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Despite facing fierce weather conditions, Oman has ambitions to meet the latest passenger needs.
The largest airport-building project ever in Oman is currently underway as two large-scale airport projects forge ahead. Both Muscat International and Salaleh International are undergoing major expansion works, which, initially, will boost both airports' capacity to 12 and one million passengers, respectively.
COWI, in a joint venture with Larsen Architects, are principal consultants on the projects, with Ervin Haukrogh, leading the team as project director. For COWI, it is the largest international project in the company's history, with 300 employees from Denmark, Oman, Sri Lanka and the rest of Asia currently working at COWI-Larsen's project office in Oman's capital, Muscat.
The team has been charged with designing buildings at both sites, totalling an area of over 600,000m2. New runways, approach roads, terminals, baggage-handling systems, control towers and all the installations needed in a modern airport have been considered.
Haukrogh explains the project's progress so far. "We have just submitted the final package for the airports to the client, the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Oman. There are four main packages, the civil works; the ATC complex and tower; the terminal building and Salaleh airport. It is important for us to stick to the deadlines we are given."
But despite this attention to detail, Haukrogh admits that the entire project is running about a year behind. "There have been a few delays and the completion date is now expected to be 2012, as opposed to 2011. Planning began in 2005 and then we had to redesign some elements of the project when a cyclone hit the area in 2006," explains Haukrogh.
In the initial plans there was a two-level basement which the client wanted to change. "It wasn't that the original design would not be able to withstand a cyclone," clarifies Haukrogh, "but the Ministry stipulates that no public buildings must suffer the effects of flooding.
Airport basements house the baggage handling and electrical systems, so if you have a flood then you have a problem. At the time of the cyclone, there were a lot of government buildings badly hit by the cyclone because of flooding and the client did not want to take that risk."
As a flat, low-lying area, drainage issues have been a major challenge for the airport planners to overcome. It seldom rains in Oman, but when it does, it pours. Cars and roads get swept away as water cascades down the mountains behind Muscat in great quantities and on into the Gulf of Oman.
One of the areas the rainwater passes to get to the sea is the stretch of land on which the new runway at Muscat International Airport will be. The low-lying area is separated from the ocean by a coast road, where water can stagnate in shallow spots after powerful, but short-lived downpours.
Brief: Two international airports in Oman with an initial capacity of 12 and one million passengers
Client: Ministry of Transport and Communications, Oman
Architect: Larsen A&CE
Sub-consultants: Copenhagen Airports International A/S; Aviaplan; OServe; Airways International New Zealand
Project period: 2005-2012
