Middle East Construction
Salalah automotive complex reaches 45 per cent on a first phase due in May 2027
By Staff Writer | 24 August 2026
Car City is being built on 53,000 square metres in Dhofar at a cost of 6 million rials, and is being let on long leases rather than sold.
The first phase of Car City, an automotive complex under construction in Salalah, is 45 per cent complete and is targeted for completion in May 2027. The development covers 53,000 square metres and carries a stated cost of 6 million rials. It is being developed by Al Amal Al Daem International Company in partnership with Dhofar Municipality.
The scheme gathers showrooms, dealerships, maintenance centres, tyre and battery outlets, spare parts businesses and car care services into one site, with banks, finance houses and insurers taking space alongside them. The intention is that a buyer can purchase, service, finance and insure a vehicle without leaving the complex.
The project aims to build an integrated destination that serves the automotive sector and brings together the activities that customers need in one location.
Faisal bin Alawi Al Dheeb, Managing Director of Al Amal Al Daem International Company
Leasing, not selling, changes the fit out risk
The development is being run on a long term leasing model, and the first phase is concentrated on securing tenants and brands before completion. Bookings have opened to local and international companies so that incoming occupiers can pick a location and configure their space at an early stage.
That sequencing is the part worth attention. Workshops, tyre bays and spare parts stores are not shell and core tenancies. They need specialised entrances, facade treatments, floor loadings, drainage, extraction and technical infrastructure, and every one of those is cheaper to build in than to cut in later. Letting early lets the developer fix those requirements while the frame is still going up.
On a leased scheme the developer carries the coordination risk between base build and tenant requirement. Signing occupiers before completion converts a variation account into a design decision.
Why Salalah
The developer points to population growth, expanding commercial activity and tourism in the governorate. Demand for automotive services rises sharply during khareef, when Dhofar takes a large seasonal influx of visitors and vehicles from elsewhere in Oman and across the Gulf, which loads the workshops and parts trade in a concentrated window.
Beyond the trade itself, the developer expects the build to generate work for contractors, suppliers and technical service companies, and expects the operating phase to reach employment, logistics, hospitality and marketing.
What has not been published
No main contractor, consultant or designer has been named, and the split between the 6 million rials and any later phase has not been given. There is no lettable floor area, no unit count, no rent, no lease length and no anchor tenant. The 45 per cent figure is a stated progress percentage with no measurement basis attached to it.
Nor has the scope of any later phase been described, so the 53,000 square metres cannot yet be divided between what is being built now and what follows. Faisal bin Alawi Al Dheeb described the aim as an integrated destination for the sector. On the published record, the first test of that is how much of it is let by the time the frame tops out.