Saturday 28 / December / 2024
Muscat: The development fund for each governorate of the Sultanate has been doubled, in accordance with the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.
Under the leadership of His Majesty the Sultan, Oman’s Renewed Development accorded special attention to the development of governorates and expansion of society’s participation in this process, notably through municipal councils.
The legislations regulating the work of municipal councils are among the accomplishments of Oman Vision 2040.
The Royal directives to augment the governorates development portfolio from OMR10 million to OMR20 million—for each governorate during the Five-Year Plan 2021-2015—serve as incentive for competitiveness and economic growth.
His Majesty the Sultan’s keenness on drafting a framework for the implementation of development plans stems from his Royal directives to the departments concerned to present executive plans for the projects needed in each governorate.
This approach constitutes a motivation for Omani citizens to shoulder the responsibility of contributing to their respective governorates.
A step forward in this direction has been the Interior Ministry’s announcing the start of registration of citizens to contest as members of the municipal councils for the Third Term, via the elections website (elections.com). It is a significant move to practice the right to vote and select competent members who represent members of the public in the governorates’ municipal councils (two members per wilayat).
The Municipal Councils Law, promulgated under Royal Decree No. 126/2020, serves as a major element in implementing Oman Vision 2040.
Municipal councils may propose mechanisms to invest governorates’ resources in a manner that achieves sustainability, job creation, development projects and assessment of the performance of government service units.
Therefore, each municipal council member has a duty to utilise these legal, regulatory and financial factors to develop his part of the country, gaining insights from his/her first-hand knowledge of society’s needs.
As His Majesty the Sultan said in the Royal speech in January 2022, “our country boasts a wide range of competitive incentives, great potentials and promising opportunities that need to be utilised. The government will unleash all its efforts and capacities to serve cooperation and integration that ensure channeling development of the governorates.
"They will enhance their preparedness for investment and develop their local role based on the comparative advantage of each governorate in a manner that creates development models. This will be substantiated by a set of strategic goals to be executed by the government within the context of the five-year plans. Thus, the march of development can be perfected and empowered to cover all parts of this dear homeland.”
His Majesty added that upgrading Oman to the loftiest positions is a national duty and a responsibility to be shouldered by all citizens.
Oman 2040 Vision’s priority of developing governorates and sustainable cities will create a distinctive model of balanced growth and consolidate the competitive features of each governorate. It will also contribute to devising social, economic and environmental priorities within the framework of decentralisation.
