Oman transport: Mwasalat to host conference on boosting public transport

Muscat: A blueprint for public transportation in the Sultanate will be discussed at a conference in February.
Under the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC), the Oman National Transport Company – Mwasalat will host the 7th United International Public Transport (UITP) Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Assembly at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre from February 12 to 16, 2017 to promote the public transport sector in the Sultanate.
Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi, the Minister of Transport and Communications, will open the seminar on February 13th and discuss the master plan for public transport in the Sultanate.
The opening session will include Khalid Al Hogail, Chairman of UITP MENA Division and Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Arabia Public Transport Company “Saptco,” and the keynote speaker Dario Hidaglo, a sustainable mobility researcher and practitioner, who will present the best ways to make public transport the preferred mobility choice in the Sultanate.
Full mobility
The first session will be chaired by Alain Flausch, UITP Secretary General, and will bring together Ahmed Ali Al Bulushi, Chief Executive Officer of “Mwasalat” company, John Lesniewski, Group Chief Commercial Officer of Oman Global Logistics Group (OGLG), and Rakesh Belwal, Associate professor and coordinator MBA programme at Sohar University in Oman, to discuss Oman Public Transport Master Plan. They will dwell upon the plans and challenges for developing public transport infrastructure and facilities and a full mobility plan in the Sultanate.
The second session will be chaired by Mohamed Mezghani, Deputy Secretary General in UITP. It will introduce solutions for enhancing public transport operations and efficiency by presenting good practice cases and discuss ways of controlling costs and enhancing the operations of public transport services.
Share experience
Among the speakers will be Yo Kaminagai, Head of Design at Autonomous Operator of Parisian Transports (RATP), and Marta Labata, Chief Executive Officer of Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) who will share the experiences and achievements of some cities and will present ways for improving public transport image and perception to make it more attractive, accessible and available for the citizens of Oman.
Following the seminar, two simultaneous training sessions will be conducted from February 14 to 16, 2017.
Mwasalat is a permanent member of the UITP since 1983, and is the leading public transport company in the Sultanate of Oman.