Salalah to get first flyover

By Kaushalendra Singh — SALALAH — A flyover at the Al Robat-Iteen interchange is the first road bridge project in a series of road-related enhancements in Salalah being undertaken by the Dhofar Municipality in a bid to ease traffic flows, which is growing day by day due to large scale expansion of the city.

The interchange will facilitate smooth traffic for vehicles coming from all the four directions — Salalah to Auqad, Al Robat Street to Iteen; Iteen to Sultan Qaboos Hospital roundabout and traffic coming from Auqad side. Ali Mohammed Aubad al Masahli, Director of Road and Lighting at the Dhofar Municipality, termed the development of Iteen interchange very important due to its location.
“Heavy traffic meets at this junction from all the four sides. In future we see more pressure on this junction after new airport is operational and many more business activities building up in Raysut area,” he said. Al Masahli said, with a deadline of two years the mobilisation of the project had already been started, while actual work would start within a week or two.

Commenting more on the features of the bridge, Al-Masahli said: “The signal free junction will ensure smooth traffic movement for vehicles coming from east, west, north and south directions. “The junction assumes significance due to the location of Port of Salalah, Raysut Industrial Area and Salalah Free Zone.”

The carriageway of each of the bridge (left and right) will be 14.60 metres with four lanes on both the sides. “Keeping in mind future expansion of the roads in Salalah, four lanes on each side of the bridge has been planned,” said Al Masahli and added that many more road and bridge projects were in the pipeline.

The Al Robat-Iteen interchange road bridge project is being executed jointly by Oman Roads Engineering LLC, an Omani company and Impresa of Italy. The Italian partner of the project, Impresa, is a leading company in the construction of large-scale infrastructure projects. It is a known name for building major roads, railways, maritime structures, civil and industrial constructions in Italy and abroad, in association with main national companies.

“The company has done large-scale work in countries like Morocco, Yemen, Vietnam, Albania, Greece, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan,” said Renato Palombi, Financial and Administrative Manager of Impresa in Oman. In line with its commitment, the Dhofar Municipality has approached some of the best architects and city planners to do the job. These projects carry importance as great care has been taken to make more open spaces, more green belts within the city, more leisure areas, cool promenades and energy -efficient lightings to improve overall ambience. The municipality is forging ahead with sustainable development to avoid unbridled progress that can lead to future chaos.