Oman to get snow… by 2020

If Dubai can have its ski slope, then Oman is also lowering the Mercury to dip below freezing as it readies for its very own snow park by 2020.

Majid Al Futtaim group has revealed its mega project as part of its RO515 million (Dh4.91 billion) investment in the neighbouring Gulf country across four years.

The company’s investment strategy includes Mall of Oman (estimated RO275m), City Centre Sohar (estimated RO45m), My City Centre Sur (estimated RO15m), and additional investments from its retail, leisure and entertainment businesses (estimated RO180m) including Magic Planet, Carrefour and Vox Cinemas.

The company’s investments are anticipated to create more than 42,000 direct and indirect job opportunities in the Sultanate in the next five years.

When it opens in 2020, Mall of Oman is being touted as the largest integrated retail, leisure and entertainment destination in the country.

The super-regional mall will feature 350 outlets in a 137,000 sqm retail space.

It will feature ‘firsts’ including Oman’s largest snow-park, with an 8,000 sqm play area, and a Little Explorers edutainment centre.

It is estimated that Mall of Oman’s development alone will generate 29,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, according to the company.

City Centre Sohar, set to open in 2018, is being pegged to become the largest shopping and lifestyle destination in its Governorate.

The regional mall will be home to 100 new retail outlets across 40,000 sqm, including businesses owned and managed by MAF.

The mall is expected to create an estimated 8,000 employment opportunities in Oman, the company revealed.

My City Centre Sur, which will open in 2017, and will be MAF’s first community mall in Oman.

The project will include 16,500 sqm of retail space, comprising 50 outlets. The project will create more than 3,500 direct and indirect job opportunities.

“We have always been pioneering in the Omani market. We are proud to renew our commitment to be the leading GCC investor in the Sultanate through our RO705m investments, which include the development of Mall of Oman, City Centre Sohar, and My City Centre Sur, as well as additional investments from our retail, leisure and entertainment businesses,” Alain Bejjani, said CEO of Majid Al Futtaim – Holding.

MAF is also expanding its existing City Centre Qurum shopping mall in Muscat, with a revamp of its retail arm, as well as additional car parking spaces.

The company is also developing the next phase of Al Mouj Muscat, an oceanfront mixed-use destination, and expanding its Vox Cinemas and Carrefour hypermarkets to new locations across the Sultanate.

The plans build on the company’s existing developments in Oman including City Centre Muscat, which received RO35m expansion in 2015, City Centre Qurum, which opened in 2008, and Al Mouj Muscat.

Together, since 2001, these three existing developments have seen MAF invest more than RO190m and generate more than 23,000 jobs in their construction and operation, the company said.

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