Muscat Municipal Council holds its 7th meeting for 2024

Muscat: The Municipal Council of Muscat Governorate reviewed today, during its seventh meeting this year, chaired by His Excellency Sayyid Saud bin Hilal Al Busaidi, Governor of Muscat – Chairman of the Municipal Council – a number of topics on its agenda, including: Ratifying the minutes of the sixth Municipal Council meeting.

He also reviewed the outcomes of the meetings of its permanent committees, and the outcomes of the Governorate Development and Improvement Committee regarding the request to lease agricultural land plots for workers’ housing units in the Wilayat of Muscat, and the recurring malfunctions in the water network in the Wilayat of Muttrah, while stressing the need for alternative plans and continuous shifts in the event of crises (the support line), with the importance of effective communication with citizens and notifying them of periods of water outage.

The Council reviewed the outcomes of the meeting of the Legal Affairs Committee regarding the requirements for practicing the activity of a shisha café included in the draft regulations for regulating smoking in public places, the activity of selling tobacco or its products or derivatives and tools, and the activity of providing shisha.

The Committee added a number of requirements that would contribute to addressing some violations in a way that ensures compliance with the applicable regulations.

The Council approved the recommendations of the Health and Environmental Affairs Committee regarding mesquite trees in Muscat Governorate and the necessary measures to combat their spread in cooperation with the competent authority in conjunction with the pillar of Oman Vision 2040 – preserving a sustainable environment – which aims to protect humans from harmful environmental impacts.

In this regard, Hamad bin Marhoon Al Siyabi, Chairman of the Health and Environmental Affairs Committee, reviewed the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources to combat mesquite trees in Muscat Governorate at the committee’s sixth meeting, explaining the challenges related to removing this type of tree, the most prominent of which is the difficulty of getting rid of these trees due to their rapid growth and impact on the surrounding environment, which requires the concerted efforts of all to reduce their severity.

During the meeting, the Council discussed a number of letters received from some government agencies, including the response of Muscat Municipality regarding dam projects in Muscat Governorate, which included a specialized working group concerned with studying the establishment of protection channels and dams on some valleys in the governorate to ward off the risks of floods in the future, the response of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources regarding the issue of odors emanating from the fertilizer production plant (Kala) and the Al-Multaqa landfill in the Wilayat of Al-Amerat, the response of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning regarding the creation of plots of land in some wilayats in the governorate, and the results of the opinion poll to evaluate the performance of municipal councils by citizens in order to achieve the principle of community participation that aims to improve work and advance society.