Oman Builds 21 Homes in Remote Al Mazyunah Border Zone

Oman's Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning has signed a formal agreement to construct a 21-unit residential complex in the Habrut Triangle at Al Mazyunah, a remote border settlement in the Dhofar Governorate — underscoring the government's commitment to housing equity well beyond the main urban centres.

What Is Being Built, and Where

Al Mazyunah sits at Oman's southernmost tip, straddling the border with Yemen in the Dhofar Governorate. The Habrut Triangle is a designated administrative zone within this area, historically underserved by formal infrastructure. The new residential complex will add 21 purpose-built housing units to a community that has had limited access to government-grade accommodation.

Details confirmed at the signing ceremony in Salalah — the Dhofar Governorate capital roughly 1,000 km south-west of Muscat — indicate this is a state-funded social housing initiative rather than a private or mixed-use development. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning is the contracting authority; no private developer has been named as the lead contractor in the public record.

Why Al Mazyunah?

Border communities in Oman have historically lagged behind coastal and capital-region settlements in terms of formal housing stock. Al Mazyunah is a functioning free-trade zone — vehicles, electronics and consumer goods cross here regularly — but the residential fabric has not kept pace with economic activity. Providing structured housing is a prerequisite for attracting and retaining a stable workforce in such zones.

The Broader Policy Context

This project fits squarely within Oman Vision 2040, which identifies balanced regional development as a national priority. The Vision explicitly targets reducing the infrastructure gap between Muscat and the country's peripheral governorates, including Dhofar, Al Wusta, and Musandam.

The Sorouh national housing initiative, launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, is the operational vehicle for many of these projects. Sorouh targets Omani nationals who qualify for government-assisted housing, providing subsidised or grant-funded units in areas where the private market has little commercial incentive to build. Al Mazyunah is precisely the kind of location Sorouh was designed for.

What This Means for the Housing Pipeline

Twenty-one units is a modest number in absolute terms, but the significance is symbolic and logistical. Building in Al Mazyunah requires supply chains to traverse hundreds of kilometres of desert road, and it signals that the Ministry is willing to absorb those costs to meet its regional equity mandate. If this project is delivered on schedule, it is likely to be followed by further phases or similar agreements in other under-housed border communities.

How Salalah Fits Into Oman's Southern Property Market

For property buyers and investors, the Dhofar Governorate's headline destination remains Hawana Salalah — the Integrated Tourism Complex (ITC) on the coast that allows foreign nationals to purchase freehold property. Projects such as Riviera at Hawana Salalah and Amazi at Hawana Salalah represent the private, investor-facing end of Dhofar's real estate spectrum.

The Al Mazyunah project occupies the opposite end: government-funded, socially motivated, and not open to private purchase. Understanding both ends of this spectrum matters if you are evaluating Dhofar as a region, because government investment in remote communities supports the broader economic case for the governorate — better infrastructure, more stable populations, and stronger local demand over time.

ITC vs. Social Housing: Two Parallel Tracks

Oman runs two parallel housing tracks:

• ITC developments (like Hawana Salalah): privately developed, open to foreign freehold ownership, subject to standard market pricing and escrow protections for off-plan buyers.
• Social housing programmes (like the Habrut Triangle complex): state-funded, allocated to eligible Omani nationals, not available on the open market.

Foreign buyers cannot purchase units in social housing schemes. If you are a non-Omani looking to invest in Dhofar, your entry point remains the ITC framework. Off-plan purchases within ITCs are protected by mandatory escrow accounts under Omani law — your stage payments must be held in a regulated escrow until construction milestones are met.

Tax Position for Dhofar Property Owners

Whether you buy in Salalah's ITC zone or elsewhere in Oman, the tax framework is consistent nationwide:

• Personal income tax: 0%
• Capital gains tax on property: 0%
• Rental income tax: 12% (withheld at source if managed through a registered entity)

There is no annual property holding tax in Oman, which makes long-term ownership comparatively low-cost versus many competing Gulf and European markets.

What to Watch Next

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning has not publicly announced a construction timeline or completion date for the Habrut Triangle complex. Given the logistical challenges of the location, a 12–24 month build window would be a reasonable expectation, though no official figure has been confirmed. Watch for a formal groundbreaking announcement from the Ministry, which typically follows within weeks of a contract signing.

For the wider Dhofar market, the key near-term signals to track are: occupancy rates at Hawana Salalah's completed phases, any expansion of the ITC boundary, and whether the government's Sorouh pipeline in the south accelerates following this agreement.

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Source: Times of Oman