Oman’s MTCIT implements over 240 project under programs of Oman Vision 2040

Muscat: The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology is implementing more than 240 projects listed under 19 programs directly related to 5 of the priorities of the “Oman Vision 2040”.

Dr. Saif bin Saeed Al-Sanani, Director General of Planning at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, said that the ministry is implementing about 35 projects and investment initiatives related to the priorities of economic diversification, financial sustainability, the private sector, investment and international cooperation, and comes with the aim of attracting investments and maximizing returns from the infrastructure of the transport, logistics, communications and information technology sectors.

He pointed out that the projects and initiatives are represented in the establishment of infrastructure in partnership with the private sector in the transport sector, such as the establishment of alternative roads or specialized ports, the operation of existing ports such as the port of Khasab, Shinas, Al-Suwaiq and Dhalkut, the review of concession agreements for major ports, and the provision of marine and land services such as the activity of replacing marine crews, ship services and ship repair in Mooring areas, berthing areas for luxury ships, tugboats and water taxis.

He mentioned that among the projects and initiatives, he brought in a number of technical companies in the field of communications and information technology, such as the project of hosting and data processing center and cryptocurrency mining in the Salalah Free Zone of Exahertz International, and the hosting and data processing center and applications of blockchains and financial technologies of the Green City Company.

He stressed that all these projects and initiatives aim to attract local and foreign investments and financial returns and are linked to performance indicators that are measured periodically in order to achieve the priority of economic diversification, financial sustainability, attracting investment, creating new job opportunities and stimulating entrepreneurship. He said that the ministry is implementing more than 30 draft laws, legislations and licenses related to the priority of governance of the state’s administrative apparatus, resources and projects, with the aim of governing and regulating the sectors supervised by the ministry.

To express an opinion and a number of regulations in the maritime field, the draft law regulating communications and information technology submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval, the executive regulations for the personal data law, the draft electronic transactions law, the law on combating information technology crimes and the law regulating postal services, all of which are presented to the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, among the most important legislations and laws that This ministry is working on it.

He stated that at the institutional level, and given the number and size of projects implemented by the ministry, work has been done to develop a unified monitoring system to follow up on project performance and performance indicators, and it will be tested in the last quarter of this year. In addition to providing the best services with high quality and efficiency, 185 services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been improved and simplified, and the necessary measures are being taken to automate the non-automated ones.

He stressed that the Ministry is working hard to coordinate and integrate with the Ministry of Labor and other entities in the public and private sectors with the aim of training and qualifying national cadres to work in the field of maritime affairs, digital industry, fourth industrial revolution technologies, artificial intelligence and space in cooperation with leading institutions in these fields, in addition to creating job opportunities in a number of Among the sectors supervised by the Ministry such as land and sea transport and information technology in order to contribute to achieving the priority of the labor market and employment in the “Oman Vision 2040”.

On road projects, the Director General of Planning at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology indicated that the ministry’s strategy for the current five-year plan will focus on completing and starting a number of strategic road projects at a cost of more than RO 890 million to ensure the provision of world-class infrastructure and link the components of the logistics sector and other sectors to maximize the benefit.

Maintaining the quality of roads and their advanced global classification is within the priority of developing sustainable cities and governorates in Oman Vision 2040. He stated that in this regard, tenders were issued to complete the Al-Sharqiyah Expressway project, some links to the Al-Batinah Expressway, the completion of the (Adam-Haima-Thumrait) duplex road and the remaining works for the Al-Abeela Al-Fayyad Road project in Al-Buraimi Governorate, and a tender for the (Rasut-Al-Mughsail) road duplication in the Dhofar Governorate.

He stated that work is underway to analyze the bids for the tender for completing the remaining works of the Mahadat Al-Rawdah duality road in Al-Buraimi Governorate, and preparing the tender for the (Firq-Hay Al-Turath-Izki) duality road in Al-Dakhiliyah Governorate, which is hoped to be launched in the last quarter of this year, and work is also underway to approve the proposed route for the dual carriageway between Wilayat Al Kamil and Al Wafi and Wilayat Jaalan Bani Bu Ali in Al Sharqiyah South Governorate.

He pointed out that the completion rate of the project to add the third and fourth lanes on the Rusayl/Nizwa road (Rusail – Bidbid) has reached more than 70 percent, and it is hoped that its implementation will be completed in the first quarter of next year. – Miten), in addition to assigning the paving of the roads of the Wilayat of Muqshin in the Dhofar Governorate, and it is hoped that the works will start in the last quarter of this year, and the procedures for issuing a tender for the implementation of the Nizwa-Bahla dual carriageway (Daris-Jibreen lift) in the Al-Dakhiliyah Governorate will also begin after reviewing the necessary designs to create it.

Al-Sanani stated that the construction work of the Dibba-Khasab road with the Lima link in the Musandam Governorate has been awarded, and it is hoped that implementation will begin before the end of this year. He added that the two projects will contribute significantly to linking the logistical system in the two governorates and enhancing the efficiency of the infrastructure of the various transport sectors. He pointed out that to preserve the assets of the roads and their sustainability, 21 agreements have been awarded for the maintenance of asphalt and dirt roads in the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, in addition to the mountain roads in the Dhofar Governorate for a period of five years and at a cost of about RO 110 million. during the past five-year plan.

He indicated that the ministry is studying the use of some environmentally friendly materials in the field of road construction and fixing quicksand, in addition to working on an integrated program to repair damage resulting from climatic conditions and emergencies, which includes more than 18 ongoing projects at a total cost of RO 165 million.

He explained that the National Program for the Digital Economy is the comprehensive umbrella and strategic direction for all programs and projects of communications and information technology, and it includes 8 executive programs such as the government digital transformation program, the digital industry program and the space program, which are implemented by this ministry in cooperation with the concerned government agencies, and this program mainly aims to increase Contributions of the digital economy to the gross domestic product. For example, under the umbrella of the Digital Industry Program, business agreements with 4 foreign companies were attracted and started to be implemented to work in the Sultanate of Oman to invest capital, create job opportunities and achieve growth in the sector.

Regarding the government digital transformation program, the Director General of Planning confirmed that the overall performance rate of the government digital transformation program (2021-2025), which is supervised by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, one of the programs of the National Program for the Digital Economy, reached 42 percent out of 60 until the end of the first half of this year. Percentage targeted by the end of the year, which includes 56 government institutions targeted for measurement in the current year.

He pointed out that during the first half of the year 2023, 40 out of 200 government services were digitized, at a rate of 20 percent of the target by the end of 2023, and procedures for 353 government services were simplified, at a rate of 68 percent of the target by the end of the year 2023.

A guide for digital community participation was also prepared. The user experience guide, and the launch of the unified electronic directory for cataloging government services. And he stated that the government digital transformation program (2021-2025) aims during the second half of the year 2023 and the completion of simplifying the procedures of 574 government services, as it aims to complete its digitization of 200 targeted government services for this year, as the executive team of the government digital transformation program in the ministry follows up government units to ensure Digitization of services within the periodic follow-up and evaluation procedures, which is automatically reflected in the periodic reports submitted to the Council of Ministers through the Financial and Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers.

He said that a number of enabling projects for the program will continue to be implemented, the most important of which is the implementation of the third and fourth phase of mine laboratories to simplify government procedures and the mystery shopper to measure the quality of electronic services, launch the digital system to measure the performance of the program, finalize the integration strategy for the unified national portal for electronic services, and implement a marketing campaign for e-government services. And the launch of the unified identity for digital transformation and the website, and the launch and implementation of a plan to empower national capabilities in the field of digital transformation, in addition to supervising the implementation of 3 projects for strategic sectors in the Sultanate of Oman, including health, education, agricultural and fisheries, and water resources.

Dr. Saif bin Saeed Al-Sanani, Director General of Planning at the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, affirmed that the ministry seeks, through the implementation of the program in general, to reach the level of smart transformation, as the program’s implementation plan is designed to enable and support the transition to this level through various projects and initiatives such as the implementation of a project The digitization of basic priority services, the project to develop the unified mobile application for smart government services, the project to develop the unified central platform for smart chat, the project for the unified national portal for e-government services, the project to accelerate e-government integration and the basic national databases project.