National Addressing System

Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning in the Sultanate of Oman

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guidelines:guideline-street-naming

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General naming principles

  1. Street names must be unique within a municipality.
  2. Street names must be selected from a national name database.
  3. Street names must be culturally appropriate and not offensive.
  4. Street names must follow proper Arabic spelling and Romanization rules.
  5. Street names must avoid religious, political, or commercial names unless officially approved.
  6. Street names should reflect local identity, heritage, or topographic/geographic features or functional elements (e.g., “Industrial Street”, “Hospital Road”) where appropriate.
  7. Street names should be short and clear (e.g., < 20 characters in Latin script) and one should avoid complex compound names, abbreviations, or words that are difficult to pronounce.
  8. Different classes of streets may have indicative suffixes like for main roads “Street”, “Road”, “Highway” and local roads “Way”, “Lane”, “Alley”. Use of these should follow the road classification schema provided in the address model. (
  9. A continuous street should maintain the same name across its length unless it crosses a wilayat or governorate boundary, or it is physically disconnected by a natural or man-made barrier. In such cases, a new name may be applied with justification.
  10. In grid layouts, numeric naming conventions (e.g., “Street 1”, “Street 2”) may be used but this is not recommended as good practice.

Rules for when street names can be reused in adjacent Wilayat

  1. No duplicate street names shall be used within the same municipality.
  2. Adjacent municipalities are not permitted to have streets with the same name, to prevent confusion in navigation and service delivery.
  3. Where adjacent Wilayat wish to use the same street name, the following rule applies:
    1. If the Wilayat in question are within the same Governorate, the Governor's Office shall mitigate between the two to find a solution.
    2. If a solution cannot be reached, a buffer zone of 20 km must exist between any two streets using the same name.
    3. This buffer is measured as the shortest linear distance between the street closest end of the road center lines of each named street.
  4. Specialized economic zones/free zones are not permitted to reuse street names in surrounding/enclosing Wilayat, to prevent confusion in navigation and service delivery.
  5. Where an adjacent economic free zone and a municipality both wish to using the same street name the same rule applies as for neighboring Wilayat.
    1. The Governor's Office together with OPAZ shall try to find a solution to avoid the duplication of names.
    2. If there still is a shared interest, a buffer zone of 10 km must exist between any two streets using the same name.
    3. This buffer is measured as the shortest linear distance between the street closest end of the road center lines of each named street.
  6. For adjacent municipalities that have clear division in the form of mountain passes, long stretches on non-descript desert or no accessibility whatsoever between them the following rues applies:
    1. Names may be reused, subject to a 10 km distance between wherever there is access between the Wilayat or likely to become access in the near future
    2. Names may be reused freely where there is no access and clear physical barriers between two adjacent Wilayat, irrespective of distance between the names.
    3. A list of Wilayat that this applies to is available here.

Cross-governorate coordination

  1. Coordinate and resolve cross-governorate naming disagreements is the task of the National Addressing System Committee.
  2. If adjacent Wilayat fall within different governorates and seek to use the same street name, they must:
    1. Convene a joint meeting between the respective Governorate Offices.
    2. Formally agree on the use of the name and ensure (1) Clarity in signage and map data and (2) Distinct prefixes/suffixes or district indicators if necessary (e.g., “Al Rahma Street“, Wilayat Rustaq (in Al Batinah South) vs. “Al Rahma Street” in Wilayat Ibri (in Al Dhahirah).
    3. Seek assistance from the National Addressing System Committee when needed.

Prohibited naming conflicts

  1. In continuous metropolitan areas, no repetition of street names is permitted at all due to high density and interconnectivity.
    1. The coastal stretch of Muscat area: Muscat (excluding Sifah), Muttrah, Bawshar and Seeb
    2. The Al Batinah South coastline: Barka, Musannah,
    3. The Al Batinah North coastline: Suwayq, Al Khaburah, Saham, Sohar
  2. Reuse of names from national roads (e.g., Sultan Qaboos Street) must be centrally approved and should be limited.
guidelines/guideline-street-naming.txt · Last modified: by runarbe