News

Oman Plans To Have 22,000 EVs On Its Roads By 2030

The country also aims to distribute 350 chargers across busy arterial and public roads by 2026.

Published

3 years ago

January 4, 2024

Nour Nasir

oman plans to have 22000 evs on its roads by 2030

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As Middle Eastern countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia invest huge sums of money into clean transport initiatives, Oman is also beginning efforts to decarbonize its roads. The ambitious plans by transport authorities hope to see an estimated 22,000 electric vehicles on the country’s roads by 2030.

According to the Minister of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology, Said Hamood al Maawali, the lofty goal will require expanding a network of 350 public chargers across the country by 2026.

“Technological advances have led to the development of dual-combustion vehicles, which have been implemented locally within the Sultanate of Oman. These breakthroughs have greatly contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, estimated to have dropped by 40% from trucks and heavy equipment,” said Maawali in a recent newsletter.

Also Read: High-Speed Freight Link Hyperloop One To Shut Down

Oman’s larger sustainability and decarbonization goals aim to slash annual transport sector emissions (estimated at around 22 million tons) by 3% in 2030.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.