Muscat, April 22 - A workshop on national spatial priorities kicked off on Sunday at Crown Plaza, Seeb, with the participation of about 200 stakeholders from government and private agencies, entrepreneurs, researchers and academics in various fields of urban development. Organised by the General-Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning (SCP), the two-day workshop included analysis sessions on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges in various areas of urban development, as well as panel discussions on a range of key issues in the field.
Hilal bin Ali al Qamshoui, Director of Oman National Spatial Strategy (ONSS), explained that the ONSS is a major planning project and it is the first of its kind in the Sultanate which is implemented by the Supreme Planning Council in partnership with a number of global consultants, pointing out that the strategy aims to control and guide spatial development in all its forms in various governorates for the coming decades.
“Throughout the workshop, we will consider the participants’ views in order to identify spatial priorities, which will help prepare development alternatives or options at the national level. Then, four options will be prepared for development at the Sultanate level,” Al Qamshoui said, adding that another workshop will be held in the last quarter of this year to determine strategic options for the strategy, expected to be ready by mid-2019.
ONSS, initiated by SCP few years ago by gathering basic environmental, social and economic data during the first phases of the project. Local and international consultants as well as a Project Management Team were hired within the SCP. The significance of this huge project lies in creating key spatial developments till 2040 with elaborated regional strategies for all governorates. It includes implementation programmes and proposals for a legal planning framework, a new planning information system and capacity building programmes.
When completed, the ONSS will provide a comprehensive spatial framework for directing, organising and implementing sustainable high quality urban and rural development in the Sultanate for the next 20 years. It is intended to provide incentives for enhancing socio-economic prosperity in combination with improving the environment for future generations. In short, a new solid framework for a national and regional land use strategy will ensure a more balanced sustainable socio-economic and spatial development in the Sultanate. It will also provide guidance and directions for local structural and detailed plans to be developed later, as well as for the consecutive five-year national development plans.
Zainab al Nassri
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