Municipal Initiatives to Address Urban Expansion
The urban area in Muscat Governorate covers about 826 square kilometres, representing about 22% of the governorate`s total area, which gives an inevitable indicator of the importance of municipal work in the Governorate, as well as a forward-looking image of the future in the field of infrastructure and improving municipal services in order to keep pace with urban and urban expansion.
New building permits for various uses issued by the municipality directorates reached (3508) licences in 2021, and (2931) in 2022, where the wilayah of Seeb ranked first followed by Al Amirat, which requires a growth of municipal services to keep pace with this increase, and also gives an indication of the volume of services that must be available in the future to meet the needs of citizens and residents on an ongoing basis.
Urban expansion creates new challenges represented by the narrowness of public spaces and the strain on infrastructure; according to the urban strategy of the Sultanate of Oman, the greater Muscat area is among the desired goals, the required residential units are 345 thousand units, and therefore this demand will be reflected in the revival of trade and economic movement in the region.
Such urban expansion poses a great challenge to municipal work, foremost to provide internal road network and raising the efficiency of the main roads in light of the traffic jams witnessed by the governorate. The provision of necessary services such as parks and walks is a major challenge for the municipality to keep pace with the global trend of humanizing cities and making them vibrant cities, but urban expansion on the other hand contributes to economic growth in the regions and states where that expansion is increasing.
Muscat Municipality works on regulating buildings in accordance with local Order No. 23/92 on the organization of buildings in Muscat, due to the large urban expansion and the need for more units in land plots. It has been allowed to build more than one housing unit on one plot of land in coordination with the Ministry of Housing and urban planning, in order to reduce the costs of purchasing and building on land and provide a larger number of units, and the municipality is currently reviewing and amending previous legislation in line with developments and urban expansion.