Programme Overview
Tanfeedh — Arabic for execution or implementation — was Oman’s structured national programme for accelerating economic diversification, operating between 2016 and 2020 as the bridge between the Vision 2020 framework and the emerging Vision 2040 architecture.
Where Vision 2020 set strategic direction and Vision 2040 provides the long-term framework, Tanfeedh was the operational mechanism: a time-bound, project-specific, deliverable-oriented programme designed to translate strategic intent into concrete investment pipelines.
The Lab Methodology
Tanfeedh’s distinctive feature was its use of a lab-based working methodology borrowed from international development programme design. Rather than conventional government committee structures, Tanfeedh brought together government ministries, private sector representatives, and international advisors in intensive co-design sessions — “labs” — to identify specific bottlenecks and design targeted interventions.
Each lab focused on a priority sector, producing an implementation roadmap with named projects, identified investors, regulatory changes required, and timeline commitments. The methodology emphasised speed-to-implementation over comprehensive planning.
Priority Sectors
Tanfeedh identified five priority sectors for accelerated diversification:
Logistics: Leveraging Oman’s geographic position — between Europe and Asia, with deep-water ports at Sohar, Salalah, and Duqm — to develop a genuine logistics hub economy. Tanfeedh identified specific projects at each port and targeted ASYAD as the consolidating institutional vehicle.
Manufacturing: Industrial development anchored at the Sohar Industrial Port Complex and the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD). Key projects included Sohar Aluminium downstream processing, Duqm Refinery (now operational as a 230,000 bpd JV with Saudi Aramco), and Jindal Shadeed steel expansion.
Tourism: Identification of specific resort development zones, aviation connectivity priorities, and the institutional reforms needed to streamline hotel licensing and tourism investment approvals. The OMRAN Group was positioned as the primary state vehicle for tourism infrastructure development.
Fisheries: Oman’s coastline — at 3,165 km, one of the longest in the Arab world — and the rich Khareef upwelling system create genuine competitive advantages in fisheries. Tanfeedh targeted seafood processing clusters, cold-chain infrastructure, and export market development.
Mining: Assessment of Oman’s geological endowment — chromite, copper, limestone, gypsum, and potentially rare earth elements — and identification of the regulatory reforms needed to attract mining investment.
Results and Legacy
Tanfeedh’s legacy is mixed but significant:
Projects activated: Several major projects reached financial close or construction phase during the Tanfeedh period, including the Duqm Refinery, Sohar port expansion phases, and the Salalah Methanol Company expansion.
Institutional reforms: The programme generated specific regulatory and institutional reform recommendations, several of which were implemented — including streamlined investor visa processes, the OPAZ restructuring as a one-stop investment promotion authority, and reforms to industrial land allocation.
Private sector engagement: The lab methodology successfully created direct dialogue between government planners and private sector operators, identifying practical obstacles (regulatory delays, utility cost structures, land allocation processes) that technical reports had overlooked.
Limitations: The programme’s focus on large capital projects meant smaller SME-level diversification received less attention. Several flagship projects experienced delays beyond the Tanfeedh timeframe. The COVID-19 pandemic (2020) disrupted implementation of many pipeline projects.
Relationship to Vision 2040
Vision 2040, launched in 2021, absorbed and extended the Tanfeedh project pipeline. The sectors Tanfeedh prioritised — logistics, manufacturing, tourism, fisheries, mining — are all represented in Vision 2040’s diversification priority. The institutional architecture Tanfeedh helped create (ASYAD, OPAZ, SEZAD, OMRAN) forms the implementation machinery for Vision 2040’s diversification agenda.
In this sense, Tanfeedh was less a standalone programme than the first implementation phase of Oman’s sustained economic transformation — the initial operational expression of a diversification ambition that Vision 2040 has now formalized into a 20-year framework.