Landmark decision to unify national addressing system
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning (MHUP) has unveiled a groundbreaking initiative to overhaul Oman's addressing system by issuing Ministerial Decision No 200/2024.
This landmark decision, set to take effect six months post its publication in the Official Gazette, outlines a strategic plan for a centralised national database alongside a unified addressing system spanning the sultanate's governorates, cities, villages, neighbourhoods and roads.
The initiative aims to establish a comprehensive system to integrate all governorates, thereby streamlining access to any location within the sultanate swiftly and efficiently.
MHUP is tasked with development of a smart and advanced addressing framework. This includes creating a uniform model for addresses across governorates in collaboration with local governors, ensuring accurate representation of geographical names in both Arabic and Latin scripts, alongside any symbols or logos used in addresses.
The decision mandates the inclusion of essential elements such as the governorate, wilayat, street name/number and unit number in urban plan titles. Supplementary details like city, village and neighbourhood names are also required for a comprehensive address.
A national database will be established with each governorate responsible for the provision of updated data. MHUP holds the authority to manage this database, including data classification, security, accuracy verification and determining fees for accessing certain data with the Ministry of Finance's approval.
The governorates, in coordination with relevant municipalities, will implement the addressing system based on principles that ensure the management, accuracy and timely update of the addressing database. This includes assigning distinct Arabic names to streets, integrating addressing requests with the governorate's database and informing property owners of their official addresses.
The unified addressing model provided by MHUP will standardise address plates across the sultanate, prohibiting unauthorised changes or modifications to approved address data. Property owners are also required to display these address plates visibly on their premises.
This comprehensive addressing system represents a significant step towards enhancing locational accessibility across Oman, promising a more organised and efficient way of identifying and reaching destinations.
The unified addressing model will standardise address plates across the sultanate