Muscat · News · Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning

Oman signs 20 housing and city agreements worth more than RO 1 billion as Urban October 2026 opens in Muscat, including 2,443 Sorouh homes

The sixth Urban October opened on Monday 5 October 2026 at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre with the signing of 20 partnership, development and tender-award agreements that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning values at more than RO 1 billion. The largest block is eight Sorouh neighbourhood agreements worth RO 186.6 million for 2,443 homes in eight towns. Al Thuraya City gained two neighbourhood deals of 485 homes for RO 100 million together, and Sultan Haitham City awarded two construction tenders worth more than RO 26 million between them.

Al Mithaq news desk · Published 6 October 2026 · Updated 6 October 2026 · Source: Oman Observer

Aerial rendering of a residential district in Sultan Haitham City, Muscat. Picture: Al Ahly Sabbour

RO 1bn+20 agreements signed on opening day

2,443Sorouh homes in eight agreements

RO 186.6Mvalue of the Sorouh agreements

485homes in two Al Thuraya City deals

RO 50Mneighbourhood in Khazaen Economic City

200+exhibitors from 50 countries

What was signed on Monday

According to Oman Observer and Muscat Daily, both reporting on 5 October 2026, the opening ceremony of Urban October 2026 saw 20 partnership, development and tender-award agreements signed with a combined investment value exceeding RO 1 billion. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning organises the event with the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), and this year it doubles as the host event of World Habitat Day 2026 under the theme "Adequate Housing for All". The opening was held under the patronage of Shaikh Abdulmalik bin Abdullah Al Khalili, Chairman of the State Council, with UN-Habitat Executive Director Anacláudia Rossbach attending.

Sorouh: eight neighbourhoods, 2,443 homes, RO 186.6 million

The biggest block is the Sorouh integrated-neighbourhoods programme. Eight development agreements were signed with total investments of RO 186.6 million (the Oman News Agency report carried by Times of Oman gives the exact figure as RO 186,636,325.4) to provide 2,443 housing units. The eight neighbourhoods named are Al Seeh Al Ahmar in Bidbid, Wehi Al Murr in Bahla, Raddat Al Busaid in Nizwa, Al Khadra Al Jadeeda in Al Buraimi, Hay Al Amjad in Rustaq, Hay Al Rifa'a in Sohar, Falaj Al Sham in Bousher and one in Taqah.

Al Thuraya City: 485 homes in two deals

In Al Thuraya City, a development agreement worth RO 45 million was signed for Neighbourhood 5C, comprising 220 housing units, and another worth RO 55 million for Neighbourhoods 5A and 5B, comprising 265 units. A consultancy tender for the detailed plan of the city's third phase was awarded for RO 4.5 million.

Sultan Haitham City: two tenders and a trail

For Sultan Haitham City, the ministry awarded a construction tender of more than RO 12 million for a rehabilitation complex for persons with disabilities and an elderly care home, and a tender of more than RO 14 million for the diversion of a wadi channel (Package 22). A community-contribution agreement was also signed with Aflaj Group for a sports and health trail in the city.

Khazaen, Musandam and the waterfront

Muscat Daily lists an integrated residential neighbourhood in Khazaen Economic City worth RO 50 million, and tenders worth RO 5 million combined for a government school and a health centre in the Kumzar residential masterplan in Musandam. Three tourism projects were also among the agreements: the Sultan Qaboos Port waterfront, the Al Bandar project and Yenkit Hills. The exhibition itself, which runs until Thursday 8 October, brings together more than 200 exhibitors from 50 countries, over 65 real estate developers and more than 100 urban-planning experts. Oman Observer reports the Minister of Housing and Urban Planning, Khalfan bin Said Al Shueili, telling the opening that more than 90 per cent of Oman's population own their homes.

Why it mattersA billion rials of signatures in one morning tells a Kuwaiti buyer where Oman is putting its public effort: new cities and planned neighbourhoods, not scattered plots. Two names on this list matter most to us. Sultan Haitham City is where the ministry's own residency route applies, a renewable two-year residency once 30% of the price of a home is paid, and it is where four of the projects we list in Oman, Zaha Residence, Wadi Zaha, Sarooj and Yenaier, sit. The Sorouh neighbourhoods are the same model carried to eight towns from Sohar to Taqah; the agreements signed on Monday are development agreements, so these homes are years away, and whether a given Sorouh scheme is open to non-Omani buyers has to be confirmed project by project before anyone pays a deposit. Our view: treat this as a map of where supply is coming, use it to time a purchase in the capital area, and do not buy on a signing ceremony.

What Al Mithaq adds

We list four homes-with-residency projects inside Sultan Haitham City, Zaha Residence, Wadi Zaha, Sarooj and Yenaier, and our Oman residency page sets out in plain words how the two-year residency after 30% works, what the family needs and which documents the ministry asks for. If you want to see what is actually for sale today in the city whose name was on Monday's agreements, that page is the place to start, and our team answers from Kuwait the same day.

Oman signs 20 housing and city agreements worth more than RO 1 billion as Urban October 2026 opens in Muscat, including 2,443 Sorouh homes

What was signed on Monday

Sorouh: eight neighbourhoods, 2,443 homes, RO 186.6 million

Al Thuraya City: 485 homes in two deals

Sultan Haitham City: two tenders and a trail

Khazaen, Musandam and the waterfront

What Al Mithaq adds

Sources

Related stories

Urban October 2026 opens in Muscat on 5 October, and Dream Group is a sponsor

Sultan Haitham City residency: what a non-Omani buyer gets after paying 30%

Buying property in Oman for residency: the simple guide