Construction of Oman’s $2.5bn Omagine pearls scheduled for 2017

Construction work on a multi-billion dollar Omani project featuring pearl-shaped buildings could begin in 2017, the country’s Ministry of Tourism has said.

The Omagine project in Seeb will feature seven pearl-shaped buildings hosting a mixture of hotels, offices, residences and entertainment venues on one million square feet of land, Times of Oman cited the ministry as saying.

Omagine chairman Frank Drohan told the publication that discussions were still underway to secure funding with entities in the United States, Europe and China due to limited liquidity in the local banking system after the fall in oil prices.

He said longer term project finance would only be needed after detailed master planning and architectural design was completed.

“And that is the reason we are working hard on many fronts with Consolidated Contractors Co (CCC) and other investors in Oman and the GCC, Europe, the US and China to make that happen,” he was quoted as saying.

The chairman said CCC Oman could still be the general contractor for the project with a foreign firm working as a substantial sub-contractor.

Development of the project was ratified in March 2015 and development rights for the 245 acres of beachfront were registered with the government in July that year.

It will feature three hotels with serviced apartments and chalets, a boutique mall, open amphitheatre, exhibition venues, harbour and marina area, more than 2,000 residences, cafes, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Omagine’s seven buildings will each have a different theme and feature tourism attractions including simulations, games, a planetarium and a multiplex.

The project is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs for nationals upon its current completion date in 2024.