His Excellency Eng. Khamis bin Muhammad Al Shamakhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for “Transportation”, mentioned that the Ministry is seeking to achieve zero-carbon neutrality (the transport axis) in pursuit of the royal directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik – May god protect him – which calls for adopting the year 2050 as the date for achieving zero carbon neutrality in the Sultanate; By taking advantage of clean technology to achieve sustainable development, and creating a diverse mix of clean energy sources.

HE the engineer explained that the ministry’s plan targets 3 main principles to empower the transport, communications and information technology sector, which are innovation and development in cooperation with the public and private sectors, local added value, and the development of local capabilities.

– Steps of green movement
His Excellency added that the ministry is working on 3 stages to reach carbon neutrality, as the near stage aims to stimulate electric vehicles and the use of hydrogen for heavy transport and trucks, the use of biofuels, enabling technology to reduce emissions, enabling all main roads with chargers for electric vehicles, and organizing big data for the transportation sector. Establishing frameworks and legislation for future mobility such as the Internet of Things in transportation.
As for the middle stage, it aims to strengthen the Ministry’s efforts with partners in increasing the number of environmentally friendly vehicles, enabling the use of sustainable fuel for aircraft, providing smart mobility services as a service, establishing a regional center to supply ships with green fuel, reducing port emissions, and upgrading existing fuel stations to contain fuel. Hydrogen and electric chargers, in addition to linking public transport with the metro scheme in Muscat Governorate, while the remote phase aims at the overall orientation of environmentally friendly vehicles and self-driving.

– 18th carbon lab
The Ministry is currently working in cooperation with various government agencies on the 18 carbon laboratory initiatives. In the field of public transport, the Ministry is implementing an initiative to define a special lane for buses, and an initiative to define the main and secondary public transport network in Greater Muscat. In the field of environmentally friendly vehicles, the Ministry has launched several initiatives, including: Hydrogen, the use of biofuels, a station for the production and use of hydrogen for vehicles, regulatory specifications for the use of electric vehicles, incentives and incentive packages for environmentally friendly vehicles, and in the field of green ports, the ministry is working on an initiative to convert equipment to work with electric power, applying smart systems, connecting ships to electric power, removing carbon From the ports sector, the establishment of a regional center to supply ships with clean fuel. In the field of reducing environmental pollution, the Ministry is installing solar panels at Oman airports and ports, international cooperation to prevent pollution from ships, establishing waiting stations equipped with solar panels at public transport stations. In the field of legislation and regulation, the Ministry determines the operating age for land transport means, strengthens supervision and regulation, transport contract management companies.

– Initiatives
The Ministry is also working on a number of initiatives, including: the “Leadership by Example” initiative, as this initiative contributes to enabling the private sector to adopt electric vehicles, and the “Enabling Hydrogen Trucks” initiative, where the Ministry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, produces and distributes truck supply stations, and the “Tracking” initiative. Smart Land and Public Transport” which aims to maximize the benefit of roads in the Sultanate, organize land and public transport, and capture data for future planning and reduce carbon emissions, and the “artificial intelligence” initiative to use the latest programs to design and plan roads and reduce the distance, which reduces carbon emissions, and the “Network” initiative electric chargers, where the Ministry, in cooperation with the Public Services Authority, distributes electric chargers on most of the main roads in the Sultanate.

– Agreements
On the sidelines of the forum, a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding were signed, as the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology signed a cooperation program to organize Oman Sustainability Week with Connect Company.
It is a national event within the objectives of Oman Vision 2040 in the field of future energy, water, waste, environment and society. The cooperation program comes in several aspects, most notably the introduction of initiatives under the name of “Green and Smart Mobility” and the organization of “Green and Smart Transport Expo”.
The Ministry also signed a cooperation program to install and prepare the infrastructure for electric vehicle chargers in the Sultanate of Oman with Shell Oman. In addition to AC chargers for destinations and more to build an interconnected and integrated network of electrical chargers that enable fast and safe charging.

A partnership agreement was signed between Oman Oil Marketing Company and Synergy Investment Company to establish the Evo company to provide charging solutions for electric cars. A memorandum of understanding was also signed between Shell Oman and Amlak Energy Resources Corporation to start purchasing electric vehicle chargers from local Omani small and medium enterprises, in addition to signing a memorandum of understanding. Between Shell Oman and HTC Corporation to seek the use of advanced technology for electric chargers from local Omani small and medium enterprises.
Source: Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology