Muscat Municipality reviews the domains of the Ministry of Information, the proposed solutions to the problem of parking in Muttrah, and studies re-regulating the activity of collecting and circulating scrap
The municipal council of the governorate of Muscat briefed the terms and domains of the Ministry of Information and services which are provided in news agency, the artistic workbooks, Press and Publication, and the facilities for radio and television through the visual display presented by HE Ali bin Khalfan al-Jabri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information before in the Council at its fifth meeting this year. HE Eng. Mohsen bin Mohammed Al-Sheikh, President of the municipal Council of the Governorate of Muscat headed the council, the statement addressed the terms and domains of the Ministry of Information, its organizational structure, the services of Oman news agency, the services of artistic workbooks services, press and publications services, the works of the evaluation committee to journals and governmental publications, the services of private enterprises for Radio and television.
The statement also addressed the end of implementation stages to the government`s plan for the digitization, which implements on three stages phases; the first and second phases aim to convert the internal work environment to the electronic environment. The first stage ended on 06/01/2014, counted and documented the services, work procedures and the launch of e-office for the employee which contains the mail system, vacations system, the decisions of official duties, the notification of ministerial, administrative decisions and advertisements, the schedules of working hours, salary certificates, certificates to whom it may concern, and the performance indicators.
The systems are being received in the second phase included:
• Stores and procurement system, human resources, legal affairs, maintenance projects, and transportation system, also the application for smart phones and tablets to the e- office will be launched for the ministry`s employees.
• The third phase (processing) converted all the provided services in the ministry to complementary e- services for the external beneficiary (with the other ministries Systems). This phase will be available via the ministry`s website, smart phones applications and tablets; it will be completed with the end of this year 2016.
The council has approved its recommendations to a number of proposed topics at its previous meeting; the most prominent is regulating an activity of for collecting and circulating scrap in the presence of representatives from several governmental bodies. On this issue, Mr. Yahya bin Mohammed Al-Ameri, the council member and representative of Seeb state noted that the organization of this activity is conducted to ensure the practice of those who charge of it with any actions may cause disturbing for the residential neighborhoods. The current system permits the practice of collecting and circulating scrap in the residential neighborhoods at certain times daily, so the visions held by the Council go towards the importance of coordination with Muscat Municipality to intensify controlling the roaming of car scrap in the governorate of Muscat by General Directorate`s inspectors of Muscat Municipality States.
In addition to the coordination with law agencies to rewrite the local order no. (1/2009) on the regulation of collecting and circulating scrap in the governorate of Muscat consistent with the directives of Council in this context to avoid any excesses may occur. The Council also reviewed the last outcomes of its recommendation on the establishment of slaughterhouse in Qurayyat state. In this aspect, Mr. Saeed bin Khalfan Al-Balushi, the Council member and representative of Qurayyat state saw that it is appropriate to re-examine the Public Affairs Committee, and finding a slaughterhouse to meet the future needs.
About the proposal of the Ministry of Manpower on the reconsideration of stopping the permission to recruit Non-Omani workforce temporarily in some activities, Muzaffar bin Mohammed Al-Wahaibi, Council Member and representative of Al-Amerat state clarified that at a time when the Ministry of Housing started distributing industrial schemes, the investors and owners of industrial land established industrial activities. They faced many challenges; the most important is the temporary stop imposed by the Ministry of Manpower to the expatriate labor for some industrial activities. So the Council should stand on the reasons of the temporary stop, as well as its duration which has an impact on a lot of small and medium enterprises, and its activating role in the industrial areas in an orderly manner.
During the meeting, a number of topics recommendations are adopted and discussed by the Public Affairs Committee during its fourth meeting; most notably is discussing the current situation of parking in Muttrah because the state is witnessing an active commercial movement multiplied in Feasts and holiday seasons, besides its prominent location for tourists. This matter requires addressing the urgent need to find additional situations, so the Council proposed the possibility to subtract the building of Alshageya market for investing or reconstructing.
In the same context, the recommendations of the industrial crawling on the housing scheme in Al-Misfah town has also adopted in the Council which stressed the importance of having the final status of compensation for the families affected by the crawl. Besides the recommendation concerning to unify the dyes colors for homes that have built by the government for those affected by bad climate, and the importance of studying waiting rooms in the public parking.
The most prominent recommendations for the committee of Health and Social Affairs at its second meeting are concerning to follow-up the projects of (Haya) Company with a view to extend the sewerage network in the governorate of Muscat and discuss its obstacles and challenges . The committee stressed the necessity to increase the number of sewage suction tanks as a temporary solution to the problem of rash and leaks. The committee also recommended the priority is for the most affected regions that have not yet connected by the network, as well as regulating the use of loudspeakers at events in the residential neighborhoods and farms.
In another aspect, the Council reviewed a range of topics transmitted to the competent committees to discuss and take the appropriate recommendations about them; the most important is the exploratory study for the visitors of Muscat Festival about its activities and provided services prepared by the institution (Afaq for statistical consulting) under the supervision of Statistics and Evaluation committee of Muscat Festival 2016, the draft Regulations for Child Law issued by Royal Decree (22/2014), the study of general situation to Muttrah market by encouraging craft trades, and a regulation of proposed conditions for touristic naval propulsion and marine sports.