Dubai: Three million people travelled through the Hatta-Oman border last year, according to a top official from the Ministry of Interior.
Major General Mohammad Ahmad Al Merri, Director-General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs in Dubai, said that Hatta’s border plays a major role in enhancing trade and passenger movement between Dubai and Oman and has become a main point for land transport.
Major General Al Merri said that Hatta’s border is important due to the services and facilities it offers to passengers and traders, goods and trucks.
“Hatta Border Post has become one of the most important border crossings linking UAE with Oman with almost three million people crossing the border last year,” he added.
“The increasing movement of products, goods and people through the border post has given it a growing role in enhancing trade and tourism between the two countries,” he said.
Major General Al Merri said more than 155,000 people use the Hatta crossing every month to travel between the UAE and Oman.
He added that the new high-tech Hatta Border Port Crossing complex, linking the UAE and Oman, will open very soon.
“The new facility will help ensure ease of vehicular movement between the two countries. The project covers an area of 3,136 square metres,” said Major General Al Merri.
The work on the border crossing project is in progress and is expected to be ready soon.
He said as part of the new Hatta Border Port Crossing project complex, the GDRFA will introduce a high-tech service to travellers with which travellers will experience a dramatic improvement in the time they spend at the border controls section.
Major General Al Merri, accompanied by top officials from GDRFA, visited the Hatta Border Port last Sunday to inspect travellers’ movements and the work flow.
The Hatta border crossing will boast three lanes exclusively to channel incoming vehicles from Oman, besides one for trucks, another for uninsured vehicles with the third branching out into five gates for various GDRFA and customs procedures.
