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Part 2:
For those like me who missed His Majesty's speech in the annual opening of Majlis Oman (Council of Oman), it has already been uploaded on YouTube and you can see the full speech above. Beautiful speech.
May God bless His Majesty the Sultan and keep him for this great country. =)
MUSCAT — His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has issued royal orders to make available basic food commodities all over the Sultanate urgently, reduce the price of one tonne of flour by RO25, give the recommendations of the ministerial committee in charge of handling property rents hike at the nearest possible time, raise the salaries of employees of the state administrative apparatus units and social security families with effect from this month. The statement issued by the Diwan of Royal Court yesterday reads as follows:Source: Times of Oman
Having reviewed the study prepared by the ministerial committee set up to alleviate the impact of price hike, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has ordered the following:
- Make available basic food commodities all over the Sultanate urgently. The respective departments should devise a sound mechanism to ensure that retail traders do not raise the prices of these commodities, enhance market monitoring and combat monopoly.
- Reduce the price of one tonne of flour by RO25.
- The ministerial committee in charge of devising a mechanism to solve the issue of property rents hike should give its recommendations at the nearest possible time.
- The consumer protection department shall report directly to the minister of commerce and industry.
- Increase the salaries of the state administrative apparatus units of the ministries, government departments, organizations, public authorities, public establishments and other juristic personalities with effect from this month as follows:
A. The salary of employees on financial Grades 8, 9, 10 and its equivalent to be raised by 7 per cent of the basic.
B. The salary of employees on financial Grade 11 and its equivalent to be raised by 8 per cent of the basic.
C. The salary of employees on financial Grade 12 and its equivalent to be raised by 12 per cent of the basic.
D. The salary of employees on financial Grade 13 and its equivalent to be raised by 21 per cent of the basic.
E. The salary of employees on financial Grade 14 and its equivalent to be raised by 43 per cent of the basic.
F. The rest of the employees of the state administrative apparatus units from the ministries, governmental units, military and security units, organizations, public organizations, public authorities and other juristic personalities by 5 per cent of the basic salary.
G. Raise the social security families salaries by 10 per cent.
His Majesty the Sultan also ordered the respective authorities to conduct the actuary studies to improve the financial allocations for employees retired from the governmental sector also.
Has anybody noticed an increase in helicopters over the capital the last few days? Any thoughts?
I think It's either an increase in routine training of RAFO pilots, or GW Bush is going to be stopping through Muscat during his upcoming middle east junket.
Either that or a giant government spying conspiracy, where they are using the helicopters to read our minds and predict future crimes. I, for one, am lining my cap with tinfoil right now.
Just kidding. Do you guys think Bush wil be stopping here?
Council of Ministers reviews increase in prices of commodities
MUSCAT — In the light of the great attention given by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said in ensuring the welfare of all the citizens and in a bid to cope with the current global economic developments and their direct impact on the prices of some commodities in the local market, the Council of Ministers yesterday held a meeting to study the different aspects of these phenomena. The council discussed the possibility of identifying some practical solutions that could alleviate the impact of such phenomena on citizens and expatriates. The Council of Ministers also reviewed the external and internal causes for the price rise in some commodities and how to deal with them in the near future, taking into consideration the interest of the consumers, traders and external forces.
While the government follows with concern the global economic changes, it assesses the positive and negative impact of such economic changes. The cooperation of the citizens with the government in understanding the nature of such developments is an important step towards handling and alleviating the impact of such changes. In this connection, the Council of Ministers has decided to set up a ministerial committee to be headed by the minister of national economy and deputy chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council with the minister of fisheries, the minister of commerce and industry, the minister of agriculture and chairman of OCCI as members to alleviate the impact of these phenomena.
- ONA
In response to the royal directives of His Majesty the Sultan of Oman about strengthening communication between the Council of Ministers and the Council of Oman, a joint meeting between the Council of Ministers and the Shura Council members was held today morning in the presence of His Highness Sayyid Fahad bin Mahmoud, Deputy Prime Minister of Council of Ministers and Sheikh Ahmed Al-Esa'i, president of the Shura Council.
Following the meeting on TV when it was aired after 5pm news, I can tell that lots of things were discussed between the ministers & the members of the Shura Council. Other than that, apparently different views were exchanged between the ministers & the members of the Shura Council which is pretty nice. It's more of an open session between the Shura Council & the ministers, where all the members of the Shura Council are free to stand with any minister & the Deputy Prime Minister, question him/her about various things and also exchange views with them.
The meeting was aired on TV with both video & audio, and following it gives an expression that it would be a fruitful meeting and also the upcoming joint meetings between the Council of Ministers and Shura Council would be fruitful inshAllah.
Hello,
Can some one please update me with the process of renewing the Omani passport in the Immigration and Passport Royal Police Department?
I need to provide the information to some one who requires renewing their passport and they have been away from the country for sometime...
Thank you.
A report says:
MUSCAT –– The Council of Ministers yesterday decided that rent for properties should not be increased by more than 15 per cent of the current rent value during the next two years.
This will provide citizens the much-needed respite from mindless rent hikes happening for the last one year. The rent cap of 15 percent holds good for existing tenants, but what will happen for people who want to move/shift to new premises wherein a new lease agreement will come into effect? I am sure the landlords will find some loopholes to beat the system. It so happened that recently a person changed his flat from third floor to second floor in the same building with same dimensions, and got his rent jacked up by RO 35 in the new agreement!
Who will bell the cat?
Big government changes in Oman today. His Majesty The Sultan has issued 9 royal decrees with the following changes:
The Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water Resources has been split in two, a ministry for Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, and a Ministry for Environment and Climate.
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has been split into separate ministries for agriculture and fisheries.
Al Sayyid Humoud bin Faisal, previously the Secretary General of the Council of Ministers is now the Minister of Environment and Climate.
Al Sayyid Khalid bin Hilal Al Busaidi takes his place in the Council of Ministers.
Sh. Salim bin Hilal Al Khalili remains Minister of Agriculture.
Sh. Mohd Al Qatabi, previously minister of state and governor of Dhofar, is now the Minister of Fisheries.
Sh. Mohd bin Marhoon Al Ma'mari, previously ambassador in the UAE, is now the minister and governor of Dhofar.
Sh. Mohd Al Harthy, previously Minister of Transport and Communication, now the minister of Civil Services.
Dr. Khamis Al Alawi, previously minister of Housing, Electricity and Water, is now the minster of Transport and Communication.
Sh. Hilal bin Khalid Al Ma'wali, previously the minister of Civil Services, now a member of Majlis A'Dawla.
Sh. Saif Al Shabibi, previously undersecretary of the ministry of housing, electricity and water, is now the Minister of Housing.
Electricity and Water departments from MHEW are now split from the Ministry of Housing, and made into a Authority for Electricity and Water.
Sh. Abdulla Al Qatabi, previously president of Majlis A'Shura, is now a state advisor.
Sh. Ahmed Al Eissa'i, who was the minster of labour in the 90's, is now the president of Majlis A'Shura.
(all above translated from Arabic decrees. The official English names for all the ministries and posts will be in tomorrow's English papers).
Oman has made an offer to trade India natural gas in exchange for coal.
Interesting, but isn't Oman short of gas itself and looking to get supplies from Qatar through the Dolphin project and from Iran through the proposed pipeline across Hormuz?
“We have received a very interesting proposal from the Oman government, which has been forwarded to the power ministry by the ministry of external affairs, about their interest in a coal and gas swap around a month back,” said a senior government official familiar with the matter. “We are studying the proposal, which will be very beneficial for our present and future gas-based (power) generation capacity,” added the official, who did not wish to be identified.If the Indian government says yes, the two countries will enter into a long-term contract where Oman provides India natural gas in exchange for a steady supply of coal.
Indian coal has a high-ash content, one reason why some domestic coal-based power plants mix it with higher quality coal that is imported. However, Oman wants Indian coal for this very reason. Fly ash is a key component in the manufacture of cement and Oman, currently going through an infrastructure and construction boom, needs as much of the building material as it can get.In return, India will get natural gas, currently in short supply across the world, to run its power plants. Gas is also a key input for fertilizer plants. Several power plants in India that run on gas have had to shut down because of scarcity of the fuel. [link]
