Middle East Business
An international developer takes long-term land rights over 18.5 hectares on the Muttrah waterfront in Muscat
By Staff Writer | 12 September 2026
VA Group has secured long-term land rights for an 18.5 hectare site in Muttrah and becomes the first international company to deliver a phase of the Port Sultan Qaboos Waterfront Masterplan. The work is being taken forward with OMRAN Group, and the design consultant for the first phase is already appointed.
The developer VA Group has secured long-term land rights over a site of about 18.5 hectares at Muttrah in Muscat, and will build out what it calls the Muttrah Waterfront Development. It is the first phase of the Port Sultan Qaboos Waterfront Masterplan to be delivered by an international company. The developer announced the agreement on 31 August 2026, and it was reported in Oman on 11 September.
The site is about the area of 23 football pitches. The scheme is described as mixed use, combining residences with landscaped public space, parks, sports and leisure facilities, retail and cultural attractions. A waterfront promenade runs through the masterplan as its central element, creating public realm along the capital's coastline.
What has been settled, and what has not
The project is being advanced with OMRAN Group, the state-owned tourism development company, which holds the wider masterplan. The developer says the project's name and further details will be announced at a later stage, so the scheme is public as a site area and a mix of uses rather than as a fixed brief.
To develop in Muttrah, within the Port Sultan Qaboos Waterfront Masterplan, is to carry an extraordinary responsibility and, above all, a privilege. The property here carries not only an address, but also historical weight.
Mohamed Saif Al Shaqsi, Executive Director for the GCC Region at VA Group Oman
One appointment is already made. F&M Middle East is engineering and lead design consultant for the first phase, under an agreement signed earlier this year covering detailed design for the developer's first project in Oman.
Where it sits in the wider programme
Muttrah is the old harbour district of Muscat, and for centuries was the country's principal maritime gateway. It remains one of the most recognisable urban areas in Oman, with its harbour, its souq, its forts and its established residential communities. The developer says the scheme has been conceived to sit alongside that character rather than replace it.
The work is set against Oman Vision 2040, and the developer lists economic diversification, sustainable urban development, long-term investment attraction and quality of life as the pillars it addresses. It also says the project will support In-Country Value objectives by creating direct and indirect employment through planning, construction and operation.
The same developer is working with OMRAN Group on the beachfront component of the Yiti Integrated Tourism Complex, one of the larger planned tourism schemes in the country, so the Muttrah site is the second Omani commitment rather than a first entry.
Not stated in either record: the capital value of the development, the number of homes, the construction programme, a completion date, the tenure on which the land rights are held, or any main contractor.
For contractors and consultants, the point of interest is the appointment already made and the ones that must follow. A detailed design consultant is in place for phase one on an 18.5 hectare waterfront site with a named public-sector partner, which is normally the stage at which enabling works and main contract packages begin to take shape.