(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) The Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) on Tuesday signed 19 agreements worth over RO151.1mn for dev-elopment of roads and ports.Fifteen agreements worth RO95.5mn were signed for further development of the roads sector while four agreements worth RO55.6mn were dedicated to ports.Important among the agreements on roads are those on widening and expansion of the Sinaw-Mahoot-Duqm road (RO41.6mn) and development of the Sohar roundabout (RO21mn). Once complete, the Sinaw-Mah-oot-Duqm road will be 81,360km long.Among the pacts on port development is one on building floating berths at Port of Salalah for carriers shipping liquids. Another agreement relates to design consultancy, supervision of floating berths, premises and stores at Khasab port. Addressing mediapersons aft-er signing the agreements, H E Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, the Minister for Transport and Communication, said the floating berth project at Port of Salalah was an extremely important one. ''The expansion at this vital port is part of a wider vision for future projects for the port which are currently being studied. These future plans include new docks to accommodate more berths for larger vessels,'' he said.Primary studies have shown that setting up new docks will require a new breakwater, for which MoTC will begin the design phase early next year. According to H E Futaisi, Port of Salalah will be further developed through expansion and rehabilitation of the old area for public goods, earlier known as Port of Raysut.''We are going to rehabilitate the area to be able to serve businessmen there, as well as those from Salalah Free Zone. There is a vision to execute more projects at Port of Salalah in the coming years,'' he said.The Sohar roundabout project is part of a plan to build flyovers at roundabouts on the Batinah dual road to ease traffic congestion and reduce accidents, the minister added.
