US$8 billion Oman waterfront investment

Tourism to receive boost as Omran aims to emulate Cape Town’s waterfront in Oman with new waterfront development project.

Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) plans to emulate Cape Town’s charisma in its Mina Sultan Qaboos Waterfront project as part of strategic plans to give tourism a major boost in the region.

Development plans aim to replicate the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town which attracts more than 23 million visitors every year.

“There are a lot of similarities between these two places so we are trying to create a similar thing here,” a senior official from Omran said.

Situated in South Africa’s oldest working harbour, the 300 acre area has been developed for mixed-use, with both residential and commercial real estate.

Omran chief investment officer Salah Salim Al Ghazali said “A picture is worth a thousand words. Unless I show what we want, people will not believe it.”

“The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront Project in Cape Town is an urban regeneration project that has successfully transformed the previously under-utilised part of the Port of Cape Town into the city’s premier tourist, retail, entertainment, commercial and residential destination,” he said.

Speaking of investors for the projects, he said Omran is primarily looking for Omani investors. “We want the project to be developed by the Omanis, in Oman and for Oman,” he said, adding that he will look at investors from Gulf Cooperation Council countries only if they don’t find Omani investors.

“Till now 35 investors have shown keen interest in our projects,” he added.

He said that the size of the total investment of the company, including its partners, reached approximately $8 billion.