Sultan Haitham City to provide 50,000 jobs, allow foreign ownership

MUSCAT: Dubbed as a smart and futuristic city, the proposed Sultan Haitham City is expected to create around 50,000 jobs and will also allow expatriates to own properties in select areas, according to Khalfan Al Shueili, the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning.

Addressing media persons during the opening of a three-day media dialogue and accompanying activities at the Royal Opera House Muscat, Al Shueili said that “60 percent of the contracts for the first phase of Sultan Haitham City have been approved, and it will be implemented phase wise within 10 years.”

Al Shueili said that the Sultan Haitham City targets the eligible who are within the system of granting government residential lands, allowing foreign ownership, and aims to allocate 5 percent of the residential units in the city for the housing assistance programme.

The city will cover an area of approximately 15 million square metres, with a focus on utilising green spaces estimated to be 2.9 million square metres. The city will house 100,000 residents and will have 20,000 residential units that include independent villas, semi-attached villas, townhouses and flats.

The Minister of Housing and Urban Planning also said that there are plans for four more wilayats in the Sultanate of Oman to have similar model cities - in Bausher, Manah, Sohar and Salalah.