Muscat: The public transportation in the capital Muscat, including the Metro project, has been accorded top priorities and it is in various stages of implementation, according to the Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit's annual report.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications and Information Technology has launched a tender to manage and regulate means of transportation, the report said.
The 2024 plan includes completing work on legislation, regulating the sector, determining the requirements for using electric vehicles, and working on the electronic transport document.
The annual report by the unit stated that the Muscat Metro Project is considered One of the most prominent future public transport projects, and in 2023, a specialized team was formed to work on managing and following up on the project and related studies.
The team worked on preparing the initial feasibility study, which includes studying financing strategies and alternatives, as well as working with the Muscat Metro Master Plan team regarding the initial general characteristics proposed for the Muscat Metro system.
The financing strategies and alternatives were studied, and the outputs and recommendations were presented to the Muscat Metro Ministerial Committee in November 2023,
This year, the plan includes working to provide the Muscat Metro team with the necessary cadres and expertise and appointing a project management consultant to complete the technical requirements.
The national transport system development plan includes regulating the land transport sector and increasing the return from the sector by 20 percent annually until the end of
the tenth five-year plan in 2025.
By December 2023, the implementation of the executive regulations of the Land Transport Law has been completed by 100 percent, which saw the issuance of more than 163,000 operating cards for land transport, compared to 33,000 cards in 2022, and the issuance of about 5,500 licenses to practice land transport activities, the installation of
a smart scale on the Al Batinah Expressway, the addition of 13 services to the Naql platform, the review of the executive regulations, and the cancellation of exceptions.
Taxi operating licenses are issued without the operator being a taxi owner exclusively for companies that provide taxi services, and implementing the decision to regulate taxi vehicles through smart applications.
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