Blue City (Al Madina A'Zarqa) was a planned city project in the

Sultanate of Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

with a $20 billion budget. The city was supposed to spread over 32 square kilometers and 16 kilometers of coastline along the coastal region at Al Sawaadi, 45 minutes from

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

. When completed, the city would have included 20 hotels, hospitals, and a university. It was to have shopping centers, a marina, and schools. Al Madina A'Zarqa supported the government Vision 2020 in diversifying the sultanate's economy from fossil fuel.

About the Blue City

Located on a peninsula 30 minutes from Muscat Seeb Airport, Al Madina A'Zarqa was to be a waterfront city built along of shoreline adjacent to the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ''khalīj ʿumān''; ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ''khalīj makrān''; ''daryâ-ye makrān''), is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with th ...

. One of the largest-scale developments in the Middle East, the Al Madina A'Zarqa represented an investment of between $15–$20 billion. The first round of financing was secured through the issuing of a bond note by

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 during the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chas ...

on international markets raising US$925 million. The note was rated Baa3 by ratings agency

Moody's Moody's Ratings, previously and still legally known as Moody's Investors Service and often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its histo ...

in March, 2007, following on from a BBB− rating by

Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) designated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered as being one of the " Bi ...

when the note was issued. Bear Stearns was subsequently awarded "Middle East Leisure Deal of the Year 2006" by Project Finance for the arranging of the Blue City note. The organization behind the project was Al Sawadi Investment & Tourism Company (ASIT) which had the endorsement of the government of Oman to bring the development to life.

International involvement

The project was financed by the U.S. financial group Oppenheimer. The Oppenheimer company itself became embroiled in controversy, as it was forced to admit that it has no involvement with the Oppenheimer fortune of South Africa. "There is more money available here for investment but we did not want to bring in money from the Gulf region. We wanted to be different, so we looked at European and American collaboration and that is good for the country in general. It is good for rating when investors come in from the United States, Britain, or Germany. Our project has helped the rating of the government because of the way we dealt with this", says Mr. Issa.

Expected completion

The project was expected to be completed by 2020. In 2010 the project was close to liquidation, until eventually it was bought in 2012 by the Oman sovereign wealth fund and then closed down.

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Oman