While construction workers are putting down their tools throughout the Gulf and the future of many massive infrastructure projects is in jeopardy, the Sultanate of Oman is bucking the regional trend by investing billions of dollars to bolster its nascent tourism sector, aviation sector and industrial base.Compared to its GCC neighbors that have spent lavishly over the past decade on infrastructure and real estate projects, the sultanate, the relative poor man of the Cooperation Council, has lagged behind in infrastructure roll out. That Oman is doing so now is not down to Muscat possessing a financial crystal ball that foresaw the cost of raw materials plunging from record highs and contract bidding becoming more competitive. For Oman, the projects are out of necessity, to catch up with regional developments and to be viewed as more of a GCC player than merely the better half of the lower Arabian Peninsula. The
