Origination and Development
Available sources indicate that the history of municipal order in Muscat goes back to the early twenties of the last century when the first administrative organizations emerged to carry out municipal tasks such as cleaning and the organization of markets and buildings (in addition to some miscellaneous tasks prescribed by the governments at that time). For example, in 1938 an administration was established to organize streets and houses in both Muscat and Mutrah. It charged the transfer of garbage and such charge was known then as municipality charges (as stipulated in Oman Customs Law issued in 1938). This highlights that imposing charges by the municipality is not a novel issue as it was there sixty years ago.
In 1939 the first municipal council was appointed in Muscat and in the same year a branch of the municipality was established in Mutrah. Such development works were crowned by issuing the first municipal law in Oman, that is, the Municipal Law for the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman for the year 68 AH (1949 AD). This law included the basics of the municipal system in Oman in the modern sense. The generalized nature of this law rendered it elastic and actually applicable and developable. Despite the said generalization, it seemed that Muscat Municipality was the concerned authority as it was the only municipality at the time. The said law included seven chapters. The first introduced the law and defined its terms. The second chapter dealt with the legal aspects of municipality committee. The third discussed customs. The fourth was related to the financial issues. The fifth and the sixth were related to city organization. The seventh included the general texts.
Outside the jurisdictions of the said law the municipality was assigned other tasks such as spending on schools and hospitals, security, and at times it was assigned the issue of recording the births and deaths. The municipality also performed some of the police tasks such as the regulation of using fire weapons, regulation of electricity consumption, and issuing licenses for practicing various occupations. The municipality continued to perform the said additional prerogatives and burdens – in a limited manner though – because life requirements as well as capabilities at the time were really limited. The limited geographical area as well facilitated the task for the municipality. In 1967, registration of vehicles and issuing of driving licenses.
With the advent of the glorious Renaissance in 1970, Muscat Municipality entered a new age just like all other state authorities and bodies. This was the first promise of HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said in his first speech. He promised the Omanis a more modern life. The story of the municipality since then is really a saga of achievement and development that can be physically seen all over the Governorate of Muscat. It was the opinion of the municipality at the beginning that the first step would be the development of the municipal systems and legal and executive bodies. Therefore, in June 1972 Mutrah Municipality and Muscat Municipality were merged and the specialized departments were established. Change remained apace: the name changed to Central Municipality and then to Muscat Municipality. The law of 1974 named it Capital Municipality before it was renamed gain as Muscat Municipality in 1988.
After two years of issuing the 1974 law, essential amendments were carried out in order to enable the Municipality to perform its tasks more efficiently and to keep abreast with the widening geographical area that now covers Muscat, Mutrah, Ruwi, Bausher, Seeb and its suburbs. The Municipal Council was awarded more prerogatives in order to be able to issue the legislations and local orders that consequently enable the executive body to perform its duties. The Law number 4 for the year 1975 regarding reorganization of the capital gave the Municipality its independent moral character and financial status. It also unified the leadership of the Municipality (in its legislative and executive divisions) in the Municipality President. It also extended the period of the Municipal Council to four years instead of two.
In March 1984, the supervision of Muscat Municipality was transferred to the Diwan of Royal Affairs. This was really a quantitative leap for the Municipality as it extended and developed. The Capital became a Governorate that includes six wilayats and five public geographic directorates. For the first time, Muscat Municipality became fully responsible for its development projects after this had been divided among three ministries: Ministry of Transportation for roads and bridges, Ministry of Electricity and Water as for street lighting and Ministry of Housing as for housing projects. This is in addition to its other tasks regarding the regulation of local markets, public stores, and health affairs and the other activities related to human public health (cleanliness, eating, drinking, garbage management and disposal, supervising building constructions, approving the plans and layouts of all types of buildings inside the Governorate, and issuing construction permits. It also played a major role in ornamenting and greening the city through the building of public gardens and parks, children's playgrounds, and forestation. All this changes the face of the city altogether.
As far as financial issues are concerned, Muscat Municipality has its independent budget prepared within. The internal auditing at the Municipality supervises all aspects of expenditure as per the financial regulations of the state. The sources of the budgets are either a governmental subsidy in the form of an allocated sum based on the population of Muscat Municipality or from the self-revenues that has become an important part of the said budget in light of self-sufficiency.
As for the projects of developmental plans, the municipality prepares them, but they should be subjected to some kind of revision by the higher financial authorities that review them and make the necessary amendments according to the financial conditions and the urgent priorities for the projects in the country that are presented by the ministries and the other governmental authorities. |