Public warned of rising fraud - Oman Daily Observer

4
OMAN
Action taken against offending crushers
298 graduate at Muscat College
By Mai al Abri
MUSCAT — The Muscat College celebrated
yesterday the graduation of
the 14th patch of bachelor and higher
diploma students for the academic
year 2011/2012 under the auspice of
Sayyid Faisal bin Turki al Said.
The ceremony was attended by a
number of their highnesses and excellences,
members of Majlis Addawla
and Majlis Ash’shura, oficials from
the Ministry of Higher Education, parents
and media members.
The ceremony included the recitation
of some verses of Holy Quran, a
short presentation on the social, cultural,
entertainment sides of the college,
the speech of the founder of the
MUSCAT — The Majlis Ash’shura
team formed to discuss the issue of
crushers, quarrying and minerals
yesterday hosted Ahmed bin Hassan
al Dheeb, Under-Secretary of the Ministry
of Commerce and Industry, who
gave a detailed presentation about
impact of crushers on the environment
and the local community, as
well as proposed solutions.
Al Dheeb pointed out that, after
the Directorate General of Minerals
was shifted to the Ministry of Commerce
and industry, extensive efforts
have been exerted to improve contact
with miners and companies that operate
quarries. In this context, a joint
technical committee was formed,
with members from the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, the Ministry
of Housing, the Ministry of Interior
and the Ministry of Regional Municipalities
and Water Resources, and
a representative of the Ministry of
Tourism, the Ministry of Heritage and
Culture, the Ministry of Defence and
the Royal Oman Police.
He added that many companies
which run the crushers do not comply
with regulations and permits. A
follow-up panel, formed to keep an
eye on offending companies, visited
all the sites of quarries in the Sultanate
for three months and came up
college and the graduates’ speeches.
Dr Ahmed al Ghazali, the founder
and Chairman of Muscat College, in
his speech said “Muscat College since
its inception before 16 months has
consistently devoted its efforts to provide
better educational services for
students through qualiied teaching,
administrative and technical cadres.
This is out of our care to prepare a
generation capable of contributing
and participating in the construction
of the beloved country. The college
work to enable students to realise the
requirements of market to positively
interact with all changes and developments
that accompany the knowledge
revolution and information technology
in order to preserve the gains
with a detailed report. The report
shows that 169 companies were
breaking the law and, as a result, the
companies were referred to the Public
Persecution.
In a question from a member of
the Majlis about the irregularities, al
Dheeb said that they vary between
companies operating without a permit,
others operate outside their
permitted areas, and others working
with expired licenses, in addition to
companies that operated deeper than
allowed.
About the impact of stopping
those crushers, he said that the stopping
resulted in the shortage of basic
construction materials, raising their
prices and that is what irritated some
citizens who demanded provision of
such basic materials in construction.
On questions about reasons for
stopping new permit applications
or limiting the number of such permits
and what is the current number
of such applications, Eng. al-Dheeb
said that there are (1700) new applications,
mostly concentrated in
Governorates of North and South Al
Batinah, and there should be rules for
giving the permits for only serious applicants
as the Ministry noticed cases
where permitted applicants sold or
lease them to another party. For this
reason, the Ministry has added the inancial
guarantee for the applicant, in
addition to the need to open an ofice
at the working site and to recruit a geologist,
and a priority should be given
to Omanis, in addition to allocating
(5 per cent) of proits of the crushers
and quarrying to the local communities
to be deposited in a fund with the
Ofice of the Wali.
The team's members welcomed
the Ministry's tendency to identify
sites to extract soil landill used to
build houses for the personal use
for the citizens, on the condition
that these sites to be decided by the
wilayats' municipality and after the
approval of the Ministry of housing
on the proposed site. — ONA
made by the march of the blessed
Renaissance led by His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos, to upgrade the nation to the
ranks of developed nations.” The guest
of the ceremony later distributed the
gifts for the graduates and the outstanding
students and the certiicates
for 58 bachelor holders in computer
and business, accounting and computer
sciences, business studies and 240
higher national diploma holders from
the University of Stirling and the Scottish
Qualiications Authority in the
majors of computer science, business
studies, accounting and inance, business
specialties, administration and
Information, computer systems, computer
programming, engineering and
construction and quantity surveying.
SALALAH — Salalah port yesterday
received two cruise ships namely "Balmoral"
and "Seabourn Pride" with 1,529
on their board.
"Balmoral" came from Port Sultan
Qaboos in the Governorate of Muscat
with 1,161 passengers on its board
including 811 tourists while "Seabourn
Pride" came from Khasab Port
in the Governorate of Musandam and
heading to Safaja Port in Egypt with
368 passengers on its board including
195 tourists.
Programme of the two cruise ships
included visiting the major archaeological
and historic landmarks renowned
in the Governorate of Dhofar,
besides visiting the beaches and the
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013
Two cruise ships visit Salalah port
traditional and markets in the Wilayat
of Salalah.
On Monday Salalah Port received
a very large cruise ship "Aida Diva"
with 2,506 passengers on its board
including 1,906 tourists. — ONA
Condolence book for Lady Thatcher
MUSCAT — The British Embassy
will open a condolence book for
the late Baroness Thatcher. The
book will be open for signature
today, Saturday and Sunday from
10 am to 1 pm. Paying tribute to
the former British prime minister,
British Ambassador Jamie Bowden
said in a statement: “Lady Thatcher
will be remembered above all
for the strength of her leadership
and her faithfulness to her convictions.
She fundamentally changed
the UK and her legacy is still clear
today in many aspects of British
life. I have little doubt that history
will judge her to have been one of
our greatest Prime Ministers.”
Revenue up at RO 2.15 billion
From page 1
However, sources of other revenue
witnessed a decline spearheaded by
a 44 per cent drop in capital revenues
to RO 900,000, but the bulletin did not
quote any igures for customs or corporate
income tax revenues.
Investment spending increased by 32
per cent to RO 312 million, with spending
of oil production standing at RO 138
million. Current spending increased by
18.7 per cent to about one billion.
Tourism facilities at Wadi Bani Khalid
MUSCAT — The second last stage
of restoration of Al Adfain Castle in
the Wilayat of Wadi Bani Khalid concluded
in Al Sharqiyah North Governorate.
Renovation works were carried
out using local raw material, with the
roof being made of palm trunks and
walls constructed and painted with
Omani cement known as sarooj.
Work on Al Adfain Castle’s restoration
began in 2011 under the supervision
of the Ministry of Heritage
and Culture. The fortress is one of the
tourist attractions in Al Sharqiyah.