Salah Habib, CEO of Diamond Developers, said that investments in the sustainable city of Yeti, in the Omani capital, would amount to one billion dollars, noting that the project was being developed to accommodate up to 10,000 people.
Habib added that Yeti enjoyed a vital strategic location in the city of Muscat, noting that the project was the fruit of a joint vision by Diamond Real Estate Development and the Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran Group), towards building sustainable cities.
When completed, the city will become the world’s largest sustainable complex and Oman’s first zero-carbon area, he underlined.
“Together, we are making every possible effort to develop a project that brings many tangible environmental, social and economic benefits to the Sultanate, and is consistent in its content and objectives with the Oman 2040 vision,” Habib told Asharq Al-Awsat.
He added that the project will feature residential sites consisting of villas and apartments, farms and a central plaza with commercial outlets. The city will also include a school, a kindergarten, two hotels, a sports and fitness complex, medical clinics, a center for autism and related disorders, in addition to a museum and a mosque.
According to Habib, sustainability is no longer an option, but has become an urgent necessity that must be considered at the forefront of the economic development process, and in all sectors.
He stressed that the sustainable city would contribute effectively to reducing carbon emissions and raise the production of clean energy, the adoption of clean means of transportation, as well as support and encourage local food production, and limit waste.
Yeti also aspires to achieve the environmental goals set in the United Nations Climate Agreement in Paris for the year 2050, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the Oman Vision 2040, Habib remarked.
He noted that the project would support eco-friendly tourism, through a four-star hotel consisting of 197 rooms, a five-star resort of 170 rooms, a group of restaurants and many recreational facilities, in addition to a beach area. The resort will also manage 132 hotel apartments.
Moreover, Habib said that thanks to the adoption of a circular economy, the project will benefit the city’s residents in terms of a significant reduction in electricity bills by up to 100 percent, and water by up to 50 percent, as all homes will be equipped with energy-saving devices to reduce resource consumption and associated costs.
“We must ensure that appropriate policies and infrastructure are in place from the outset to achieve the desired results of our broader vision. These challenges can be overcome by communicating clearly and correctly with stakeholders, in order to obtain the necessary support to build this new green infrastructure,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
