Muscat – The Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT) is working on a pilot project to mass transport government employees between Al Khuwayr and Mabelah in efforts to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

An official of MTCIT said, “The ministry recently held a workshop to review the preliminary results of a survey to mass transport government employees residing in Mabelah to their offices in Hay al Wazarat (Ministries’ District) in Al Khuwayr in cooperation with Mwasalat.”

He added that the ministry is considering launching the pilot project “as positive results emerged from the primary survey”.

The initiative evoked a strong response from citizens. Speaking to Muscat Daily, Nasser al Hosni, director of Happy Line Transportation, said that many countries are implementing such initiatives to reduce traffic congestion in their cities.

“Muscat suffers traffic congestions most of the day and particularly during office hours. We definitely need this project and other initiatives like mass transit systems, besides spreading the culture of using public transport and expanding some roads to solve the problem of traffic congestion,” Hosni said.

He noted that a large number citizens who work in government and private sectors live outside the capital. “The number of cars on roads in central Muscat, including Muscat Expressway, has witnessed a sharp increase. We need to widen some lanes to accommodate the increased traffic.”

Marhoon al Saeed, a private sector employee, said, “The government has built many bridges over the past years to reduce traffic congestion, and also set up signals at important junctions to ensure smooth flow of traffic. But I hope a mass rapid transit system, like metro trains, is started soon in order to help ease traffic. An accurate survey of the number of cars in Muscat is needed to plan an efficient road network in the city.”

Describing the plan as excellent, Mabelah resident Sultan al Rawahi said, “Large private sector companies should also provide such mass transport service to their employees to reduce traffic congestion within the capital.”

He observed that the main entrance to Mabelah witnesses traffic jams every day. “I hope they find a solution to the traffic congestion at the entrance to Seeb, too, and expand some internal streets in Mabelah.”

There were 1.51mn registered vehicles in Oman at the end of March 2022, according to the latest data issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information.