Oman’s cities face the next test: Who pays to keep public spaces alive?

MUSCAT: A debate over how Oman’s cities stay lively after “opening day” is gaining attention as public investment expands into parks and waterfronts and the Sultanate of Oman moves towards activating a new real estate framework.
In an interview with the Observer, an investor with interests spanning financial markets, energy and urban planning said the urban scenes people increasingly want — busy promenades, parks, cafés and regular events — are not created by buildings alone. He described real estate development as a system that “generates places that work” because it delivers public-facing assets and then keeps them running through ongoing management and activity.
His remarks come as Oman continues to channel spending into liveability-focused projects. Government-backed programmes have highlighted RO 507 million in governorate development spending under the Tenth Five-Year Plan, with initiatives including internal roads, public parks and waterfront development, as the country pushes decentralised local development aligned with Oman Vision 2040.
Urban specialists often say the hard part starts after construction finishes. Cleaning, landscaping, lighting, security, repairs and programming are the difference between a place that stays active daily and one that becomes seasonal or underused. That operating burden typically falls either on public budgets or private stakeholders, and the balance between the two can shape public attitudes towards the term “development”.
Oman’s regulatory direction is also shifting. Royal Decree 79/2025 states that the Real Estate Regulation Law comes into force 180 days after publication in the Official Gazette, placing its effective date on March 13, 2026, based on the Gazette publication date of September 14, 2025, according to the document.
Internationally, one widely used approach to funding “place operations” is the Business Improvement District model, where a defined area raises multi-year revenue through a compulsory assessment on local property owners and/or businesses to supplement services such as cleaning, security and area promotion.
For Oman, the investor said, the practical question is not whether to build attractive public realms, but how to keep them inclusive and well-managed without creating perceptions of quasi-private space or pushing up costs. He said this is where public concerns typically concentrate: affordability pressures, access rules and whether local character and small businesses are protected as investment arrives.
He said the debate reflects a wider shift in how cities are judged — less by what is built and more by whether places are operated sustainably, with clear accountability over who manages and who pays.