Oman Completed 97% of Its Five-Year Plan. Here Are 6 Things You Can Actually See.

Most reporting on Oman Vision 2040 is about what is being announced. This piece is about what is already standing.

Over the last 18 months, Oman closed the books on its Tenth Five-Year Development Plan (2021 to 2025) and the results are more tangible than any policy document suggests. A $9 billion refinery is shipping oil. New roads are cutting journey times in Dhofar and Musandam. Schools that did not exist five years ago are full of students. And a plan that other governments might have shelved at 60% delivery finished at 97%.

Here are six things Oman actually built.

Key Takeaways

• The $9 billion Duqm Refinery shipped approximately 19 million tonnes of products in its first two years of operations and now employs a workforce that is 67.5% Omani, beating its own target.
• Oman's Ministry of Transport has 60 road projects underway worth approximately $2.6 billion; 20 of them are already past 70% completion.
• 188 schools were built or renovated under the 2021-2025 plan. 42 more are funded in the 2026 budget.
• Six new government hospitals are completing construction in 2026, with 3,706 new healthcare personnel appointments funded alongside them.
• The Tenth Five-Year Plan achieved 97% of its 411 strategic programs and generated 175,000 jobs.

1. A $9 Billion Refinery, Now Shipping Oil from the Middle of Nowhere

Duqm sits in one of the emptiest stretches of Oman's coast. Three years ago it had no refinery. Today it has one of the Gulf's largest: a $9 billion joint venture between Oman's OQ Group and Kuwait Petroleum International, running at 255,000 barrels per day.

Officially launched in February 2024, the OQ8 Duqm Refinery had shipped approximately 19 million tonnes of products by mid-2025. The facility's Omanisation rate reached 67.5%, beating its own 65% target. Local procurement hit RO 158.6 million ($412 million) in 2024 alone, with RO 15 million directed to small and medium businesses in Al Wusta Governorate.

This is not a future promise. The steel is up, the oil is flowing, and Omanis are doing the skilled work.

2. Sixty Road Projects and $2.6 Billion in Tarmac

A country is only as connected as its roads. Oman's Ministry of Transport committed approximately $2.6 billion (OMR 920 million) to a portfolio of 60 road projects. By late 2025, at least 20 of those were already past 70% completion.

The Sultan Turki bin Said Road, the second phase of the A'Sharqiyah Expressway, reached 74% completion. The Harwib-Mitan project in Dhofar had laid 185 of its 210 kilometres of asphalt. The 71-kilometre Sultan Faisal bin Turki Road connecting Daba to Khasab, which will make the isolated Musandam peninsula accessible by land for the first time, was at 58%.

For communities in interior and southern governorates, these are not statistics. They are the difference between a two-hour drive and a four-hour one, with direct cost savings for every business moving goods through those corridors.

3. 188 Schools Built or Renovated. 42 More Coming in 2026.

Between 2021 and 2025, Oman built or renovated 188 schools. The 2026 national budget funds 42 more and adds 4,000 teachers to government institutions, specifically targeting the elimination of double-shift (evening) schooling in several governorates.

For families in Al Wusta, Dhofar, and the northern interior, a new school is not an abstraction. It is fewer hours of commute for a child, a local job for a teacher, and a concrete sign that development spending reached their neighbourhood rather than staying in Muscat.

4. Six New Hospitals Completing Construction This Year

The 2026 national budget confirms six government hospitals will complete construction this year, spread across multiple governorates. Nine additional health centres are also in the completion pipeline. The government has funded 3,706 new healthcare personnel appointments to staff the new facilities.

Oman's healthcare gap has historically been geographic, not just financial. New hospitals outside Muscat are the mechanism that turns Vision 2040's health priority into something a family in Nizwa, Sur, or Salalah can use without half a day of travel.

5. A Five-Year Plan That Delivered What It Promised

The Tenth Five-Year Development Plan (2021-2025) targeted 411 strategic programs. When results were reviewed in 2025, 398 were achieved: a 97% implementation rate. The plan generated 175,000 job opportunities. Non-oil GDP grew at 4.1% annually, exceeding its own 3.5% target. Cumulative foreign direct investment reached OMR 30.6 billion by early 2025, up 20.6% year-on-year.

For a country whose reform credibility was questioned a decade ago, that scorecard is significant. The national programs carrying this work into the next five-year cycle are already in motion, with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy maintaining joint oversight of capital allocation against measurable targets.

6. A 99-Place Jump on the Global Environmental Index

In the 2024 Yale Environmental Performance Index, Oman climbed 99 positions to reach 50th globally, placing second in the Gulf and second in the Middle East. The jump reflects improvements in water management, protected area expansion (Oman now has around 30 natural reserves), and tighter industrial emission standards.

This matters beyond the ranking itself. Oman's pitch to green hydrogen investors and international manufacturers depends on being seen as a credible environmental steward, and a 99-place leap shows up in investment due diligence in a way that press releases do not. As our earlier analysis of the seven Vision 2040 projects that changed something real noted, the environment pillar is one of four where delivery is publicly tracked against hard targets.

The Delivery Machine Behind the Numbers

These six items are the output of a formal planning structure coordinated across ministries and tracked through 411 measurable programs. A 97% delivery rate on 411 items is not a small administrative achievement; it is a reputation for following through, and that reputation is itself an asset when the next five-year plan goes to investors and international partners for support.

Why This Matters for Ordinary Omanis

A refinery in Duqm means skilled jobs and supply contracts for small businesses in Al Wusta. Roads in Dhofar and Musandam mean faster trade and lower transport costs for every business that depends on those corridors. Schools across the interior mean a child in Ibri or Haima gets the same classroom as a student in Muscat. Hospitals outside the capital mean a family in Sur does not have to drive two hours for a consultation.

The 97% delivery rate does not mean every Omani feels the benefit equally, and wages, housing costs, and youth employment remain live conversations. But for anyone tracking whether Vision 2040 promises turn into poured concrete, the record from 2021 to 2025 is the clearest evidence yet that, when the planning machinery works, they do.