Muscat: Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Culture signed an agreement with country’s leading gas exploration company Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) to protect a number of endangered geological heritage sites. The agreement seeks to ensure the sustainability of such sites as an important national heritage and one of the components of sustainable and valuable tourism.
The agreement was signed by Salem bin Muhammad Al Mahrouqi, Minister of Heritage and Tourism, and Raoul Restucci, Managing Director of Petroleum Development Oman.
The memorandum aims to protect and preserve a number of geological heritage sites in the Sultanate as well as prospective tourist destinations that highlight geological heritage and diversity of Oman. Oman has abundant resources in this field and the agreement is expected to seek experts’ assistance and data-based information to draw a map of the important geological sites in the Sultanate.
Mahrouqi said that one of the key deliverables of the work programmes proposed within the agreement is to protect endangered sites and geological phenomena in a number of important sites in Oman. Oman is also preparing for setting up geological parks in the Sultanate and work is well on its way in registering key sites on the list of geological parks.
