24 February 2008
MUSCAT -- The plan to build an airport at Ras Al Hadd near Sur is taking shape with the Tender Board inviting bids from international and regional firms for carrying out civil work. An airport at Ras Al Hadd will help tourists to avoid the hassle of a five-hour-long road journey from Muscat. The endangered Green Back turtle nesting attracts thousands of visitors to Ras Al Hadd every year to watch the site at close range. Ras Al Hadd and Ras Al Jinz are rare beaches in the world where turtles can be watched in a quite atmosphere.

The new airport is part of a larger plan to develop several airports to meet the increasing travel demand from both tourists and business community. Tender Board said that the last date of submission of bids is on March 24. Apart from Ras Al Hadd, the government has plans to build five new airports one each at Sohar, Al Duqm, Adam, Haima and Shaleem. Development of first three airports in southern Oman were decided more than two years ago, while the last three were announced only by early this year by Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, Minister of National Economy. The proposed airports will link interior places with Muscat and will also help tourism sector.

The government has allocated RO 17 million for consultancy studies, design and supervision of the proposed airports in six places. Hamza Associates, a leading Egyptian engineering consultancy agency, is providing consultancy services linked to the design and construction of an international airport in Sohar. The masterplan layout will include features such as the paved runway, taxiway, passenger terminal building and traffic control tower. Sohar has gained significance as the Gulf's fastest developing industrial zone and an airport there could avoid a 3-hour-long road journey for business travellers coming from abroad.

Al Duqm airport development is part of a larger plan to set up a modern port and other facilities there.

Parsons International, a US-based engineering consultancy firm, is advising the government on the design and construction of an airport at Al Duqm. Parsons is drawing up the design and assist in preparing tender documents, cost estimation as well as in selecting an EPC contractor for building the airport. A ministerial committee is now reviewing the designs and preparing documentation for the expansion of Salalah and Muscat international airports. The tenders for the runway for Muscat airport will be invited in the first half of the current year.

Also, the designs of the airport terminal are under way and a tender for the building will be invited before the year-end. The government has allocated RO 111 million for consultancy studies, designing and supervision for expanding Muscat and Salalah airport expansion. The government earlier said that the estimated investment for airport expansion is around $3 billion. Muscat airport will have a capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum by 2020 from 2.5 million now, while Salalah airport will handle 2 million passengers.


http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZAWYA20080224041741/SecCountries/pagOman/chnOman%20News/obj224037B5-8F1A-11D4-867000D0B74A0D7C/

I like to see my country improving by all means :)

good good
quite a few grammatical errors in the article though :p

according to offical planz
the following airports are planned

air strip in hayma (mabey they will have a small terminal)
airport in adam
airport in A'duqom
airport in sohAR
airstrip in shaleem
airport in Ras alhad

most with a know oil production... so good business is going on there to open airports there!

it's all for the best i guess... growth is good

That's great news.

If it's in Ras al Hadd I hope it's not too close to the actual beaches. The lights from the airport could really cause problems to those same turtles the tourists are going to see:

When baby turtles hatch, they have an instinct to go towards the sea, and it's always at night. They identify the sea by the reflections of light in it, from the moon and stars. This is why they thrive only on deserted beaches: Where there are built up areas close to the beach, the lights from the buildings are brighter than the light reflecting off the sea, so the baby turtles head off in that direction instead, and never find the water. They end up dying of hunger or thirst, or being eaten by foxes and cats.

In places like Greece where there used to be large turtle breeding grounds, the development of tourism in beach areas has virtually destroyed the turtle population for this reason. I think it's a good idea to build an airport for Sur and the Sharqiya region, but I hope they are thorough in their environmental impact study - these turtles can be a blessing to Oman, but it would be a shame if in trying to bring people to see them, they ended up killing the toursit attraction!

Where is Mr Muscati? He will know what to do!

In places like Greece where there used to be large turtle breeding grounds, the development of tourism in beach areas has virtually destroyed the turtle population for this reason. I think it's a good idea to build an airport for Sur and the Sharqiya region, but I hope they are thorough in their environmental impact study - these turtles can be a blessing to Oman, but it would be a shame if in trying to bring people to see them, they ended up killing the toursit attraction!

Where is Mr Muscati? He will know what to do!

Lets hope they are thinking of that, and yah its a good idea for Muscati and ESO to check this issue early before everything is finalized.

the airport will be on the other side , not the beach side... :)

I've went to Ras Al Hadd, and it's beautiful.
It's good seein more airports planned, but I hope it's a few Kilos from the beach.

ESO is not involved in this. This is a pure government decision. It was done many years ago. Even the newly formed Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs has no say in it.

I hope it doesn't turn out to be a huge mess, because potentially this is what it sounds like it's gonna be. God help the turtles.

What do you need an airport in Ras Al Hadd for? What kind of planes are they planning to fly there? Why not have a small airfield in Sur and use it to land small passenger planes like ATRs.