Muscat: As the government embarks on its 'Green Mobility Initiatives', experts in the transportation sector have called for more public-private participation interactions to achieve meaningful goals.
Speaking recently during an interaction on 'Navigating the Future of Mobility,' Sheikha Ambuali, marketing director at Otaxi, said, "There should be good knowledge sharing between the private and the public sector. While the government is installing charging stations for electric vehicles, all stakeholders need to sit at one table and identify issues such as the best time to charge for drivers and the right spot to have these facilities."
She added that it is important to understand the needs of the customers as well as the drivers to find solutions to issues such as traffic congestion, especially during peak hours and weekends.
Services such as OTaxi and others can help authorities to have viable solutions without really having that big investment.
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An official from Alstom of France said that the problem that projects such as the Muscat Metro will face is the budget because there is this need for the engineering company to do physical, environmental, and social studies.
"It is important to have the right budget so that the project is not underestimated and it turns out to be successful."
The Ministry of Transport and Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT), is working to expand the electric vehicle market in cooperation with the private sector and it may be noted that the available options for potential buyers have increased by 40 per cent in the past year.
According to Khamis bin Mohammed al Shamakhi, Undersecretary for Transport at MTCIT, said, "The Sultanate plans to establish hydrogen corridors for heavy transportation and the first phase aims to achieve a 40 per cent reduction through locally developed dual combustion engines. It also includes promoting the use of hydrogen in heavy transportation by purchasing electric vehicles for government agencies and the use of Intelligent devices for operations at ports."
Apart from launching electric buses for accessible, affordable transportation options, long-term plans include the use of artificial intelligence to manage traffic.
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