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The deliberate Oman-Etihad railway challenge is because of give the sultanate’s northern metropolis of Sohar a big commerce enhance.
The railway line, which is able to run from Sohar to Abu Dhabi, will present Omani companies with direct entry to the UAE’s international connectivity hyperlinks, serving to native corporations cut back provide chain prices and diversify exports.
The $3 billion railway shall be 303 km lengthy. It has been renamed Hafeet Rail, after the Jabal Hafeet mountain on the border between Oman and the UAE, and is predicted to be accomplished within the second quarter of 2027.
The railway is welcome information for Sohar, a port metropolis residence to industries price greater than $12 billion, together with metal manufacturing and solar energy.
Sohar has been hit onerous by elevated export and delivery insurance coverage prices over the previous 5 years. Highway transport prices to the UAE from town have additionally risen since pre-pandemic days, a hangover from Covid-related rises in truck and trailer insurance coverage.
The Oman-UAE railway may even play an important function in stimulating manufacturing actions in Sohar, which is residence to the biggest industrial zone within the nation, forward of Muscat, Salalah and Duqm.
Naturally Oman is eager to drag in additional worldwide buyers, and a direct prepare path to the UAE will make Sohar’s manufacturing bases extra enticing.
The railway may even be a boon for direct commerce between Oman and the UAE. The quantity of commerce between the 2 nations hit round OR4.19 billion ($10.9 billion) via the primary 9 months of 2022, making the sultanate one of many UAE’s prime international non-oil commerce companions
Earlier this 12 months, the 2 signed offers price $35 billion, starting from inexperienced power and agriculture to fisheries. The agreements will assist strengthen ties between the 2 nations and cut back regional dependence on non-GCC imports.
The UAE will doubtless benefit from the railway hyperlink to hurry up imports of contemporary meals from Oman.
A major proportion of the sultanate’s meals exports – fish, meat, milk, fruit and greens – originate from the northern Batinah area, the place Sohar is the biggest metropolis.
Vans can take round 10 hours by highway to achieve their UAE locations
The brand new railway will present a speedier means for Batinah farms and fisheries to export their produce in bigger volumes, serving to to help native livelihoods.
At present heavy items automobiles are the one solution to transport items from Sohar to the UAE. Vans can take round 10 hours by highway to achieve their UAE locations, hampered by lengthy queues on the border checkpoints.
In distinction the freight prepare from Sohar will take lower than 50 minutes to achieve the Abu Dhabi cities of Al Ain and Al Buraimi.
As well as, because the Hafeet Rail trains may even carry passengers, tourism between the 2 nations is predicted to obtain an enormous enhance. In line with Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism, customer numbers travelling between the 2 nations reached 823,000 in 2023, 6 % up on the 12 months earlier than.
The Sohar-UAE railway will cement ties between the 2 nations, create extra enterprise ventures, enhance employment, and enhance bilateral logistics infrastructure.
Saleh Al-Shaibany is a journalist and lecturer, and CEO of AlSafa Press & Publishing
