Tuesday 16 / April / 2024
Muscat: The move to increase the funds available for development from OMR10 million to OMR20 million for each governorate in Oman, during the current five-year plan, has been welcomed by the Ministry of Economy.
The ministry welcomed the decision of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik to increase funding, which will help support the implementation of strategic programmes under the initiative to develop governorates and build sustainable cities. The effort is expected to be a catalyst to improve competitiveness within the governorates, and speed up the rate of development.
“Increasing the financial allocations for the governorate development programme will help accelerate the development of their economies, expand the range of programmes and projects that they intend to implement, and accelerate the strategic transformation of the government’s move towards decentralisation,” said Dr Nasser bin Rashid Al Maawali, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, speaking to Oman News Agency.
The Governorates Development Programme was set up to achieve comprehensive and balanced regional development, and promote optimal utilisation of natural and human resources, in accordance with the relative advantages of each governorate.
The Ministry of Economy had earlier set basic determinants and general guidelines related to the selection of projects, including those that support growth small and medium enterprises within each governorate, generate job opportunities for people of the governorate, and are compatible with the sectors and objectives of economic diversification specified in the Tenth Five Year Development Plan.
Furthermore, a Royal commission has been set up, to allow the concerned personnel in each governorate to submit plans to the concerned authorities, which explain how the funding provided to them will be used to raise the efficiency of spending on various projects.
This effort also helps achieve the principles of participatory planning, as governance frameworks stress the importance of implementing those projects that generate additional local value for the governorates, leading to social satisfaction.
“The guidance provided by His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik to assign responsibility to the key personnel in these governorates, such as the governors, when it comes to follow-up involving government agencies concerned with implementing projects that include social and service components, is in line with the principles of decentralisation, on which the directives of the Tenth Five Year Development Plan are based,” added Al Maawali.
He also stressed the government’s interest in the participation of the local community in the planning and implementation processes to improve the services required to provide social and economic sustainability.
