Muscat – His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik has ordered a consultant be appointed to improve the performance of Oman Air and a special team has been formed to study the Muscat Metro project, according to Said bin Hamoud al Ma’awali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology.

Ma’awali made the statements when he was hosted by Majlis a’Shura on Thursday to discuss his ministry’s plans and programmes in the transport and infrastructure sectors during the Tenth Five-Year Plan in line with Oman Vision 2040. He also revealed plans of the ministry’s development budget for the year 2023 and the strategic directives of the communications and information technology sector.

According to Ma’awali, the ministry has formed a special team to study the Muscat Metro project and some preliminary studies have been conducted for the railway link with Saudi Arabia.

The minister added that talks are on to cut fuel prices in order to encourage both existing and new airlines to reduce airfares on the Muscat-Salalah route.
Additionally, the minister informed that direct import from the ports of Oman increased seven per cent in 2022.

Speaking specifically about roads, he said 60 per cent of the Rusayl–Bidbid road expansion work was complete and expected to open in the first quarter of 2024.

Dualisation of the Ibra Road will be studied in cooperation with the North Sharqiyah Governor’s Office, and the Saa’a-Hafeet and Mahadha Road in Buraimi will be among the priorities of the next Five-Year Plan.

“In the course of a year, 450 citizens were employed in the telecommunications and information technology sector, while the Makeen initiative was launched to provide jobs to young people and increase employment in the sector,” Ma’awali said.