technology parks and industry research areas.24 Much like in other areas, Oman’s research is concentrated in Muscat, with just under half of the identified universities and colleges located in the capital.
Al Batinah North is however also emerging as a center for research and innovation, with 4 universities and research institutes that together host over 10,000 students. The main focus of public research in technology and applied science.
The six colleges of applied science established by royal decree in 2007, and the 7 colleges of technology, all established throughout the 1980s and 90s, have now been combined into the University of Technology and Applied Science. This aligns with Oman’s industrial vision which aims to make Oman a significant player in heavy industry, with expertise in petrochemicals and manufacturing. On top of providing a framework for innovation and business initiatives to thrive, the Oman government has also been leading on several Smart City hackathons aimed at fostering the youth, entrepreneurs, and businesses to generate applications and proof of concepts leveraging data in key areas of growth in line with the Vision 2040.
Industrial zones with ambitions to become New Cities
Duqm Smart City is planned to meet the demand for residential areas when projects such as the Duqm Oil Refinery are completed which will add tens of thousands of jobs to the area. If successful, the city will be a model for future developments in Oman. New mixed-use districts
Madinat al Irfan will house 300,000 residents as well as hotels, shopping centres and parks, all of which are planned to be managed as part of a smart ecosystem. Innovations will include using smart metres to reduce resource demand, water recycling, urban farms and buildings that use thermal cooling architectural techniques.
The Knowledge Oasis Muscat is home to over 190 future-focused domestic, regional and global organizations including a business incubator programme, HP, Microsoft, and an undergraduate population of 3000 from Sultan Qaboos University; Innovation Park Muscat is home to an innovation center, social center and fabrication workshop aimed at augmenting Oman’s entrepreneurial, economic and knowledge base.
Business and industry hubs — the largest and most successful are in Al Batinah North, Muscat, Dhofar, Ash Sharqiyah South, Al Buraimi, and Ad Dhahirah. Rusayl Industrial City, Oman’s largest industrial park, was established in 1983 and is now home to 334 businesses of various sectors. Aimed at enhancing Oman’s position as a leading regional centre of innovation, ICT, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship, the City received private funding in 2018 to manage and develop AI in the area.
The Ibri Industrial City will support the marble and chrome industries and generate job opportunities for the national cadres, in line with the Oman 2040 vision.
Salalah Free zone, which signed a $350m deal in 2020 for the creation of a tech city that will feature a Data Park, technology academy and supporting facilities covering an area of 500,000 square metres and providing a focus on innovation and 4G technology.
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