Blue City - environment and mangroves
Gulf News focused on his possible involvement with The Blue City at Al Sawadi, 100 kms northwest of Muscat.
Jackson is reported to be interested in buying a property but not necessarily putting money into the project. One wonders how he could, given reports that his finances have been strained by recent events. Besides, there's nothing to see at the site at the moment. Work is expected to begin before the end of the year. Developers maintain that over two million tourists could visit the complex annually, nicely out of the way of the rest of the country and therefore minimising corruption of the culture.
It's an ambitious project. Phase 1 alone anticipates building a self-contained community of almost 1,000 dwellings, which will not only accommodate tourists but also form the nucleus of a new town with its own schools and hospital. Eventually, there will be 6,000 units. Presumably these will also be the new homes of all those Omanis who are going to work in the tourist industry that will unfold there.
W.S. Atkins were named as the consultants who had done an environmental impact study of the development. There is at least an expression of interest in conserving the natural khawrs (creeks) and mangrove beds along the coast, which could help to promote eco-tourism. Mangroves can be an important aid to stabilising coastlines and as nurseries for fishing stocks. They also have a role to play in cleansing wastewater.
Oman's mangroves were once far more widespread. The word for mangroves in Arabic is Qurm. Qurm is also, of course, a high-class suburb of Muscat. Oman is known for the Avicenia marina variety of mangroves, "home to over 200 species of fish, of invertebrates and epiphytic plants." (Oman Observer, May 2005) The Qurm Nature Reserve protects 78 hectares of mangroves. Other mangrove sites are on the small island of Mahout, just off the eastern coast, and in the khawrs of Dhofar.
The government has a coastline reclamation programme, supported in part by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The National Mangrove Afforestation Programme set up in 2000-1, has planted 58,000 square metres of new mangroves.
It's possible that the stabilisation of the coast at Al Sawadi is necessary for The Blue City to succeed without threat from a changing coastline. They want to build an 18-hole golf course alongside the creek.
