Monday, April 20, 2026
Oman’s North Batinah Governorate has moved Khabourah into focus with a new prequalification tender for developing and rehabilitating the city centre under the Al Durra project, a plan designed to reshape the coastal town as a tourism, commercial and investment hub. For travellers watching Oman’s emerging destinations, this means Khabourah is on track to gain new public spaces, markets, a visitor centre, a hotel and a marina that together will make it easier to include this stretch of coast in future itineraries.
The Al Durra project in Khabourah carries an estimated investment of about OMR 9.8 million for its first phase and covers roughly 48,000 square metres in and around the historical city centre. Plans detail a mix of facilities: new fish and vegetable markets, a tourist visitor centre, a plaza at Khabourah Fort, a textiles or fabric market, craft training centres, a women’s centre, a hotel, restaurants, cafés and structured parking.
Phase one is set to deliver 95 commercial shops, 15 fish outlets, 10 restaurants and cafés, two craft training centres, a tourist visitor centre, a fishing harbour and a hotel, creating a full-service node that can serve both residents and visitors. Officials expect the completed project to provide 372 direct jobs and around 750 indirect employment opportunities, further anchoring the town’s role in regional economic and tourism networks.
Along the coast, the Al Durra plan pays particular attention to Khabourah’s waterfront, where a marina and surrounding public realm are designed to support fishing activity and leisure tourism. The marina area will feature heritage markets, pedestrian walkways, a waterfront road, landscaped plazas and a floating promenade, along with broader improvements to the shoreline and public open spaces.
For future travellers, this layout means that boat movements, markets and seafront cafés will be clustered in walkable zones, allowing visits to combine time at the harbour with stops at the fort plaza, markets and nearby commercial streets. The integration of parking and road upgrades is aimed at managing visitor flows while maintaining access for local communities and traditional fishing operations.
Khabourah sits along Oman’s Al Batinah coast, between Muscat and Sohar, and the Al Durra development is part of a wider effort to distribute tourism beyond the capital and established mountain and desert sites. Regional authorities describe the project as a step toward transforming the historical centre of Khabourah into a focal point for cultural tourism, coastal recreation and small-scale urban stays linked to Oman’s Vision 2040 objectives.
In practical terms, once the project is complete, travellers driving the coastal highway will find a more clearly defined stopover point in Khabourah, with signposted attractions, organised markets and a waterfront designed to accommodate visitors. This complements other development initiatives in Oman, such as projects at Jabal Shams and in interior governorates, which together broaden the range of destinations available for multi-day routes.
The current announcement from North Batinah Governorate concerns prequalification bidding for companies interested in the city centre development package, a step that determines which firms can proceed to later design and construction tenders. Tender documents identify the scope as design and consultancy for the historical centre and related components under the Al Durra framework, including urban planning, civil engineering, architecture and landscaping.
This stage is part of a sequence of government approvals and contract awards that collectively move the project from concept into implementation; related contracts worth hundreds of millions of Omani riyals have recently been approved for infrastructure and development projects across the sultanate. For tourism and hospitality stakeholders, the prequalification process signals that Khabourah’s transformation is entering a concrete planning phase rather than remaining a long-term vision.
In the near term, Khabourah remains a functioning coastal town with an existing fort, local markets and a traditional seafront, but over the coming years visitors can expect to see phased changes as components of Al Durra are delivered. As new facilities open, travellers will likely find a formal visitor centre offering orientation and information, reconfigured fish and vegetable markets with improved infrastructure, and a growing number of cafés and restaurants overlooking the water.
The addition of a hotel within the project area is designed to encourage overnight stays, converting Khabourah from a brief roadside stop into a base for exploring North Batinah’s coastline and nearby villages. Combined with enhanced public spaces and pedestrian routes around Khabourah Fort and the marina, these changes aim to make the town a consistent feature in tour programs and self-drive routes along Oman’s northern seaboard.
Tags: Al Batinah Coast, Al Durra project Oman, Gulf of Oman, Khabourah, Khabourah city centre development, Khabourah Fort visitor plaza, Khabourah marina and waterfront, Middle East, North Batinah Governorate, North Batinah tourism projects, Oman, Oman heritage tourism Vision 2040, Oman tourism growth 2026, Sohar
