Al Raid Group, a specialist developer of retail shopping malls and leisure destinations, is set to build The Al Araimi Walk, one of the largest shopping, entertainment and touristic destinations in Oman, at an investment of RO112 million ($290 million), said a report.

The 240,000-sq-m Al Araimi Walk, which is located at Al Samahan in the Barka region, will boast a four-star hotel, a business centre, an indoor water park, a large ski circuit and cinema besides virtual reality games facilities and a kilometre-long walkway, reported the Muscat Daily.

Al Araimi Walk will also include an ice-skating ring, a trampoline park, a family entertainment centre, a rock climbing slope and many other adventures.

The announcement by Al Raid Group follows the completion of the 135,000-sq-m Al Araimi Boulevard project in the Al Khoudh new commercial area, it stated.

Al Raid Group also revealed that it has allocated investments worth $1 billion in the retail, leisure and tourism sectors over the next five years.

This investment plan began in 2015 with Al Araimi Boulevard, which is set to open this September. It will be followed by the opening of Al Araimi Walk projected in 2020, stated the report citing Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al Araimi, the chairman of Al Raid Group.

Al Araimi Walk has been designed by Toronto-based architects Design International in line with the highest international standards.

On the project’s design, Design International said throughout the development, key characteristics and motifs of traditional local architecture have been reinterpreted for the 21st century. 

Examples include the use of large, intricate skylights, composed of hexagonal modules which use extremely hi-tech material to recreate the shapes of traditional latticework in Oman; and the 400-m-long facade which is designed as an open colonnade to allow the fluid interplay of spaces within and outside the building.

The Canadian firm said nature has been interwoven into the interiors of Al Araimi Walk, both in the choice of materials with their organic leitmotif, the selection of plants, and the creation of specific areas in the building that give form to defining aspects of the local surroundings, such as oases, mountains and marketplaces.  This is eloquently described also in the colour palette of sand, it added.

The interior will have expansive spaces with water lakes and green trees topped by a glass roof, to highlight the beauty of the place, and to give visitors a sense of comfort and sophistication.