Muscat – H E Dr Khalfan bin Said al Shuaili, Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, announced that foreigners have the right to own property for 99 years in future cities like Sultan Haitham City at the Investment and Development Forum – titled ‘Embrace the gift of opportunity’ – held on Thursday.

Highlighting the significance of the future cities programme, the minister stated that it is one of Oman’s largest projects. “Under this initiative, foreigners will be granted 99-year usufruct rights to own property in the new cities.”

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning is currently working on the development plans of several future city projects, including Greater Muscat, Greater Nizwa, Greater Salalah and Greater Sohar. These projects will involve the allocation of approximately 30mn to 40mn sqm of land in the wilayats of Salalah, Nizwa and Sohar to establish modern cities, comprising a total of around 40,000 housing units.

Additionally, the government has introduced the Sorouh programme, the National Initiative for Integrated Residential Neighbourhoods, which includes nine development sites. Three of these sites are currently under implementation, three under construction and three available for investment.

H E Shuaili said the government is offering four options to citizens – ‘Choose Your Land,’ ‘Plan Your Land,’ ‘Replace Your Land’ and ‘Acquire Your Land.’

These options aim to provide citizens flexibility and choice in property acquisition in Sorouh and future cities projects.

Sultan Haitham City, one of the future cities, encompasses six residential neighbourhoods. Twenty agreements worth over RO1.2bn have been signed for the city and three agreements are due for investment opportunities.

H E Shuaili informed that Oman Development Bank has announced financing options for construction contracts in Sultan Haitham City as well as other future projects involving Omani youth. “The Ministry of Housing aims to prioritise governance, legislation and digital transformation. We also seek to enhance competencies, capacity building and better communication with the business sector to achieve common goals at an accelerated pace.”