times of oman - march 13, 2016
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Founded 1975 . Volume 41 No. | Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group
March 13, 2016 4 Jumada Al Thani 1437 AH
SUNDAY
17 40
At The Opening of The Annual Session of the Council of Oman, 2009
FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN
A bright future of progress and growth, happiness and prosperity can only be built through a high level of determination, sustained commitment and patience, diligence and perseverance. We are confident that the sons and daughters of Oman enjoy more than their fair share of those noble qualities.
‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’
A4
Meet the blind cat celebrity in Oman
REGIONNo discussion on presidency at talks
2The Syrian government on Saturday ruled out discussion of presidential
elections or the position of the presidency at peace talks due to begin on Monday, saying the opposition was deluded if thought it could take power in Geneva. >A7
BUSINESSFunding for Liwa Plastics completed
3State-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries
Company (Orpic) said that the company has closed its Liwa Plastics Industries Complex’s $3.8 billion project financing facility for its $6.5 billion project. >B1
OMANCall made for a lasting solution to flash floods
1Urgent action should be taken to find a lasting solution to the problem of
flash floods, which emerges every time it rains in Muscat, a member of the Municipal Council of the Governorate of Muscat said, echoing the concerns of residents in affected areas.>A2
T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S
Release fee demand on workers ‘illegal’
REJIMON K FAHAD AL GHADANI reji@timesofoman.com fahadnews@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: A black market in ‘release fees’ demanded by some employers to transfer domestic workers to new employers inside Oman is illegal, an official from the Ministry of Manpower.
The so called ‘release’ money is requested either to provide a No Objection Certificate or when employers are asked to sign the transfer of sponsorship, the final step after formalities such as police clearances have been completed.
“It’s not an acceptable prac-tice. It is illegal. Employers can transfer a domestic worker but money should not be involved in the process,” the official said.
‘It’s illegal’A legal expert in Oman also con-firmed it was unlawful and said those affected could speak out, “It’s illegal. If the domestic worker feels to challenge it, then she can approach the labour dispute de-partment and the court,” the legal expert added.
The ministry official agreed that domestic workers could chal-
lenge their employers if they felt they were being unfairly treated.
“If there is a dispute, even though the domestic worker doesn’t fall under labour law, he or she can approach for assistance from the government side to settle the issue,” the official added.
To bring in a domestic worker through a recruitment agent it will cost around OMR1,250 for a Filipino worker and OMR800 for Bangladeshi worker. To bring a domestic worker from India, a bank deposit of OMR1,100 has to be made by the employer.
One recruitment agency de-
scribed the charging of ‘release’ money as a common practice.
Recruitment agency“If an employer has to hire a Fili-pino domestic worker locally, then he has to pay at least OMR1,250 if he has brought the domestic worker through a recruitment agency. It’s a common practice in Oman,” a Muscat-based recruit-ment agency official said.
“As he has shelled out that amount to bring in a domestic worker, he will demand that mon-ey, even though it’s illegal,” the re-cruitment agent added. >A6
Employers can
transfer a domestic
worker but money
should not be
involved in the
process. It’s not an
acceptable practice.
It is illegal, said
an official from
the Ministry of
Manpower
New eight digit mobile numbers to begin with ‘seven’ RAHUL DASrahuldas@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: If you get a call from a mobile number starting with ‘7’, don’t be surprised.
The Telecommunications Reg-ulatory Authority (TRA) of Oman has allowed service providers to allot 8-digit numbers starting with ‘7’.
Reason: A swelling subscriber pool and an increasing number of service providers.
Pre-empting a crunch, the TRA has allowed telecom operators to allot numbers beginning with ‘7’.
Second major changeConfirming this, Hamdan Moosa Al Harasi, acting vice-president (Corporate Strategy) at Omantel, said that this would be the sec-ond major change in the num-bering plan after the full over-haul that occurred in 2004/2005 when mobile numbers where changed from 7 digits to 8 digits and fixed numbers from 6 digits to 8 digits.
Thanking TRA for this initia-tive which will ensure operators ability to meet the rapid growth in mobile subscribers, Al Harasi
said that this change will not have an impact on the existing num-bers, nor the services offered to customers. “We will communi-cate the introduction of the new range soon and we are already working closely with TRA to ensure smooth transition to the new range,” he said.
Chief Commercial Officer at Ooredoo, Johan Buse, said that the management of new num-bers is controlled by the TRA under their national numbering plan initiative. “Since the start of that plan, all mobile numbers issued began with ‘9’. However, the majority of these numbers have now been used up and so the TRA has implemented a new numbering series beginning with ‘7’. “These new numbers will be allocated to operators by the TRA and of course, we will be communicating to the public on the availability of these num-bers in due course. We will also plan some exciting offers around this new allocation, which we will communicate via our me-dia channels in the coming few weeks” added Johan Buse.
TRA officials were, however, were not available for comments.
T E L E C O M N U M B E R I N G P L A N
Times News Service
MUSCAT: It’s time to see sharp young minds back in action. The Times of Oman Inter School Quiz Contest (TOOISQC), which has now become an iconic event for children across schools in Oman, is slated to take place on April 21, 2016, at the City Amphitheatre, Qurum, from 7pm onwards. This is the time of the year all the students start reading much more, and schools in Oman start looking forward to grab the limelight, vying for the coveted Essa Bin Mohammed Al Zadjali Best School Rolling Trophy.
The school quiz will be held in three stages, including qualifying rounds, mega pre-lims and the grand finale.
The qualifying rounds for schools will be held at six dif-ferent centres, according to the geographical proximity of the schools. >A6
E V E N T
Oman gardener targets Guinness record book entryMOBIN MATHEW BLESSONmobinmathew@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: For Mohammed Shakeel gardening is not a hob-by, but a passion, which makes him happy, healthy and active.
Today, the Times of Oman (TOO) is featuring Shakeel, who has transformed his home into a vegetable garden, in its #Oman-Pride campaign.
“I have loved nature and plants since childhood,” Sha-keel, who has worked at the Di-wan of Royal court for 37 years told TOO.
Matchless characteristicsHe recently grew a type of pumpkin called the bottle gourd with some matchless character-istics in his garden.
“When I cut it, it weighed 9.5 kilograms and it was lengthy too,” he said.
Right now, Shakeel is plan-ning to approach the Guinness World Record officials to enter into the record book with this exceptional bottle gourd.
“Gardening helps me to spend my leisure time nowadays, it makes me happy and also gives us healthy organic vegetables,” Shakeel said.
Speaking about how he got into gardening, Shakeel said
“During my childhood I used to sow seeds in small containers and enjoyed seeing them grow with curiosity.”
Indoor plants“When I grew up I started planting plenty of indoor plants and arranged them all over my house and later started roof gardening. I have cultivated various kinds of vegetables in wooden boxes on my roof gar-den,” Shakeel added.
According to Shakeel, he had to sweat it out to make this land amenable for cultivation.
“When I came here (Wadi Ka-bir), this was an area with full of stone; I have to put lot of effort to convert this land into an agri-cultural area,” he said.
“I always find time to take care of my garden during my busy schedule and whatever I have sown has been accepted by the soil and it has paid me back for my hard work,” he said. >A6
O R G A N I C V E G E T A B L E S
VITAL NUMBERSMinistry of Manpower
80077000
Indian embassy 968 24695981 968 24684536 968 92769735
Philippine embassy 968 9988-5073
Philippine Overseas Labour Office (POLO)
968 9355-7931
Bangladesh embassy 968 24 698660
Nepal embassy 968 24 696177
Times quiz contest to be held on April 21
MORNING MINUTE
REJIMON K FAHAD AL GHADANI
MUSCAT: Social network-ing sites should not be used to hire domestic workers, an official from the Ministry of Manpower said.
“It’s illegal to put adver-tisements to hire and fire a domestic worker in Oman on social media networking sites,” the official added.
Recently, social media platforms, especially Face-book pages and groups, have
now become marketplaces to subvert the role of recruit-ment agencies for hiring a domestic worker.
Cross-border recruitmentThese groups are country specific, but also provide cross-border recruitment, bypassing certain morato-riums in place throughout the GCC. These groups and pages demonstrate that bans do little to protect workers, and in fact make them more vulnerable. >A6
Unlawful to hire domestic workers on social media sites
A2 S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
OMAN
Despite the eco-nomic slowdown Oman is currently experiencing, the country still has
the ability to create thousands of jobs per year but employers are faced with the problem of finding the right match for the available vacancies.
The job mismatch prevents employers from finding the right candidates they are look-ing for. Successful employment entirely depends when skills meet the job requirements. Difficulties in finding the right job match frustrates employers as well as job seekers.
Many companies would tell you that they advertise the same jobs a number of times because they do not find the right candidates to fit in. This is across the board in every sector, whether technical jobs are involved or administra-tive. The mismatch problem also spans job categories rang-ing from the relatively low skilled to highly specialised ones in both the private and public sectors.
AttitudeThe second problem is the attitude of applicants. This is not confined to a particular age group. However, the young applicants are more prone
than older job seekers. Young Omanis in their twenties, es-pecially first time job seekers, have misplaced expectations. In other words, they are very selective when it comes to which jobs they want.
Their expectations often do not match job availability. They often apply for jobs are not suited to their skills. They shun positions that match their background because the jobs on the offer are “be-neath” them.
Some companies even complain that young Omanis simply have unrealistic expec-tations about the jobs on offer to the point of arrogance.
These are the jobs that stay vacant for quite a long time not because the right skills are not available but people with the right skills to fill them do not want the jobs. Needless to say that attitude affects the recruitment process.
According to the Ministry of Manpower records, about 12,000 new positions are reg-istered every year but only 52 percent are filled.
For example, graduates are reluctant to make compro-mises. They are not willing to make adjustments to slightly deviate from what they studied in universities.
Shift work is another fac-tor graduates try to avoid. Furthermore, they will not accept jobs that involve travelling or accept positions away from Muscat.
Employers also find trouble matching the financial expec-tations of job seekers, whether experienced or new applicants. This is particularly true in the private sector.
Omanis still prefer to work for the government because the starting salaries are higher than what offered in the com-panies. For example, while the private employers offer OMR700 for graduates the government offers OMR900, which is about a third higher.
Skills issueWhen they could land the right skills for the positions, employ-ers find it difficult to keep its talents onboard for long. A few years experience in the work place is enough to make young Omanis restless. They move on to leave the gap behind.
Between 2011 and 2015, the civil service and government’s organisations have created more jobs than the private sec-tor. It looks good on paper but the realities are different. Most of these jobs were created not to match the skills of appli-cants but for the sake of getting Omanis out of the streets.
This is where the private companies now find hard to follow. It has also sent a wrong message to Omanis that ‘you don’t have to fit the require-ment to get the job you are looking for.’
As a result, graduates still wait to join the government workforce instead of taking whatever is available in the private sector.
For the working Omanis, they apply for a job in the pub-lic sector the moment one is advertised. The graduates who wait create a backlog of job seekers even when positions are available.
The experienced staff leav-ing their jobs for the govern-ment posts compounds the problem of talent recruitment in companies. It has become a silent vicious circle. It is all now blamed to lower oil prices but the realities are far from this.
In conclusion, the Ministry of Manpower can testify that there are jobs available but Omanis job seekers must lower their expectations and change their attitudes.
The job matching the private sector is looking for is not about what certificate one holds or experience but the willingness to make a little sacrifice and an effort to fit into the workplace.
The vacancy-skills mismatchCOMMENTARY
SALEH AL SHAIBANY
SUNDAYBEAT
H AV E YOU R SAY AT T W I T T E R.CO M /T I M ES O F O M A N O R S CA N T H E CO D E TO I N STA N T LY P O ST YOU R T H O U G H TS .
Call for lasting solution to flash floods in Muscat
ERIK PRINSerik@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: Urgent action should be taken to find a lasting solution to the problem of flash floods, which emerges every time it rains in Mus-cat, a member of the Municipal Council of the Governorate of Mus-cat said, echoing the concerns of residents in affected areas.
Ali Al Maashari, member of the Municipal Council representing Al Amerat, said there is a strategy in place to avoid flooding in Mus-cat, but not enough funds are avail-able to implement it.
“The funds directed at the Mu-nicipality are not sufficient to implement all of the plans to con-struct drainage facilities for wadis (valleys). Since Muscat has no overlapping system of drainage, we call on the government to pro-vide enough funds,” he said.
Al Maashari explained that the strategy included the building of dams in sensitive areas, three of which have already been built; one in Al Amerat, one in Quriyat and
one in Al Khoudh. However, about 20 more dams are planned.
“The cost of this strategy is very high and not enough funds are available to the municipality, al-though the construction of dams is the responsibility of the Ministry of Water Resources,” he pointed out.
Another part of the strategy is constructing drainage channels in severely affected areas, such as Al Ghubra North.
“They have started working there, but it will take several years to complete and for residents to see the results,” he said.
Al Maashari called for urgent action. “The Municipal Council urges the government and Muscat Municipality to speed up the im-plementation of the plan to con-struct drainage channels in the areas that are always affected by the flooding of wadis, as well as to construct a sewage system. There will be great risk in the future if the water is not directed,” he said.
Residents of Al Ghubra North have also complained on social media about the delay in finding a solution to this problem.
“The thing is that there is no strategy to solve the problem, such as a special committee to protect those affected and finding solu-tions,” a Twitter user said.
Another user said Oman should learn from other countries where a lot of rain is common. “Why don’t we learn from other coun-tries? There are countries that receive rain, such as this through-out the year,” he added. “We really want urgent action to be taken to solve the problem of flooding in Al Ghubra,” someone else said.
Meanwhile, the Muscat Mu-nicipality is recounting its efforts to confront the problem of flood-ing, without elaborating on any wider plan.
An official from the Muscat Mu-nicipality told the Times of Oman that the Municipality had received around 150 reports of disturbance caused by the flooding during the past few days, including overflow-ing of water channels, collapse of trees, electricity cuts, and holes and cracks in the ground.
“The Municipality immediately took action in these cases,” he said.
According to a press release is-sued by the Muscat Municipal-ity, it has intensified efforts to deal with the flooding of streets and overflowing drainage channels. It has also constructed water drain-age channels along the main roads and in central areas to absorb large quantities of water.
Technical teams have started cleaning drainage channels and removing dirt from the streets.
The press release reported that Mohsin bin Mohammed Al Sheikh, chairman of Muscat Municipality, has instructed all directorates and departments of the municipality to be “fully prepared to confront the consequences of the rain, avoiding any harm to inhabitants and private and public property.”
He had also visited a number of affected wilayats within Muscat on Thursday, including Al Ghubra and Al Amerat.
“That’s only for the image and not to find solutions. Every year, we have to face these problems and we don’t see any solutions,” a resi-dent complained.
The Muscat Municipality has urged every citizen to be extra careful during unstable weather conditions.
“People should refrain from venturing out into the water, driv-ing in flash floods and speeding. They should also be extra careful in mountainous areas and near lamp posts,” the official said.
There is a strategy
in place to avoid
flooding in Muscat,
but not enough funds
to implement it, said
a Municipal Council
member Ali Al
Maashari
The funds directed at the Municipality are not
sufficient to implement all of the plans to construct
drainage facilities for wadis (valleys)
Ali Al Maashari, Municipal Council member
A3
OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
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More than 635,000 new vehicles registered in five yearsMUSCAT: Economic growth in the Sultanate in the past five years has led to the recovery of the purchase and sale of the automobile sector.
Statistics prepared by Oman News Agency (ONA) indicated that the total number of new vehicles that have been reg-istered for the first time dur-ing the past five years stood at more than 635,000.
Private cars accounted for 74.1 per cent of the total.
The Sultanate witnessed dur-ing the past five years good eco-nomic growth.
The new jobs that have been created along with the salary increases led to improved liv-ing standards, which led to an increase in demand for the acquisition of new cars. The economic growth has led to an increase in the number of new commercial vehicles and the re-covery of the car-renting, taxis and driving school sectors.
The new commercial vehi-cles that have been registered in the last five years accounted for 17.9 per cent of the total number of new vehicles, with 114,000 vehicles, rental cars occupied the third place with 23,000 cars, with 3.6 per cent and government vehicles came in fourth place with 13,000 ve-hicles, representing two per cent of the total number of vehi-cles, followed by taxis that have been registered for the first time during the past five years with seven thousand cars, and driv-ing school cars 964 cars.
2014 saw the highest num-ber of registered new vehicles, with more than 143,000 vehi-cles. The last year saw the low-est number at 109,000 vehicles, despite marketing efforts and presentations made by the car agencies and showrooms and the efforts by banks and finance companies.
The rise in the number of pri-vate cars that have been regis-tered for the first time in 2014, stood at 111,000 coincided with the unification of grades and salaries for the civil sector em-ployees, put into action in Janu-ary 2014, which led to higher levels of salaries in the public sector.
The economic recovery in the Sultanate during the past five years had contributed to the improvement in salary levels in the private sector.
As from the first of July 2013, the minimum salary in the private sector rose to OMR325 instead of OMR200 a month, which reflected positively on the purchasing power and had also contributed to the recovery of many economic sectors. -ONA
E C O N O M I C G R O W T H
HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.com
2,600 YEAR OLD ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE Discovery of a 2,600 year old archaeological site in the Wilayat of Adam was announced by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture yesterday. It is a complex 15 metres in length and 8 metres in width located on the edge of the Jabal Midhmar mountain overlooking the desert, the ministry said. -ONA
A4 S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
OMANHealthier barbeque initiative in Sohar
TARIQ ZIAD AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com
SOHAR: Barbeques have long been a popular feast globally and Oman is no exception. Young Omanis can be seen flocking on the sides of roads barbequing sticks of meat and chicken for passersby for only a small fee per stick.
The Sohar Municipality has therefore taken an initiative to provide barbeque stalls, which will be funded and supported by Jusoor. The locals can use these barbeques, which will ease the need for ‘chefs’ to take their equipment every night for the barbeque.
The stalls will be fitted with an electrical outlet to provide them with adequate lighting, a fan, grill and an exhaust for the smoke.
“Their presence was spontane-ous and the tables and grills were not compliant to health stand-ards. It also affected the image of the wilayat,” said Khali Al Dhah-ri, head of Marketing at the Sohar Municipality said.
The stalls will undergo regular inspections by the Health Affairs department at the municipality and will be monitored constantly.
“We would ensure the safety of the products used, as well as the validity of their medical cards,” explained Al Dhahri.
Those who wish to operate barbeque stalls must undergo
medical examinations to en-sure that they are free from contagious diseases, as well as obtain prior approval from the municipality.
Commenting on the feed-back he had received, Al Dhah-ri explained that many of these vendors were positive and the idea had been accepted by the community.
“A while ago, some people came to us from surrounding wilayats, wanting to take permission for such stalls. Unfortunately for them, we don’t have jurisdiction in the other wilayats only in So-har,” said Al Dhahri.
So far, there 26 stalls have been found in Sohar and are operated daily by Omani youth, with plans to install more in the coming future.
Sohar Municipality has taken an initiative
to provide barbeque stalls fitted with an
electrical outlet for adequate lighting, a
fan, a grill and an exhaust for smoke. The
municipal health authorities will regularly
check them
Moet, the blind cat who is a social media celebrity and lives in luxury HASAN SHABAN AL LAWATIhassan@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: She is probably more popular and enjoys a more exciting social life than any of us.
Meet Moet, the blind cat, who is sharing her lavish lifestyle after Internet users in Oman fell in love with her. (The writer imagines the answers coming from the cat while talking to her owner)
Question: Tell us about yourself.Answer: I was either born here in a pet shop’s cage or shipped in from a neighbouring country, am not too sure about that.
But I was in the pet shop’s cage from the time I was a young kit-ten and unfortunately I got cat flu. Nobody at the pet shop seemed to care and they just left me in my cage with very little food and water and no bed, no toys, nothing. I got sicker and nobody ever came to check on me or treat my illness.
A lot of time passed and I got sicker and sicker. Eventually, the bright colours and things I saw started to go fuzzy and one day I woke up and there were only shad-ows and light. It wasn’t too long af-ter that I could see only darkness. I had now been in that cage for al-most a year and I was just resigned to finding eternal sleep in that cage as nobody wanted me and there was nobody to care for me.
Then, very suddenly I was res-cued by a lady and taken to a clinic. Although, I wasn’t in a good state, they were very kind to me. I had food, a soft bed, love and cuddles and most importantly, they re-moved my decaying eyes to save my life.
I’d only been in the vet’s for a week and still had stitches from my surgery, when another lady, (my mother) appeared from no-where. She spoke to me in a very kind voice and stroked my cheek and said “Yes, I’ll take her.”
Q: Is Emily (your owner) taking good care of you? A: Oh yes, she’s definitely my BFF. She spoils me rotten, but so she should. I have so many toys and I keep forgetting which one is my favourite. Mum even ordered me a custom made cat tree, which looks like a real tree. Even though it is 6 feet 6 inches, I can climb all the way to the top. I do like to climb... some-times a bit too much says mum.
I love to sleep next to mum’s pil-low at night and to squeak at her
incessantly to play when she’s try-ing to watch TV. I also like to walk across her laptop at inopportune moments and it’s a bonus if it shuts down or the screen goes funny.
Q: Tell us about your fan base and their most frequently asked questions.A: I started my Twitter account last June and I now have more than 5,300 followers. I just love my Twitter buddies and we have great fun, posting the usual vide-os and pictures, but also going on virtual trips, ‘pawtying’ together and we even send each other gifts and cards. I got 12 cards and six gifts from my friends in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom for Christmas and I’ve even had a few other gifts... just because.
On Twitter, I even acquired two ‘beaus’ last year and they send me Valentines requests. Now I must tell you, I’m a lady of principle and am only faithful to my beaus; Basil from the U.K. and Otis from Canada. So, despite a few requests, I shall only be their Valentine. Be-ing only three years old, I’ve never had a Valentine before and I’m not sure what to expect, but I’m very
excited. Maybe I can update you on how my ‘dates’ go.
The most asked question is defi-nitely “how do you get around?” But I just tell them to go to my YouTube channel and check out the video called “Ping Pong.” I think it surprises a lot of fans; I get around just like a ‘normal’ cat and I’ve learned my mum’s place by heart, so I never bump into things. Well, except when I’m having ‘mad half hour’ and rush around at top speed, bouncing and jumping at everything (including mum’s or-naments, whoops!).
Q: Is it true that your merchandise is being sold overseas?A: I have an online store set up on my website: www.moetblindcat.com and I have so far had around 13 orders, not only from Oman, but also from the U.S., Canada, U.K. and France. I’m super-excit-ed that my merchandise is being seen overseas!
Q: Why did social media fall in love
with Moet?A: I think it’s because I’m a com-plete character, as well as being blind. I also do the craziest things at times, which you can see from my Twitter photos. Mum tells me I’m rather cute too, but hey, I’m not vain and I never look in the mir-ror! I also make sure to interact with my friends and fans as much as possible and although I have a few ‘closer’ friends on social me-dia, I like to reach out to all. I like to make people smile and laugh, as well as offer them a friendly paw.
Q: What about your future plans? Will you go back to being a ‘normal’ cat someday?A: Me, normal? Never! I’m a one-of-a-kind character, who is happy, happy, happy and loves everybody. I shall maybe work on my diva status a little, but I reckon I could never be ‘normal.’
Twitter: https://twitter.com/
moetblindcatFacebook: https://www.face-
book.com/MoetBlindCat/?hc_location=ufi
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Qz3jAgQRi-10D6ACZzRONg
Website: http://www.moet-blindcat.com/index.html
L I F E
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CHARMED LIFE: Moet, the blind cat does not want to be normal
ever. She is happy being herself and loving everyone. – Supplied photo
We would ensure the safety of the products used,
as well as the validity of their medical cards
Khali Al Dhahri, Marketing Head, Sohar Municipality
A5
OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
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Parents vital in curbing juvenile delinquency
TARIQ AL HAREMItariqh@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: Parents in Oman need to very watchful to help curb ju-venile delinquency, and while juvenile crimes have registered a slight decrease, the issue remains a major concern for the society as a whole, said an expert dealing with the subject.
Juvenile criminal activity is often associated with psychologi-cal factors that trigger negative behaviour, with the living envi-ronment and parents topping the list of reasons, according to the Founder of Whispers Serenity and Psychotherapist, Her High-ness Sayyida Basma Al Said.
According to a publication issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) on January 18, entitled, “Our Children: A Statistical Vi-sion,” crimes committed by juve-niles decreased by 42.4 per cent in 2014, compared with 2010. 97 per cent these juveniles in 2014 were male.
There were 259 juvenile crimes reported in 2014, reflecting a nearly 58 per cent drop from 450 in 2010. A total 252 were male and 7 were female in 2014, compared with 435 males and 15 females.
The term ‘juvenile’ only ap-plies to children aged between nine and 17 years, where if crimes were committed according to the Oman Penal Code, adult punish-ment will not be applied, but re-habilitation and consultation.
Al Said stated that the environ-ment in which the children live can contribute to them becom-ing juvenile criminals assuming it is negative. Where they grew up and how they grew up, as well as methods used to raise them, could affect the child, including the physical environment of the
house they lived in.Children follow their parents’
actions that can influence a child to behave criminally, such as be-ing abusive to each other, abusing drugs and/or alcohol or their par-ents being divorced.
Difficult economic situations are also a trigger where the fam-ily does not get much income and the child then develops a habit of thievery.
Children are also often at the receiving end of physical abuse, which tempts them to become violent and mischievous enough to break the law.
“Usually when children get abused, they become abusers. They sometimes become bullies or worse,” she stated.
Role of environmentShe also stressed that children absorb the information they see depending on their environ-ment and enact them during their daily life. “For example, in a nursery you can see a little child beating the other and you think he’s just a little kid, how and why does he do it? It is because of what he sees at home and doesn’t know how to express his feelings,” she explained.
Al Said added, “As they grow into their teens, they become very angry inside. Some teens can deal with it and others cannot; so they find themselves in trouble most of the time, taking drugs and stealing.” She also added that some juveniles have been living in good conditions but commit such criminal acts to seek attention.
“When they don’t get the atten-tion they need from their parents and their parents are always out or at work, they easily fall into this as a way to seek attention,” Al Said noted. Robbery cases are the most
common among the juveniles and have decreased to 47.5 per cent of the total percentage of crimes in 2014, compared with 56.4 percent in 2010. Inflicting harm followed with 38.2 per cent, drug abuse with 8.5 per cent and other crimes with 5.8 per cent.
According to NCSI, about a quarter of all crimes against indi-viduals were committed in North Al Batinah, while Muscat led with most indirect crimes (drug abuse), pegged at 59 per cent.
The Royal Oman Police (ROP) said that when an official re-ceives a report about a juvenile, he acts according to the Juvenile Accountability Act, which was promulgated by Royal Decree 30/2008. According to the law, if a juvenile is caught, they should be referred back to their parents, guardian, relative or foster parent that can take care of the child or in worst case scenarios, to Juvenile Care Centres.
Scolding the child and prevent-ing him or her from going to a specific place or preventing them from breaking the law by making them work on something. “We need to understand why this is happening. There must be some-thing, it can’t happen without a reason,” Al Said stated, adding that parents and children need to talk to one another to get to the root of the problem and solve it.
When asked for advice on how parents should deal with their children before they develop a criminal nature, Al Said ex-plained that she receives parents and out-of-control children at her clinic, “We sit with the parents and child separately (and listen to their story), then we’ll analyse the child through tests and work with him and tell the parents how to deal with the child. It’s a process.”
Children follow their
parents’ actions
that can influence
a child to behave
criminally, such as
being abusive to
each other
BUS FIRE DOUSED Public Authority for Civil
Defence and Ambulance
(PACDA) personnel put off
fire on a passenger bus
in Quasiaba Al Zaab area.
Nobody was injured in the
fire. – PACDA picture
Ferries traffic registers rise of 24 per cent
MUSCAT: Until the end of Feb-ruary 2016 the number of pas-sengers using the ferries grew by 24 per cent, compared to the corresponding period in 2015.
The statistics issued by the National Ferries Company (NFC) pointed out that the number of passengers crossed the 37,000 passengers mark, while vehicles transportation registered a growth by 19 per cent during the same period.
The monthly bulletin issued by NFC showed that the num-ber of passengers transported by the company’s fleet dur-ing February this year stood at 37,566, compared to 30,328 during February 2015.
The number of vehicles shipped during February 2016 stood at 8,898 compared to 7,476 vehicles during the same period in 2015.
The cargo volume also in-creased through the company’s fleet during February this year to reach 5,260 tons compared to 786 tons during the same period in 2015. -ONA
N F C
IMPRESSIONABLE: The environment in which the children live
can contribute to them becoming juvenile criminals assuming it
is negative.
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OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
So far we don’t have any official programme to
prepare our students for the competitive exams, but in
the near future we will implement some programmes
Wilson V. George, Chairman, Board of Directors
Workers rights should be protected
Saud Salmi, a trade union leader in Oman who focuses on domes-tic workers’ rights, said that these kind of exploitative measures will result in bonded labour system.
“Whatever the exploitative condition it may be, NOC and re-lease letter, will force a domestic workers to stick on to the same employer. Domestic worker hiring system should be changed. Work-ers should be given right to change the employer,” Saud Salmi, added.
Rothna Begum, a women’s rights researcher on the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, said that the re-quirement that domestic workers must have the permission of their employer before they can transfer to a new employer enables em-ployers to become abusive as they have a huge amount of control over their worker.
“In addition, this system also enables employers to require that the new employer pay them ex-orbitant amounts of money to a “release” their worker, can also be exploitative,” Rothna said while adding that such conditions can provide for forced labour condi-tions which is against interna-tional labour standards.
Nature of KafalaVani Saraswathi, associate edi-tor at MigrantRights, said that the very nature of Kafala in its current form is commodification of people and in the case of do-mestic workers this commodifi-cation is augmented even further as they are not covered under the labour law.
“They are completely at the mercy of their Kafeel/sponsor. We have also seen how this sponsor-ship arrangement is a business model for many, where they allow their workers to take up freelance work for an annual fee,” Vani said.
“The sponsor feels they own the worker and hence deserve to be paid for a release is telling. However, GCC states seem deter-mined to not recognise how the current labor management sys-tem facilitates human trafficking,” Vani added.
R E L E A S E M O N E Y
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An undying passion for gardeningAccording to him, the fruits and vegetables grown in his garden are used by his family friends and neighbours.
“I export dates, mangoes and chikku to my relatives in Al Ain, Dubai, Jeddah and Riyadh,” Shakeel said.
Vegetables, such as onion, rad-ish, spinach, lady finger, green chilly etc. and fruits, such as ap-ple, mangoes, chikku, banana, tamarind dates, grapes etc. are cultivated in his garden.
Shakeel said to develop a pas-sion for gardening, the first and foremost thing is that you should have an interest.
“First we need to have an in-terest, be ready to work hard in the initial stages, we must love nature and plants, and must be curious to gain knowledge about fertilisers, seeds, and the process of growing it,” Shakeel said.
“You should also be prepared to spend some money as well, if you like to get into this hobby,” he added.
He also said that many people walking in front of his house took pictures and this made him happy
and proud. “I use only organic fer-tilisers in my garden, so my prod-ucts are better than what we get outside,” Shakeel asserted.
He also thanked the Muscat Municipality for maintaining a beautiful lawn in front of his house.
O R G A N I C F A R M I N G
Hiring of domestic workers
Discussions include “visa trans-fers”, “part-time”, “maid-sharing”, “live-in” and “live-out” and a whole host of other ways of navi-gating the narrow and difficult path of hiring and housing a do-mestic worker.
According to Vani Saraswathi, associate editor at MigrantRights, recruitment on social media can easily slide into the sale and trade of women, made all the more pos-sible by kafala — or sponsorship-based — labour management.
“No doubt these pages and groups provide a much-needed space for employment mobility and flexibility that the broken re-cruitment industry and the strict sponsorship system lack.
“But bypassing broken regu-lations and systems still leaves workers in an unprotected space. GCC states should recognise that the element of choice in this kind of recruitment, for both employ-ers and workers, needs a place in the legal framework,” Vani fur-ther added.
I S S U E
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ORGANIC VEGETABLES: To develop a passion for gardening, the
first and foremost thing is that you should have an interest, said
Mohammed Shakeel . — Pictures by Jun Estrada/Times of Oman
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Times of Oman quiz on April 21
The school qualifying rounds will start from April 10 and last till April 17 at the designated centres and the mega preliminary rounds will be held on April 19, 2016.
The TOOISQ will be held in two categories, namely Juniors and Seniors. Class VIII and below in the junior category and class IX to XIII in senior category. Class XIII is applicable for international schools which have this grade.
The quiz is open to two-mem-ber teams from all international and private schools. Any num-ber of teams from one school can take part.
Each team will have two stu-dents from the same school.
The previous Inter-School quiz-zes witnessed enthusiastic par-ticipation from various local and international schools in Oman.
The entry form should bear the school seal and be submitted with the school quiz coordinator or can be directly submitted at the Times
of Oman Office, if not collected by the school. For more details call, Ms. Dipna Jacob at 9507 2122 or quiz@timesofoman.com.
T I M E S Q U I Z 2 - 1 6
Students rue dearth of ‘coaching centres’
MOBIN MATHEW BLESSONmobinmathew@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: Indian students in Oman, who are keen to pursue engineering and medical courses in their home country, are fac-ing a dilemma as there are fewer coaching centres in Oman that can help them to prepare for the competitive entrance examina-tions for such courses.
As the entrance exams are held in the first week of May, many parents are planning to send their children back to India so that they can attend coaching classes prior to the exams.
Indian students in Oman said proper coaching is essential for securing a merit seat in one of the leading colleges in India.
“Coaching is needed to clear the entrance examination with good results as the papers are quite tough,” said Kiran Varghese, a 12th standard student in one of the Indian schools in Oman.
Every year, more than 1000 students pass out from class XII in Oman. All these students are eligible to take part in the en-trance examinations conducted by the central and state govern-ment of India.
According to the data avail-able, all over India, around 50,000 medical seats are available, with colleges being registered with the Medical Council of India (MCI).
The engineering colleges have nearly 15 lakh seats. In addition to this, for engineering there are some 10,000 seats available at 17 IITs, 15,000 at 25 NITs and 1,000 at IIITs.
However, millions of students take the examinations to obtain admission to engineering and medical colleges.
“When millions take the ex-aminations, the competition is tough; only the best can get a mer-it seat. If the rank is too low, then we have to go for paid seats in pri-vate colleges, which is unafford-able for the majority,” explained Varghese’s father.
“So we are forced to send our children to India to join coaching centres,” he added.
According to many parents, the online training available is not that effective.
However, the Bahwan Interna-
tional Institute Technology does run a coaching centre in Oman for IIT and JEE aspirants.
According to IITians, the on-line tutors have been trained in Oman for last eight years, with incredible results being produced for securing merit positions in JEE/Medican/SAT.
“Last year, we enrolled more than 542 students for the JEE and SAT exam preparation and many of our students scored good marks in the exams,” Pankaj Shar-ma of askIITians told the Times of Oman (TOO).
“This year’s enrolment is underway. Currently, we are conducting career counsel-ling seminars, and have gotten a huge response this year and are hoping to see more than 300 per cent growth in this country,” Sharma added.
Meanwhile, a Muscat-based businessman, who is providing coaching for post-graduate busi-ness courses in association with premier business institutes in India, said operating a coaching centre for engineering and medi-cal courses in Oman is not finan-cially viable.
“To bring the faculty from India is quite difficult and moreover, students are always busy with tuitions,” said Jose Chacko, who
runs a business post-graduate learning centre in Muscat.
For the time being, another busi-nessman and his friends are plan-ning to open a coaching centre.
“We are planning to open a crash coaching centre here for students, who are planning to write entrance exams for the Ker-ala state; so far we are getting a good response from the parents,” John Philips Mathew said.
Some students stated that online coaching classes helped them understand the model of the exams.
“I am attending an online tutor-ing class, but it is not that effec-tive,” Ribin Raju a student who is preparing for the exams said.
“Even though it helps me to know the exams pattern and structure,” he added.
According to a teacher from one of the Indian Schools, many have opened coaching centres in the past, but they winded up their operations pretty soon.
“There is a need for a good coaching centre here. Nowadays, to clear the examination, you have to be the best. Those days of preparing for an examination at home are gone. Experts are re-quired to train students,” said the teacher, who refused to be named.
Speaking to TOO, Wilson V. George, chairman, Board of Di-rectors, Indian Schools, said in the near future the Indian Schools will start providing coaching to the students.
“So far we don’t have any of-ficial programme to prepare our students for the competitive ex-ams, but in the near future we will implement some programmes,” George said.
Some of the parents also noted that the reason they send their children back to India is that the coaching available in Oman is expensive. So their children are currently getting ready to fly back to their home country after their board exams.
Many parents are
planning to send
their children back
to India so that they
can attend coaching
classes to prepare
for college entrance
competitions to
secure a merit seat
in one of the leading
colleges in India
Sultanate poised to boost ‘Shopping Tourism’ potentialBY DR DILEEP M.R.*
MUSCAT: ‘Shhopping Tourism’, a buzzword in contemporary global tourism, is being promoted vigor-ously by many countries. The Sul-tanate of Oman, rich with natural and cultural features and ample shopping options, has the poten-tial to develop and promote Shop-ping Tourism.
Indeed, shopping is not just a laborious activity to buy the es-sential goods; rather, of late, it has become a recreational activity as well. Curious shoppers fly across borders, travel to far away cities with the aim to indulge in joyous shopping. The new phenomenon is to experience the pleasure of relaxed shopping, coupled with travel, stay and sightseeing.
Immense potentialOman has an immense potential for developing Shopping Tourism. It also has the advantage of hav-ing natural and cultural attrac-tions in abundance. Tourists out to do shopping in Oman can enjoy amazing shopping experiences along with unmatched exotic nat-ural and cultural experiences.
Moreover, traditional Souqs in Oman can offer incredible shop-ping options. Some of the indig-enous products of Oman are very unique and rare, like Frankin-cense of Dhofar. The need of the hour is to conceptualise, design and promote shopping tourism packages, coupled with natural and cultural features to be offered in the global market.
Indeed, the new genre of leisure or recreational shoppers consti-tutes a relatively new market seg-ment in tourism. Shopping is also an important outlet for social in-teraction and provides temporary relief from routine and monoto-nous environments. It is not at all a new phenomenon.
Traditionally tourists used to
purchase a variety of items from the destinations visited, but these largely included souvenirs, vary-ing from handicrafts to clothes, to processed food items. On the other hand, the shopping cart of the modern recreational shoppers includes a wide variety of items, of which some are luxury goods, elec-tronic items, costly fashion stuff, crafts and design.
A growing trendShopping is thus becoming a travel motivation in tourism. This is a growing trend as many people travel abroad keeping in mind the goal of purchasing vari-ous goods. The focus is predomi-nantly on cities.
Oman has a number of tradi-tional Souqs, including Muttrah, Al Hafah, Al Husn, Bahla, Sohar Handicrafts Souq and Nizwa City that have a good potential to at-tract tourists.
Muscat’s famed Mutrah souq is the best-stocked souk in the Ara-bian Peninsula. It is famous for traditional clothes, jewellery, spic-es, antiques, hand-woven Bedouin carpets and craft workshops.
Many craftsmen make tradi-tional sculpted silver and ivory daggers, known as Khanjars. Moreover, Muscat and Salalah have mega shopping malls. Muscat Festival and Salalah Festival are already established events that at-tract visitors from far and wide.
Shopping tourism can be devel-oped further with more unique markets with traditional/indige-nous products, exclusive markets of electronic and other products with discounts during specific time periods, and packages blend-ed with shopping and natural wonders of Oman.
*The writer is Asst. Professor, Salalah College of Applied Sci-ences, MOHE. He can be reached at dileepmadhav@gmail.com)
I N C R E D I B L E S H O P P I N G O P T I O N S
GEARING UP: According to the data available, all over India,
around 50,000 medical seats are available, with colleges being
registered with the Medical Council of India. — File picture
Date Centre Time Participating schools
Sunday, April 10 Qualifier 10am ISD
Indian School
Darsait
Monday, April 11 Qualifier 10am ISM
Indian School
Muscat
Tuesday, April 12 Qualifier 10 am ISWK, Srilankan
Indian School
Wadi Kabir
Wednesday, April 13 Qualifier 10 am Indian School Ghubra
ISG, BSM, IS Seeb,
IS Mabella
Thursday, April 14 Qualifier 6pm Indian School Sohar
IS Sohar, PSSohar,
BS Sohar
Sunday, April 17 Qualifier 10 am Pakistan School
Muscat (PSM)
Tuesday, April 19 Mega
Prelims 4pm Indian School Ghubra
4 pm All participating schools
Thursday, April 21 Finals 4pm City Amphitheatre
7pm Top 12 Finalist schools
QUIZ EVENT SCHEDULE
GRAND EVENT: The quiz is open to two-member teams from all
international and private schools. — Times file picture
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REGIONS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
No discussion on presidency at talks: Moualem
BEIRUT: The Syrian govern-ment on Saturday ruled out dis-cussion of presidential elections or the position of the presidency at peace talks due to begin on Monday, saying the opposition was deluded if thought it could take power in Geneva.
Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualem confirmed his govern-ment’s participation in UN-led talks but said they would fail if the opposition had “delusions that they will take power in Geneva that they failed to take in battle”.
Presidential electionsThe government delegation would reject any attempt to in-clude presidential elections on the agenda, he said.
“We will not talk to anyone who talks about the position of the presidency,” Moualem said during a televised news confer-ence in Damascus.”I advise them that if this is their thinking, they shouldn’t come to the talks.”
“They must abandon these delusions.”
Moualem said the government delegation would travel to Geneva on Sunday but would return to Damascus within 24 hours if the other side did not show up.
The Syrian government’s un-derstanding of “political transi-tion” was from the existing con-stitution to a new one, and from the existing government to a new one with participation from the other side, he said. The Syrian op-position wants the talks to focus on the establishment of a transi-
tional governing body with full executive powers, and has reject-ed the idea of joining an expanded Syrian government.
In response to Moualem’s com-ments, the main opposition coun-cil accused Damascus of halting the talks before they had started.
“I believe he is putting the nails in the coffin of Geneva, this is clear,” Monzer Makhous, a mem-ber of the opposition High Nego-tiations Committee, told Al Ara-biya Al Hadath TV.
“Moualem is stopping Geneva before it starts.” — Reuters
Syrian foreign
minister said the UN-
led peace talks would
fail if the opposition
had ‘delusions that
they will take power
in Geneva that they
failed to take in
battle’
Sadr urges Abadi to act against corruption
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s cleric Mo-qtada Al Sadr called for a sit-at the gates of Baghdad’s heav-ily fortified government district, stepping up pressure on Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi to de-liver on promised anti-corrup-tion reforms.
The protest, that Sadr said would start on Friday, threat-ened to escalate tensions over a long-awaited economic overhaul in the strife-torn oil producer.
Graft is eating away at Bagh-dad’s resources even as it strug-gles with falling revenue due to low oil prices and high spend-ing due to the costs of the war against IS militants.
“I address this historic call to every reform-loving Iraqi. .. so that he rises up to begin a new phase,” read the statement posted online on Saturday from Sadr.
A year and a half into his four-year term, Abadi is trying to challenge a system of patronage which has become entrenched in Iraq over the last decade, paralyzing politics and allowing corruption to flourish.
But he is facing pressure from two sides as some of the coun-try’s powerful political factions resist any reduction of their in-fluence, while Sadr is threaten-ing to escalate protests to bring down his government should he not press ahead faster. On Friday, Abadi signalled willing-ness to agree that the political parties have a say in appointing members of a cabinet he plans to form to fight corruption and optimize state spending to bet-ter cope with the sharp decline in oil revenue.
The Sadrist bloc in parlia-ment, called Al Ahrar, accounts for only 34 of parliament’s 328 members and may not be able to vote down Abadi should the other parties approve a new cabinet. — Reuters
I R A Q
Hadi troops partially
break Taiz siege
ADEN: Troops loyal to Yemen’s president have captured the west-ern entrance to the strategic city of Taiz, partially breaking a siege by Houthi fighters, medical and mili-tary sources said on Saturday.
At least 48 people have been killed in heavy clashes in Yemen’s third biggest city, the medics and local fighters said, and at least 120 people have been wounded.
Witnesses said there were bod-ies scattered in the streets.
Supporters of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, have been trying for months to lift the siege of the southwestern city and
open up key supply routes. The struggle is part of coalition
efforts since March last year to roll back Houthi gains and restore Hadi, who is currently in Saudi Arabia, to power.
The war has devastated the country, killed more than 6,000 people and displaced millions.
Major breakthroughThe reported capture of the west-ern entrance to Taiz, where near-ly half of the 250,000 residents had been trapped since May, was hailed by the government-run sa-banew.net news agency as a major breakthrough. — Reuters
Y E M E N C O N F L I C T
Turkish air strikes kill 67 Kurdish rebels in Iraq
ANKARA: Turkey’s army said on Saturday it killed 67 Kurdish militants in air strikes on camps and ammunition storage sites in neighbouring northern Iraq on Wednesday.
Jets targeted sites at Qandil, Metina, Avasin, Haftanin and Basyan used by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, the armed forces said.
Abomb blast blamed on PKK militants hit an armoured po-lice vehicle near Turkey’s bor-der with Iraq on Friday, Turkish officials said. Two special force police officers were injured in the explosion on a road in Hak-kari province’s Yuksekova dis-trict, they added. A ceasefire between the PKK and Ankara in July and attacks on Turkey’s military has increased amid a surge in violence in the predom-inantly Kurdish southeast, kill-ing hundreds of people. — Reuters
I N S U R G E N C Y
DETERMINED: Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Al Moualem speaks during a news conference in Damascus, Syria on Saturday. — Reuters
I believe he (Walid Moualem) is putting the nails in
the coffin of Geneva, this is clear, Monzer Makhous,
a member of the opposition High Negotiations
Committee told Al Arabiya Al Hadath TV
A8
INDIAS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
DEMANDING ROLLBACK IN EXCISE DUTYMembers of Gems and Jewellery Association participate in a protest rally against the proposed hike of excise duty by the Central Government, in Kolkata on
Saturday. The strike by jewellers and bullion traders continued for a 11th straight day on Saturday demanding withdrawal of the proposed excise duty on non-
silver jewellery items. Most jewellery houses in the country have remained closed since March 2 after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech on
February 29, proposed 1 per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery. - PTI
Sonia: Country passing through a critical phase
NEW DELHI: Launching a veiled attack on the Modi government, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the country is passing through a “critical phase” as those in power are “spreading hatred” by targeting secularism and underscored the need to bring together people from diverse back-grounds to fight it.
Sonia made the remarks in her written message to attendees of ‘National Integration Conference’ organised by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind here. “As you know, the country is passing through a critical phase. Powers that be are spreading ha-tred across the country. Especially, secularism is being targeted. It is a matter of concern.
“In such a situation, it is an im-portant work to bring together people forgetting their religion, caste, colour and race,” senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad quoted Sonia as saying in the message. Sonia lauded the role played by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in this regard and for its contribution to the country’s freedom struggle along with Congress.
“In current circumstances, Ja-miat has again taken an important step. I pray for this step taken by Jamiat for country’s unity and integrity and hope its efforts will bring good results,” she said. - PTI
C O N F E R E N C E
Modi accuses Congress for ‘neglecting’ Bihar’s growth
HAJIPUR: Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi on Saturday trained his guns on Congress accusing it of “neglecting” Bihar’s develop-ment since independence and re-called Chief Minister Nitish Ku-mar’s past association with NDA as he inaugurated a number of railway projects here.
“This project was initiated when Nitish Kumar was railway minister and Atal ji was prime minister. The dream of that time is being realised now. Had this not been neglected in last 10 years and work been taken up for it even under routine budget, even then it would have been completed in six-seven years,” Modi said dedicating to the nation the newly construct-ed Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road
bridge here, which is stated to be the longest in the country.
He rued that the cost of the pro-ject escalated from its earlier es-timate of Rs600 crore to Rs 3,000 crore due to the “delay”.
“This money belongs to people. Some or the other reasons crop up in our country that the process of development gets derailed,” he said. Leaving aside political ri-valry, Modi who has shared a con-tentious relationship with Kumar in past, also chose the occasion to laud the Bihar chief minister’s ef-forts in taking forward Centre’s ru-ral electrification scheme in Bihar.
“I am grateful to Nitish ji. Work is progressing with speed in Bihar due to his efforts. If the central government and the Bihar gov-ernment decisively work, we can
finish the work fast and make a proud Bihar,” he said.
Kumar had walked out of Na-tional Democratic Alliance snap-ping the 17-year-old ties with BJP over the deemed projection of Modi as prime ministerial candi-date of that party in June 2013.
After having lost badly to the Narendra Modi-led NDA in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Kumar staged a comeback in 2015 assembly elec-tions in Bihar in alliance with Lalu Prasad’s RJD and Congress, decimating BJP.
Holding that the “nerve cen-tre” of India’s development lies in eastern India, the Prime Minister said that he is of the firm opinion that India as a country cannot develop fast without the develop-ment of it eastern part.
“Bihar is a priority for us be-cause we feel Bihar’s progress is key to India’s progress. This gov-ernment has spent more for the projects in Bihar in last two and half years than what was spent in five years earlier. This was done because it is my conviction that if India has to progress fast, Bihar’s development has to be accelerated,” he said.
Without naming Congress, Modi said that electricity has not reached 18,000 villages of the country even after 70 years of in-dependence.
“I told my officers that I have to do this work within 1,000 days, which was not done in last 70 years. One thousand days are yet to completed but electricity has already reached in 6,000 villages.
Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are going to benefit the maximum from it,” he said.
Telling youths they have got a “big gift” as two locomotive facto-ries are being opened in the state, Modi once again picked on the previous United Progressive Alli-ance government led by Congress.
“This matter is moving only on paper since 2006-07. It was being frequently mentioned in speeches but nothing was happening on the ground. Nobody was ready to bid for it. We introduced some innovative things in the tender, fixed target for export and place the order according to the need of the country and prepared it in a manner that big companies of the world they can work in it.
“The process worked and big companies of the world came for-ward. Foreign Direct Investment of Rs40,000 crore is coming for these two factories, which will be the biggest in the country. This process has been completed within a short time of 18 months since our government came because devel-oping Bihar is our priority,” he said.
Modi also talked about other upcoming ambitious projects for the state including laying of piped natural gas line despite huge ex-penditure involved in it and said that it is going to bring huge pro-gress in the country.
“I can see how enthusiastic you are about the bridge and I can guess well how much improve-ment in transportation and eco-nomic situation of people, this will bring,” he said adding the maxi-mum work of this pending project, about 34 per cent was completed in last 18 months when NDA gov-ernment was at Centre. - PTI
Leaving aside
political rivalry,
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
chose the occasion
to laud the Bihar
chief minister’s
efforts in taking
forward Centre’s
rural electrification
scheme in Bihar
AOL to support restoration of Yamuna floodplainsNEW DELHI: Art of Living (AOL) founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, whose cultural event on the flood-plains of Yamuna is mired in con-troversy over violation of green norms, on Saturday once again sounded defiant, saying he will not pay any fine or penalty.
But, he said, he would whole-heartedly support the “develop-ment and restoration” of the venue where the event is being held.
Addressing the event on the second day, Ravi Shankar said the amount the National Green Tribu-nal had asked the AOL to pay was for restoration and not as a penalty.
“All through, I have lived a spot-less life. I have never been late to school. I have never paid fine, even of a single paisa. So, we said we will not pay any fine. But then I was told that this is not a fine or penalty. It was wrongly reported in newspa-pers. They said it was for the de-velopment here. We said, if this is for development and restoration, then we will whole-heartedly sup-port this and put everything into this,”Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said.
The NGT had on Wednesday allowed Art of Living Foundation to hold the festival but asked it to pay Rs50 million as environ-mental compensation for ecologi-cal damage. However, on Friday the relief to the AOL Foundation came with a stinker from the green panel which took strong exception to Ravi Shankar’s remarks about refusal to pay Rs 50 million and in-stead saying he would prefer to go to jail. The event got embroiled in a controversy after environmental-ists alleged that its preparations have damaged the ecology of Ya-muna floodplains. - PTI
C O N T R O V E R S Y
Green nod for 900 projects in 20 months, says JavadekarMUMBAI: Environmental clear-ance has been given to 900 projects worth Rs6 lakh crore in the last 20 months, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said on Saturday, seek-ing to counter criticism that sever-al projects have been bogged down due to lack of green nod.
Asserting that environmental clearance should not be a “road-block” for development, Javadekar said that every effort should be made to safeguard the environment and also ensure that development projects do not suffer any delay.
“In the last 20 months, my min-istry has given environmental clearance to 900 projects entailing an investment of about Rs 6 lakh crore,” he said at the National Con-vention on Sustainable Develop-ment Goals here.
Opposition parties and environ-mentalists have been accusing the
Narendra Modi government of not proceeding on several projects for want of environmental clearances.
Dismissing such criticism, the government has claimed that the earlier UPA regime was respon-sible for stalling projects which were now getting green nod at a fast pace. Squarely blaming the de-veloped countries for carbon emis-sions and its fallout on climate change, he said, “Climate change is a reality with one degree rise in temperature caused by 150 years of uncontrolled carbon emission by the developed world.”
He said though India is respon-sible for just three per cent of carbon emissions, it is an active partner in finding solution to the problem of climate change and committed to the UN goals on sus-tainable development.
He also referred to Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi’s emphasis on climate change that “though India is not part of the problem, it wants to be part of the solution.”
While 30 per cent of cumulative contribution was that of the US,
Europe, Canada and other devel-oped countries accounted for 50 per cent and China 10 per cent.
“The developed world went ahead with business as usual sce-nario without bothering about
environmental impact. Now it has happened, and we are suffering,” he said. India being well-aware of its responsibilities was commit-ted to UN Goals on sustainable development, he said, adding, “Our
commitment is reflected in every programme being pursued by the government.”
He listed out Government’s am-bitious 175 Giga Watt renewable energy programme, covering solar, wind, hydro-power and nuclear energy as a major step in promot-ing environment friendly develop-ment. India had taken pro-active measures to discourage use of fos-sil fuels in a bid to reduce carbon foot print, he said.
“The Union Budget 2016-17 has levied a green cess of $6 (Rs400) per tonne of coal. This is perhaps the highest levy in the world, as even the United States taxes coal at around $1. If the developed world followed India’s example and levied higher taxes on coal, billions of dollars would accrue to pursue clean energy programmes,” Javadekar said. - PTI
N A T I O N A L C O N V E N T I O N O N S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T G O A L S
ELATED: Prime Minister Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone of the various Railway projects
in Hajipur, Bihar on Saturday. Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, Union Ministers and Chief Minister
of Bihar Nitish Kumar and other dignitaries are also seen. - PTI
The developed world went ahead with business as
usual scenario without bothering about environmental
impact. Now it has happened, and we are suffering
Prakash JavadekarUnion Minister
A9
INDIAS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
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Don’t want to overstate bad loan crisis, says Jaitley
NEW DELHI: Amid outrage over Vijay Mallya’s massive default on loans, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and RBI Governor Ra-ghuram Rajan on Saturday cau-tioned against overstating the bad loans crisis in the banking system lest it hampers the entire lending operations and growth.
However, Jaitley said individu-al misdemeanours will be “looked into differently”. Both were speak-ing to the media after Reserve Bank’s Board Meeting here at-tended by the Finance Minister as a post Budget tradition in which they discussed the need to clean up the banks balance sheets.
“We don’t want to create a situ-ation where we overstate the cri-sis and in the process, the whole activity of lending for growth itself starts suffering because people become extraordinarily defensive. We don’t want to reach that situation. So its that limited category where there is some kind
of a prima facie misconduct or misdemeanour, which has taken place by the individual. Its those areas which will be looked into differently,” Jaitley said.
Echoing similar views, Rajan said “we have to be careful as we go forward” that one hand crimi-nal actions are penalised.
“But at the same time we don’t
indulge in a broad fishing expedi-tion which then becomes a reason for banks to get worried about making loans which then hamper the recovery as well as hamper the
absolutely important investment in infrastructure that have to take place. So as a country, as a system, we have to draw that balance very carefully and we are hopeful that we can manage that,” he said.
The gross (NPAs) of the public sector banks (PSBs) increased from 5.43 per cent as on March 2015 to 7.30 per cent as on Decem-ber 2015. Jaitley expressed hope that the NPA situation, which has been created on account of an overall economic environment and slowdown in certain sectors, would see improvement.
“As the revival of those sectors takes place, you will certainly find cleaning up of balance sheets, which also takes place because over the next few quarters they would probably have a possibility of reviving,” he said.
Rajan said there is a well-de-fined process for defining wilful defaulters.
“Broadly speaking, it may be manoeuvres, which strictly speaking are not illegal, but which divert funds away from the pro-ject and elsewhere. Now some of these actions may also be illegal. We have a process by which peo-ple are declared wilful defaulters, we maintain a registry of wilful defaulters and we have strength-ened the penalties, if you are a wilful defaulter on your ability to raise money from the system. So I think that process is there,” the governor said.
He further said that one of the problem in past has been difficulty of enacting the full process given the necessity for following certain aspects that judiciary focused on.
Going forward, Rajan exuded confidence that the process is streamlined so that entities fol-lowing aberrant practices end up not paying loans and subsequent-ly “we get a better system. So my hope is that some of the atten-tion that has been paid to some of these actions will help streamline the system.” - PTI
Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley
expressed hope that
the Non Performing
Assets situation,
which has been
created on account of
an overall economic
environment and
slowdown in certain
sectors, would see
improvement
MAKING A POINT: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan
at a press conference after the 551st Central Board Meeting of RBI, in New Delhi on Saturday. -PTI
NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “explanation” over how busi-ness tycoon Vijay Mallya could leave the country which he claimed was not possible with-out “approval” from the top.
“Since CBI directly reports to PM, PM owes an answer why Mallya was allowed to leave India. CBI couldn’t have allowed without approval from top,” Kejriwal tweeted.
Kejriwal’s comments come amid a raging controversy over UB Group Chairman Mallya leaving India amid continu-ing efforts by banks to recover
dues totalling over Rs 9,000 crore of unpaid loans and interest from him.
Meanwhile, former chief financial officer of long-grounded carrier Kingfisher Airlines, A. Raghunathan, appeared before the Enforce-ment Directorate (ED) here for the second day on Saturday for questioning in connection with the money laundering probe in the alleged default of over Rs 900 crore loan from IDBI bank.
“Yesterday, Raghunathan was questioned for around eight hours. He is being inter-rogated for the second day today,” a senior ED official
said. The ED had issued summons to over half a dozen officials of the IDBI bank and Vijay Mallya-owned KFA under provisions of the Pre-vention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) wherein all the individuals have been asked to submit details about their personal finances and Income Tax Returns (ITRs) of last five years to the investigators.
Apart from Raghunathan, summons have also been is-sued to former chairman and managing director of the bank, Yogesh Agarwal and other senior executive members and officials of both the organisa-tions. - PTI
‘PM owes an explanation on Mallya leaving country’
Probe begins at Kakrapar plant to find cause of heavy water leak
AHMEDABAD: A day after one of the units of Kakrapar Atomic Pow-er Station (KAPS) near Surat in Gujarat was shut down after heavy water leakage, a team of experts on Saturday began a probe to identify the cause of the leak even as offi-cials reaffirmed that there was no radioactive release at the site.
Two experts from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) are at the site to assist KAPS offi-cials in the probe. The experts have been deputed for an independent assessment of the situation at the affected plant, which continues to remain shut for the second day on Saturday after the leakage.
One of the two 220 MW units of KAPS was shut down after leak-age of heavy water, which is used for cooling off the nuclear reactor core, reported around 9am on Fri-day. A temporary site emergency was also declared as a measure of safety, although the officials said that there was no radioactive leak and all the workers were safe.
“We have carried out a thor-ough radiation survey and there is no change in radiation level at the plant and into public domain (outside the plant) as of today. There is no increase in radiation level. This confirms no radioac-tive release,” site director KAPS, Lalit K. Jain, said.
“Now that we are assured on the front of containing the leakage, our focus will be on identifying the cause of the leakage. The plant re-mains totally shut down, and fur-ther normalisation of the plant is currently being carried out, with two experts from AERB assisting us,” Jain said.
The radiation levels inside the plant and in the nearby areas are being regularly monitored, he said.
In July last year, another unit (Unit II) of the power station had been shut down due to mainte-nance issue.
KAPS 1 and 2 consist of two units of pressurised heavy water reactors of 220 MW each. - PTI
A T O M I C P O W E R S T A T I O N
IAF plane tyre bursts while landing at Dehradun airportDEHRADUN: A tragedy was averted here on Saturday when one of the tyres of an IAF plane, with ten people on board includ-ing a senior officer, burst while landing at Jolly Grant airport, 30km east of the city.
The incident occurred after the 45-seater Avro plane of the IAF (Indian Air Force) landed on the runway, Dehradun SSP Sadanand Date said.
Everyone on board the plane, including a Lt Gen-rank officer, escaped unhurt, but the incident has affected flight operations with the aircraft still stuck on the runway making it impossible for flights to either take off or land.
“There is no reason to worry as everyone is safe. But with the
plane stuck on the runway, flights are blocked.
“A chopper from IAF’s Agra airbase has arrived with a team of technical staff to replace the tyre and clear the runway so that flight
operations could be restored,” Date said.
Civil Aviation Authorities of the north Indian state of Uttara-khand were not available for com-ment immediately. - PTI
C L O S E S H A V E
PASSENGERS SAFE: The Indian Air force (IAF) plane after its one
tyre burst while landing at Jolly Grant airport in Dehradun on
Saturday morning. - PTI
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PAKISTAN S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
We are unaware of the incident. Our Mujahideen
had never been involved in it. We had neither held
him (Shahbaz Taseer) nor recovered him
Zabihullah Mujahid, Taliban spokesperson
Trade deficit widens 4.22% to $15b as exports decline
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit worsened to $15.1 billion in the first eight months of the ongo-ing fiscal year, as the government failed to exploit opportunities in the shape of steep decline in glob-al crude oil prices and duty-free status for its exports to the Euro-pean markets.
The trade bulletin released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed the value of im-ports was more than double the value of exports for the second
month in a row. The trade deficit — gap between exports and im-ports — widened 4.22 per cent to $15.1 billion from July to Febru-ary, reported the national data-collecting agency.
The trade deficit was $612 mil-lion higher than reported in the comparative period of the last fiscal year. It almost nullified the
$728 million gains Pakistan made due to increase in workers’ remit-tances during July-February.
The PBS would release the de-tails of imports and exports for July-February later. However, the seven-month data showed that the country got a bonanza of $2.9 billion due to reduction in global crude oil prices. Despite the huge
benefit, the trade deficit ballooned due to massive decline in exports.
Pakistan is also availing the ‘Generalised System of Prefer-ence’ (GSP) Plus scheme from the European Union (EU) that allows it to export a range of products at virtually zero duty to the bloc of 27 nations. Despite this facility, tex-tile exports during the first seven
months plunged by over 9 per cent to $7.4 billion.
From July through February, the exports nosedived to $13.87 billion, which were $2.12 billion or 13.3% less than the receipts in the comparative period of the last fiscal year, reported the PBS.
A major reason behind the steep fall in exports was the ab-sence of an enabling business en-vironment, as the government has massively increased the cost of doing business by levying numer-ous indirect taxes.
The PML-N government has so far failed to announce a ‘three-year strategic trade policy frame-work’ after the last one expired in June 2015.
The imports during July-Feb-ruary period contracted almost 5 per cent to $29 billion. The im-ports were $1.5 billion less than the comparative period. On an-nualised basis, the trade deficit also widened by 6.7 per cent to $1.5 billion in February. It was $95 million higher than the one posted in February last year, according to the PBS. The trade deficit wid-ened due to 4.7 per cent reduction in exports and marginal growth in imports. On annualised basis, the exports stood at $1.8 billion in February, $89 less than the re-ceipts in comparative period.
The imports last month stood at $3.3 billion, which were almost at January’s level.
For this year, the government has set the economic growth tar-get at 5.5 per cent. – Express Tribune
The seven-month
data showed that
the country got a
bonanza of $2.9
billion due to
reduction in global
crude oil prices.
Despite the huge
benefit, the trade
deficit ballooned due
to massive decline in
exports
Nawaz Sharif directs steps to uplift agriculture sectorISLAMABAD: In an effort to boost the country’s agriculture production, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday directed the Ministry National Food Secu-rity and Research to start a con-sultative process involving various provincial governments and other stakeholders for expanding agri-culture production base.
A notice issued by the Prime Minister Secretariat here said that the ministry concerned shall en-sure that the consultative process is finalised in due course for ap-proval and appropriate allocation of funds in the budget for 2016-17.
The notification further said that various issues have been keeping the agriculture sector under pressure and the plan will help develop an integrated frame-work for agriculture, with a view to achieve positive outcomes.
The document underlined these aspects including diversification in the agriculture sector by pro-moting new crops and modern techniques. Secondly, revitalising agriculture research institutions and re-establishing a national ag-riculture research system by syn-ergising federal and provincial re-search institutions.
Additionally, the programme will also focus on the reorientation of agriculture research for devel-opment of better crop varieties in terms of yield and pest resistance.
The new system of research funding in the agriculture sector will focus on research output rath-er than investing in unnecessary employment. Likewise, the system will also look into measures for mitigating the impact of climate change on the agriculture sector and a long-term ground water pol-
icy aimed at ensuring available as well as efficient utilisation of this scarce resource.
Finally, the prime minister has also asked for consultation with stakeholders on a comprehensive framework for seed certification, fertiliser availability at affordable cost and regulation of pesticide business. An official in the food ministry said that Minister Si-kander Hayat Khan Bosan had ear-lier requested the prime minister to increase budgetary allocation so that it can take certain steps for the long term development of the agriculture sector. The minister contended that since the devolu-tion of the agriculture subject to the provinces, the federal budget had drastically reduced from mul-ti-billion to just millions and prov-inces have shown their neglect to-wards this sector. - Express Tribune
B O O S T A G R I C U L T U R E P R O D U C T I O N
STATISTICS: The trade bulletin released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Friday showed value of
imports was more than double the value of exports for the second month in a row. - Reuters file photo
TOIL: Farmers work around wheat threshers in Lahore on May 17, 2014. The new system of research
funding in the agriculture sector will focus on research output rather than investing in unnecessary
employment. - AFP file photo
AD Khawaja appointed new IG Sindh
KARACHI: Following the Su-preme Court’s order, the federal government announced on Sat-urday to remove Inspector Gen-eral (IG) Ghulam Haider Jamali and appoint Allah Dino (AD) Khawaja as the new IG Sindh.
According to reports, the Sindh government had submit-ted names of three candidates for the post as the top police chief, of which AD Khawaja was selected to replace Jamali.
“The provincial government welcomed the newly appointed IG Sindh,” the government spokesperson said.
On Friday, the top court had directed the National Account-ability Bureau (NAB) to effi-ciently and expeditiously pur-sue an inquiry into corruption of Sindh police officers, includ-ing Ghulam Haider Jamali.
The larger bench, headed by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, asked the country’s top anti-graft watchdog to complete in-quiries or investigation fairly, justly and strictly in accordance with the law, and submit a re-port within a month. Earlier this week, SC directed the provincial chief secretary to find out what action the government will take against officers found guilty of corruption, which includes the provincial police chief, other-wise the apex court will pass such orders. - Express Tribune
P O L I C E C H I E F
Afghan Taliban deny ‘rescuing’ Shahbaz Taseer
ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban rejected on Saturday reports that they had rescued Shahbaz Taseer, son of slain governor Punjab Sal-man Taseer, in an operation.
A section of the Pakistani me-dia had reported that the Taliban had recovered Shahbaz, who was kidnapped from Lahore in 2011, in Zabul province, where he had been held hostage by the insurgents.
“We are unaware of the incident. Our Mujahideen had never been involved in it. We had neither held him (Shahbaz Taseer) nor recov-ered him,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.
When asked about reports that the Taliban have issued a state-ment confirming the rumours, Mujahid told The Express Trib-une, “This is baseless. We have not issued any statement as the issue does not relate to us and no question arises to comment on it,” he said.
The Taliban denial coincided with the issuance of an Interior Ministry report which said Shah-baz had not been rescued through any operation.
“The facts and evidence show that Shahbaz Taseer has not been recovered through any op-eration but the captors set him free on their own,” said the re-port presented to the interior minister on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry’s state-ment said that it is premature to suggest if Shahbaz was released after paying ransom.
“No institution has the right to take credit of the recovery,” the ministry said. - Express Tribune
R E J E C T E D R E P O R T S
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ASIAS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
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BLAZE HITS 200 FAMILIES IN METRO MANILABlack smoke billows next to buildings after a fire hit a residential area in Manila on Saturday. Almost 200 families are affected by the blaze, according to Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) officials. Authorities are investigating the cause of the fire, local media reported. - AFP
US general sought greater powers before Afghan exitWASHINGTON: The US general who until last week commanded the NATO-led coalition in Afghan-istan said on Friday he recom-mended broader scope for US mil-itary activity as the country fends off a resilient Taliban insurgency.
Army General John Campbell declined to disclose the specific powers he requested from Presi-dent Barack Obama’s administra-tion before he stepped down as part of a normal leadership tran-sition. But he expressed a sense of urgency, “otherwise it’s not going to impact” the war in 2016.
“I’m not going to get more peo-ple. So the only way that I can im-pact is potentially change some of the authorities we have. So author-ities deal with: what you can strike, what you can’t strike, at what lev-els you can do train, advise, assist,” Campbell told a group of reporters at the Pentagon.
“So I’ve asked for some modifi-cations.” The incoming command-er, General John Nicholson, will also get to weigh in on the matter, Campbell said. - Reuters
M I L I T A R Y A C T I V I T Y
China’s labour law under fire as restructuring threatens jobsBEIJING: China’s labour protec-tions are coming under fire from high places as economic restruc-turing pits officials concerned about social stability against a lobby arguing inflexible policies are stifling job creation and sup-pressing wages.
Company executives, especially at foreign or private firms, have long been critical of labour con-tract legislation and minimum wage laws that make it difficult for owners of an ailing business to turn it around or find willing buy-ers. Now policymakers anxious to modernise China’s slowing econo-my and slash overcapacity in heavy industry are making similar noises.
The export powerhouse prov-ince of Guangdong, a trillion-dol-lar economy that often leads the
way on market reforms, said on Tuesday it would scrap scheduled rises to the local minimum wage in 2016, and keep it at 2015 levels — slightly over 1,500 yuan ($230) per month — through 2018.
CriticisedOn the same day, the official Xin-hua media service highlighted comments by finance minister Lou Jiwei, who criticised China’s Labour Contract Law in a speech during the annual meeting of par-liament. The law dates to 2008, when China had a reputation for sweatshops staffed by underpaid workers, an embarrassment for a ruling party that monopolised power in the name of socialism.
The law fixed a 40-hour working week for most employees, regulat-
ed maternity leave, and required businesses to be able to prove their case for sacking employees for in-competence or criminality or face heavy penalties.
Its standards aspire to those of developed economies, rather than emerging markets, though en-forcement is weak. The EU, for ex-ample, limits the working week to 48 hours, while China’s maximum is about the same, after allowing up to 36 hours a month overtime.
Regulations say minimum wages should be between 40 and 60 per cent of the local average - though in practice 30-40 per cent is typical - compared with about 30 per cent in the United States and 50 per cent in Britain.
Protections against dismissal are comparable to Japan’s. “The
Chinese government wanted the best, the most polished labour leg-islation they could find, and simply imposed it on an economy that couldn’t cope with it,” said Geof-frey Crothall, communications director at China Labour Bulletin.
Chinese wages have risen at double-digit rates since the 2008 act, so factory workers now earn significantly higher than competi-tors in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia, and some think labour protections are hampering an eco-nomic transformation that will benefit workers in the long run.
“For enterprises and employees, the extent of protection afforded by the Labour Contract Law is unbalanced,” Lou said, adding it encouraged companies to moves jobs from China to other coun-
tries. “Who eventually bears the costs? The working class who the law was intended to protect,” Lou said. Labour activists say the pro-tections are still needed, and busi-nesses often break labour law with impunity, especially if they have local government connections.
The Xinhua article was circu-lated in both Chinese and English with supportive comments from regulators, exciting speculation that changes to the law could be afoot. The timing could suit Bei-jing, which aims to reduce overca-pacity in several industries, laying off an estimated 6 million workers at state-owned firms in the pro-cess. It wants to do so without a spike in unemployment or crimp-ing domestic consumption, but strong labour protections make
companies unwilling to create new jobs or pay much for the jobs they do create.
Many economists say China has posted lacklustre business activity and investment figures — while of-ficial unemployment stays below 5 per cent — precisely because companies saddled with high wage bills and low profit margins can’t cut debt or invest.
“It’s better to support work-ers than supporting loss-making firms,” Li Yining, an economist at Peking University, said on the sidelines of the annual parliament meeting on Sunday. Local officials have reason to be cautious about diluting protections, however, as a rise in worker protests in their patch can be both physically dan-gerous and career limiting. -Reuters
R E G U L A T I O N S
US, South Korea stage assault drill; North warns of attacks
POHANG (South Korea): US and South Korean troops staged a big amphibious landing exercise on Saturday, storming simulated North Korean beach defences amid heightened tension and threats by the North to annihilate its enemies.
The landing and assault drills on South Korea’s east coast were part of eight weeks of joint exercises between the allies which the South has said are the largest ever.
The North has denounced the exercises as “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive.
Tension on the Korean penin-sula has been high since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and followed that with a long-range rocket launch last month, triggering new UN sanc-tions. About 55 US marine aircraft
and 30 US and South Korean ships, including the USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Boxer, which carry AV-8B Harrier attack jets and V-22 Osprey aircrafts, took part in the assault on beaches near Pohang city, the US navy said.
“They will penetrate notional enemy beach defences, establish a beach head, and rapidly transition forces and sustainment ashore,”
the US military based in South Korea said in a statement before the exercise.
The North’s military said it was prepared to counter the US and South Korean forces “with an ultra-precision blitzkrieg strike of the Korean style”.
“The revolutionary armed forc-es of the DPRK holding tightly the arms to annihilate the enemies with towering hatred for them are waiting for the dignified Supreme Command to issue an order to launch a preemptive strike of jus-tice,” it said in comments carried by the state KCNA news agency.
Missing submarineDPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. CNN reported on Saturday that North Korea has been searching for one of its submarines that has been missing for days off its east coast. The submarine may be adrift un-
der the sea or have sunk, perhaps after a technical problem dur-ing an exercise, CNN quoted US officials with intelligence of secret US monitoring of the North’s activities as saying.
North Korea has said it is devel-oping submarine-launched ballis-tic missiles although doubts about that were raised after Western experts said publicly released foot-age of tests appeared to be fake.
On Thursday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watched as his forces fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.
This month the North conduct-ed drills with what it said were newly developed large caliber rocket launchers. Kim has ordered the country to improve its nuclear attack capability by conducting more tests, in defiance of a UN Se-curity Council resolution adopted last week in response to the iso-lated state’s latest nuclear test.
Kim also said his country had miniaturised nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles, although the US and South Ko-rean governments have expressed doubts about that too. - Reuters
North Korea has
denounced the
exercises as ‘nuclear
war moves’ and
threatened to respond
with an all-out
offensive
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TAKING POSITION: South Korean (blue headbands) and US Marines take positions as amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps fire smoke bombs during a US-South Korea joint landing operation drill in Pohang, South Korea,on Saturday. - Reuters
Rampant roosters rounded up in SydneySYDNEY: Roosters running rampant in an Australian city were rounded up on Saturday in a campaign to curb the unwant-ed birds. The Tasmanian state capital of Hobart, and its south-ern fringe in particular, has been plagued by feral fowls for the past five or six years, according to resident and Southern Tas-manian Bantam Club secretary Steven Baldock.
“They’re crowing and carry-ing on,” Baldock said.
People who keep chickens for their eggs often abandoned roosters, which do not produce eggs, he said. “We’ve got people dumping them on the side of the road,” Baldock said.
An “amnesty” organised by the Bantam Club and the Royal Tasmanian Agricultural Society on Saturday to encourage peo-ple to hand in unwanted birds, no questions asked, resulted in more than 150 fowls being brought in, he said.
Some would be re-homed with breeders, while the rest would be euthanised. - Reuters
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The end of globalisation?Daniel Gros
China has just announced that last year, for the first time since it began opening up its economy to the world at the end of the
1970s, exports declined on an annual basis. And that is not all; in value terms, global trade declined in 2015. The obvious question is why.
While global trade also fell in 2009, the expla-nation was obvious: The world was experiencing a sharp contraction in GDP at the time. Last year, however, the world economy grew by a respectable 3 per cent. Moreover, trade barriers have not risen significantly anywhere, and transport costs are falling, owing to the sharp decline in oil prices.
Tellingly, the so-called Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of chartering the large ships that carry most long-distance trade, has fallen to an all-time low. This indicates that markets do not expect a recovery, meaning that the data from 2015 could herald a new age of slowing trade. The obvi-ous conclusion is that the once-irresistible forces of globalisation are losing steam.
The situation in China is telling. In recent dec-ades, as it became the world’s leading trading econ-omy, China transformed the global trading system. Now the value of both imports and exports have fallen, though the former have declined more, ow-ing to the collapse of global commodity prices.
In fact, commodity prices are the key to under-standing trade trends over the last few decades. When they were high, they drove increased trade — to the point that the share of trade to GDP rose — fueling hype about the inevitable progress of glo-balisation. But in 2012, commodity prices began to fall, soon bringing trade down with them.
Assume that one ton of steel and ten barrels of oil are needed to produce one car. In 2002-2003, that bundle of raw materials was worth around $800, or about 5 per cent of the value of a $16,000 car. This implies that, during the early 2000s, industrial countries had to export five cars for every one hundred bundles of these raw materials they imported.
By 2012-2013, the value of the raw materials needed for a car increased to about $2,000, about 10 per cent of the cost of the same car (prices of cars had increased by much less). Industrial coun-tries thus had to export double, namely ten cars for the same amount of imports of raw materials.
Clearly, there is a direct link between the trends in trade and commodity prices (see figure). Given that this connection affects all manufactured goods that require raw material inputs, it should be no surprise that, as commodity prices have de-clined, so has global trade.
One might argue that this example concerns only the value of trade, and that in recent decades, the growth of trade by volume also has exceeded that of real GDP growth. But commodity prices affect trade volumes as well, because higher commodity prices force industrial countries to increase the volume of their exports (ten cars instead of five, in the example provided), in order to cover the costs of the same volume of raw material imports.
Because food, fuels, and raw materials comprise about a quarter of global trade, when their prices fluctuate — especially as strongly as they have in recent decades — aggregate trade figures are obvi-ously affected. Given the massive drop in commod-ity prices lately, there is little need to seek any oth-er explanation for the recent slowdown in trade.
This is not to say that globalisation and trade are one and the same. Globalisation entails many other features, including the surge in cross-border financial transactions and tourism, data exchange, and other economic activities.
In fact, these other interconnections have fed back into trade, as they have enabled the emer-gence of global value chains, whereby different steps of the production process occur in diffe-rent countries.
But this phenomenon has been overestimated. According to the World Trade Organisation, the foreign value-added contained in exports is only around 15 per cent for most large economies, such as the United States and the European Union. In other words, global value chains have little impact on these larger trading economies.
China is the only exception. Its position as an assembly platform for the world’s products meant that it imported most of the highest value-added elements of those goods. But as the country’s in-dustrial structure matures — Chinese-assembled iPhones now contain more Chinese-made parts than they did just a few years ago — it will move closer to the US and the EU in value-added terms, not the other way around.
This is yet another reason why trade might di-minish in importance.
When something is widely hyped, there is nearly always a real reason for it.
Most economies are more open today than they were a generation ago.
But it is now becoming clear that the percep-tion that globalisation is some overwhelming and inexorable force largely reflected the side effects of the last decade’s commodity boom. If prices re-main low, as seems likely, the next decade might well see global trade stagnate, as the trade pattern “rebalances” from emerging economies to the es-tablished industrial powers. - Project Syndicate.
Cuba shows how to deal with West’s policies This refers to news story EU pact to establish full ties as Cuba’s thaw with West progresses (March 11). The change in the behaviour of Western countries shows that if a country’s leadership is determined
and is able to keep its citizens united behind it with astute leadership then no one can detablise it. Kudos to the leader-ship of the Castro brothers who have been able to deliver their promises and yet have not fallen victims to the West’s policies of divide and rule. Under Fidel, the Carib-bean nation might have been less moneyed but the education and health sectors were worldclass. —Matt Smith, Darsait
Need to make T20 only form of cricket This refers to the report, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe to qualify for main round (March 12). The result of this match shows why the International Cricket Council needs to fol-low the example of football’s governing body FIFA. It is high time T20 is made the sole
form of cricket and for the world cup 32 teams participate. Football has been developed in this pattern so why cannot cricket too. This will make cricket as possible as football as not much net time would be required. — Waheeda Shirazi, Muscat
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Ministry launches human resources information projectMUSCAT: The Civil Service Ministry yesterday announced the start of the implementation stage of the human resources information sys-tem project. The announcement was made during a seminar attended by Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Mattar Al Azizi, civil service minister, and senior ministry officials. The project director explained what has al-ready been achieved in it, the most important activities in the imple-mentation plan, the factors which guarantee the success of the project and the mechanisms to implement it. This project is among the vital projects to which the ministry attaches great importance as it links all government units and enables these units to utilise the data which as-sist in planning process and decision making.
1881: Russia’s Czar Alexander II is assassinated
1940: Finland capitulates conditionally to Soviet terms, but maintains its independence.
1985 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the new leader of USSR.
1991: Exxon pays $1 billion in fines and costs for the clean-up of the Alaskan oil spill.
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to protect against terrorist threats, including a three-month extension of state of emergency that had been imposed on the night of the attacks
RAPHAËL HADAS-LEBEL
Republican candidate Ted Cruz’s varied efforts to break into Donald Trump’s electoral palace — finding a door locked, he tries the window
— will doubtless continue. But Thursday night’s debate only
reinforced how thoroughly Trump has beaten Cruz at his own game
FRANCIS WILKINSON
When police showed up at his door on the morning of March 4,
the former leader apparently said he would only leave in handcuffs,
although he agreed to go after talking to his lawyer. The public reacted strongly, with angry supporters
rushing to Lula’s defence, likening his detention to a coup and scuffling
with anti-Lula protesters
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Oman’s Zeeshan Maqsood pulled off a sensational catch to claim the wicket of Ireland’s Paul Stirling in the World T20 in India.
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CHINA: OMAN’S OIL TOP BUYERIn January, Oman exported more than 27 million oil barrels, of which, China buyed
almost the 90%
SouthKorea
500,500
China
24,420,300
Total oilexports
27,327,500
Taiwan
998,900
Singapore
606,300
Othercountries
801,500
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FLOODS IN BRAZILA flooded amusement park is seen in the city of Franco da Rocha, in the north of Sao Paulo state, Brazil, on Friday. — Reuters
Google software in Go game series win over title holder
SEOUL: Google’s artificial intel-ligence (AI) programme on Satur-day took a 3-0 lead in a five-match series against one of the world’s top players of the complicated board game Go.
The victory for the AlphaGo programme, designed by Google subsidiary DeepMind, over South Korean professional player Lee
Sedol, the holder of 18 interna-tional titles, has surprised many, including its designers and has underscored advances in AI.
“I am very sorry for the power-less display,” a dejected Lee told reporters in the South Korean capital, Seoul, after his defeat.
“Though I have a lot of experi-ence in Go I have never felt before such severe pressure as I do now, and I suppose my abilities were a bit lacking to overcome that.”
Go, most popular in countries such as China, South Korea and Japan, involves two contestants
moving black and white stones on a square grid, with the aim of seiz-ing the most territory.
Experts did not expect an arti-ficial intelligence programme to beat a human professional for at least a decade, until AlphaGo beat a player last year.
But Lee, 33, had been expected to put up stiffer competition than the player defeated then.
Speechless“To be honest we are a bit stunned and speechless,” said DeepMind founder Demis Hassibis, who earlier tweeted that AlphaGo’s victory was a “historic mo-ment.” Google executives say Go offers too many possible moves for a machine to win simply through brute-force calculations, unlike chess, in which IBM’s Deep Blue famously beat former world champion Garry Kasparov in 1997.
Instead, they said, AlphaGo has sought to approximate human in-tuition, by studying old matches and using simulated games to hone itself independently.
Lee had initially expected to win the series, even if he were to lose a match or two.
Two more matches will be played - on Sunday and Tuesday.
Not perfectHe said AlphaGo was not perfect and had weaknesses, although he did not elaborate on them, hold-ing out hope that someone might beat it.
“Lee Sedol is the one who lost today, not humanity,” he said.
A top player in China fancies his chances. — Reuters
The victory for the
AlphaGo programme,
designed by
Google subsidiary
DeepMind, over
South Korean
professional player
Lee Sedol, the holder
of 18 international
titles, underscored
advances in artificial
intelligence
Riot breaks out at US prison centreBIRMINGHAM (US): A riot broke out at a prison in south-ern Alabama, authorities said on Saturday, and a local news website said inmates had set fires and overturned beds.
An unidentified dispatcher with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the disturbance at the Holman Correctional Facility in At-more, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Mobile, but declined to give details about the situation.
It was unclear what caused the riot and whether there were any casualties. “We are not tak-ing any calls,” said a woman who answered the phone at the prison. She then hung up.
Setting firesNews website Al.com posted photos and a video it said showed prisoners setting fires and roaming freely in the facility.
Several inmates covered their faces with white towels in the video, which appeared to have been shot by an inmate.
The website said prisoners were using social media to re-port that “gates are rolled up” and that they had overturned beds. — Reuters
A L A B A M A
Peruvians hold demo against poll frontrunnerLIMA: Thousands of Peruvians marched in downtown Lima on Friday to demand the electoral board bar presidential frontrunner Keiko Fujimori from next month’s vote after it disqualified two of her rivals in an unprecedented move that has shaken the race.
Protesters said the centre-right politician should be thrown from the race because pictures and vid-eo show her and a running mate handing out gifts and prizes at ral-lies in possible violation of a new law against vote-buying.
Electoral authorities are inves-tigating the accusations.
Keiko, the 40-year-old daughter of imprisoned ex-president Al-berto Fujimori, has dismissed the accusations as “absurd.”
Her press officer did not im-mediately respond to requests for comment outside regular working hours.
One of Keiko’s rivals was thrown out of the race on Wednesday for giving cash to poor voters while campaigning.
Her biggest obstacle to winning, Julio Guzman, was disqualified because his party did not comply with electoral procedures - a deci-sion he called “fraud” that threat-ens to tarnish the legacy of the next president. The electoral board has denied wrongdoing or political bias. — Reuters
D I S Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S
‘Rocker Keith Emerson died from self-inflicted gunshot’NEW YORK: British-born key-boardist Keith Emerson of the 1970’s progressive rock band Em-erson, Lake & Palmer died from a self-inflicted single gunshot to his head, police said Friday.
He was 71. Emerson’s body was found by
local police at his Santa Monica, California, home in the early hours of Friday.
Police have preliminarily ruled the death a potential suicide, Santa Monica police spokesman Sergeant Rudy Camarena told Reuters.
Born in 1944 in the Yorkshire village of Todmorden, Emerson was a keyboardist for a number of groups in the 1960’s, including The Nice. But he was best known as a founding member of Emer-son, Lake & Palmer, a so-called “super group” of well-known rock musicians formed in 1970.
In addition to Emerson, the band included bassist Greg Lake, formerly of King Crimson, and drummer and percussionist Carl
Palmer, a veteran of several fa-mous English bands.
“Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come,” said Palmer on his website.
“He was a pioneer and an in-novator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz.”
The band posted about Emer-son’s passing on Facebook, ask-ing “that the family’s privacy and grief be respected.” — Reuters
P O T E N T I A L S U I C I D E
DEBACLE: The world’s top Go player Lee Sedol reviews the match after the third match of the Google
DeepMind Challenge Match against Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in Seoul, South
Korea on Saturday. — Reuters/Google/Yonhap
Keith Emerson was best known as a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, a so-called ‘super group’ of well-known rock musicians formed in 1970Keith Emerson
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Merkel’s migrant policy to be tested in German state polls
BERLIN: With a passionate de-fence of her migrant policy, Chan-cellor Angela Merkel threw her-self into one last campaign push on the eve of “Super Sunday” elec-tions in three German states that risk weakening her.
Migration is the touchstone issue in the three votes — two in western states, and one in the east — with many people worried how Germany can cope with a refugee crisis that saw over 1 mil-
lion migrants arrive in the country last year.
Merkel’s conservative Chris-tian Democrats (CDU) have been losing support to the anti-
immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has profited from popular angst about migrants after her high-risk decision last year to open
Germany’s borders to refugees fleeing war in Syria.
“There are situations in life - and this was the case last autumn — when you can’t hold a long de-
bate on principles,” Merkel said, defending her decision. “People are suddenly there and need pro-tection,” she told a CDU rally in Baden-Wuerttemberg, one of the three states voting on Sunday.
Already represented in five of Germany’s 16 regional par-liaments, the AfD looks set to burst into three more on Sunday, campaigning on slogans such as “Secure the borders! Stop the asylum chaos!” Now Merkel, in power since 2005 and facing a fed-eral election next year, is trying to secure a Europe-wide solution to stem the flow of refugees.
In Baden-Wuerttemberg, a CDU stronghold for over 50 years before turning to a Green-led coalition with the Social Democrats after Japan’s Fukush-ima nuclear disaster in 2011, the Greens’ state premier is poised to pip his CDU rival.
In Saxony-Anhalt in the east, the CDU is poised to remain the largest party but polls put the AfD on as much as 19 per cent support, and ahead of the Social Democrats (SPD), Merkel’s coalition partner in Berlin.
Asked how she would prepare for the election results, Merkel told Saturday’s rally: “I will cross my fingers.” — Reuters
Merkel’s Christian
Democrats have been
losing support to the
anti-immigration
Alternative for
Germany party,
which has profited
from popular angst
about migrants
US accuses Uganda of rights violationsNAIROBI: Uganda has persis-tently violated the rights of its citi-zens and media in the aftermath of last month’s presidential election which saw President Yoweri Mu-seveni retain his hold on power, the United States said.
US State Department spokes-man John Kirby said in a state-ment on Friday that Uganda’s repeated detention of opposi-tion figures and harassment of their supporter.
“The United States and Uganda have a long standing and strong partnership that has contributed to the stability and prosperity of the region,” the statement said.”We are concerned that the Ugandan government’s recent actions could endanger the economic and politi-cal progress that has enabled our relationship to grow.”
Uganda’s electoral commission declared Museveni, 71 and in pow-er since 1986, the winner of the February 18 election with 60 per cent of the vote.
House arrestKizza Besigye, who came in second with 35 per cent and has rejected the results as fraudulent, has been under virtual house arrest for weeks. — Reuters
P O L L A F T E R M A T H
HELPING HAND An employee feeds a one-month-old African grey parrot at the Royev Ruchey zoo in a surburb of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia, on Friday. — Reuters
Attackers throw bomb at Kosovo president’s officePRISTINA: Masked assailants broke windows and threw a pet-rol bomb at the office of Koso-vo’s president on Saturday but failed to set fire to the building, police said.
No one claimed responsibility for the 4 am attack in the centre of the capital Pristina, which the government condemned as “dan-gerous for the constitutional or-der and the country’s stability.”
Kosovo is facing a political crisis, with the opposition de-nouncing an EU-brokered deal with Serbia to give more rights to local Serbs. The issue is highly emotive, eight years after Kosovo declared independence from Bel-grade and less than two decades after a war that drew in NATO.
“Masked people have hurled a petrol bomb at the president’s office,” the police said in a state-ment. “They broke the window with stones but failed to throw the petrol bomb inside and the bottle hit the wall.” The office was empty at the time and no one was injured. Part of a wall facing a busy road was blackened by smoke from the burning petrol.
Police were working to identify a white car they suspected was used by the assailants.
The office is used by outgo-ing President Atifete Jahjaga and will be taken over by newly elected president Hashim Thaci next month. Opposition lawmak-ers, angry at the deal with Serbia, released teargas in Kosovo’s par-liament and protesters outside threw petrol bombs in an unsuc-cessful attempt to block Thaci’s election last month.
Police are investigating simi-lar attacks in recent weeks in which private cars of govern-ment ministers were burned.
The opposition, which is de-
manding the resignation of the government and a snap election, has denied it is behind these at-tacks. They have called fresh pro-tests on March 26.
Kosovo declared independ-ence in 2008, almost a decade after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian security forces ac-cused of killing and expelling ethnic Albanian civilians during a counter-insurgency war.
Repeated attacksOpposition parties have repeat-edly released tear gas in parlia-ment in protest at the deal with Serbia and its supporters have thrown petrol bombs at govern-ment and parliament buildings including the private house of Prime Minister Isa Mustafa. In January they set a government building on fire. — Reuters
C O N S T I T U T I O N A L R O W
Opposition lawmakers,
angry at the deal
with Serbia, released
teargas in Kosovo’s
parliament and
protesters outside
threw petrol bombs
in an unsuccessful
attempt to block
Hashim Thaci’s
election last month
CRUNCH VOTE: Angela Merkel, German Chancellor addresses a Baden-Wuerttemberg state election campaign rally in Haigerloch, Germany on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s regional elections in three states. Words read ‘Its about the country’. — Reuters
WARSAW: Tens of thousands of Poles marched through Warsaw on Saturday demanding their gov-ernment respect the constitution, in an escalation of a confrontation
pitting the opposition, the coun-try’s top court and the EU against the ruling conservatives.
Waving Polish and EU flags and chanting “constitution”, the
crowds on the opposition rally called on the government to recog-nise a court ruling against divisive legal reforms.
The eurosceptic Law and Jus-
tice (PiS) party has faced growing criticism from the European Un-ion, the United States and rights groups since it swept to power in October and increased controls on media and other institutions.
Poland’s constitutional court said on Wednesday that the gov-ernment’s decision to increase the number of its judges needed to make rulings was illegal, deepen-ing a crisis that has stirred con-cerns about democracy and the rule of law in the EU’s largest east-ern member.
Critics say the reforms, which also change the order in which cases are heard at the top court, have made it difficult for judges to review, let alone challenge, the government’s legislation. But the government on Saturday repeated its refusal to publish the constitu-tional court’s ruling in an official journal, saying the ruling itself was illegal and effectively leaving the court order in legal limbo.
It has argued the constitutional court is too powerful, allied to the last administration and deter-
mined to block reforms the party was elected to push through — charges dismissed by the court and rights groups. Large crowds gathered in front of a large banner reading “bring back the constitu-tional order” at the top court build-ing, then marched towards the presidential palace in Warsaw’s old town, filling a large part of the 3-km route.
In a Twitter entry, a city offi-cial put the number of protesters at more than 50,000, though that figure could not be confirmed in-dependently.
“Years ago, Poles protested to change the political system,” former World Bank economist Ryszard Petru, leader of the liberal opposition Modern party, told the crowds, referring to Poland’s anti-communist Solidarity movement.
“Now we’re protesting to make sure they don’t suddenly change it.” — Reuters
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Tens of thousands rally to demand Polish government respect charterPoland’s
constitutional court
said on Wednesday
that the government’s
decision to increase
number of its judges
needed to make
rulings was illegalFURIOUS: People hold a giant Polish national flag as they take part in a march demanding their government to respect the country’s constitution in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday. — Reuters
IVORY COAST FESTIVAL A model presents a creation by Ivorian designer Momotche outside the palais de la culture in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on March 11, 2016 during the 9th edition of the MASA festival (Market For African Performing Arts. — AFP
Former employee of French embassy arrested in TehranDUBAI: A former employee of the French embassy in Tehran has been arrested at the airport after arriving in Iran to visit her critically ill mother, the opposi-tion website Kalemeh reported on Saturday.
Nazak Afshar, 58, who has French-Iranian citizenship, had previously been arrested in 2009 on charges of spying and of acting against Iran’s national security. Although she was put on trial at the time, no verdict was issued and she was freed following the intervention of the French gov-ernment. She left the country the same year.
Nazak had travelled to Iran to visit her mother after “doctors had given up hope of her recov-ery”, the website said, without giving details of the ailment.
The potential opening up to the West after last year’s nu-clear deal has alarmed Iranian conservatives and the arrest of Nazak and the detention of oth-er people with dual citizenship appear to be part of a crackdown on what some officials have called Western infiltration.
Siamak Namazi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, was detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October while visiting family.
Baquer Namazi, Siamak’s 80-year-old father who is also a dual citizen, was arrested in Feb-ruary on his arrival in Tehran.
An Iranian-British former BBC journalist, Bahman Da-roshafaei, was also detained in February but was released on bail three weeks later.
Officials have yet to an-nounce charges against them but Iran’s judiciary spokes-man said last month that most of the detained dual nationals face espionage charges.
Iran does not recognise dual nationality.
Tehran released four Iranian-Americans and one other U.S. citizen in January in a prisoner swap with the United States, which granted clemency to seven Iranians and dropped arrest or-ders for 14 others. — Reuters
W E S T E R N I N F I L T R A T I O N F E A R E D
Nazak Afshar, 58, who has French-Iranian citizenship, had previously been arrested in 2009 on charges of spying and of acting against Iran’s national security
CHICAGO: US Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Saturday blamed or-ganised “thugs” for protests that shut down his Chicago rally and said the incident had “energised America.”
Trump, who will be at a cam-paign rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday, cancelled the Chicago event on Friday after it turned chaotic, with scuffles breaking out between protesters and backers of the real estate magnate.
“The organised group of peo-ple, many of them thugs, who shut down our First Amendment rights in Chicago, have totally energised America!” Trump said on Twitter.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution protects freedom of speech and assembly.
The Chicago rally came ahead of five primary elections on Tuesday, including contests in Ohio and Il-linois. Trump has drawn fervent support as well as criticism for his calls to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and to impose a
temporary ban on Muslims enter-ing the country. His rallies often attract small groups of protesters, but Friday’s was the first at which there may have been as many pro-testers as supporters.
Asked by CNN interviewer Don Lemon if he would take back anything he had said, Trump said: “Now, getting back to before to-night, when I talked about illegal immigration, I have no regrets
whatsoever. If I didn’t bring up illegal immigration, it wouldn’t even be a subject of the campaign,” he added.
At the University of Illinois-Chicago stadium rally the two sides shouted at each other until a Trump staffer appeared and said the event would be put off until an unspecified date for security rea-sons. Police said five people were arrested, including CBS News re-porter Sopan Deb.
Two officers were injured, with one requiring stitches, police said.
The cancellation followed an appearance by Trump in St. Louis
on Friday during which protests forced him to halt his speech re-peatedly. Republican rival candi-dates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio both called the incident “sad” and said the protesters should have let the rally happen.
Trump has a significant lead in primary contests over the three remaining Republicans vying for the White House. He is looking to cement it on Tuesday.
Ohio Governor John Kasich, also battling Trump, told report-ers before a campaign event in Cincinnati that Trump had “cre-ated a toxic environment.” — Reuters
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Trump blames ‘thugs’ for cancelled Chicago eventUS presidential
election race’s
Chicago event
on Friday was
cancelled after it
turned chaotic, with
scuffles breaking out
between protesters
and backers of
the Republican
frontrunner
CHAOTIC SCENES: A Trump supporter, right, yells at a demonstrator, left, after Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump
cancelled his rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Friday. — Reuters
Nationalists plan new push for Scottish independenceGLASGOW: The Scottish Nation-al Party (SNP) will start building a new case for independence from the United Kingdom this summer, party leader and Scottish govern-ment head Nicola Sturgeon said on Saturday.
She said, however, that a second Scottish referendum after the one the party lost in September 2014 would not take place quickly.
“We want to be in the driving seat of our own destiny,” Sturgeon told 3,000 delegates at the SNP’s spring conference.
“We will not achieve our dream of independence just by wishing that the outcome of the referen-dum had been different.
“Or wishing we could do it all again next week.”
“This summer the SNP will em-bark on a new initiative to build support for independence,” she said, to a standing ovation.
Senior British politicians have said that if Britain votes to leave the European Union in a June vote but Scots show they want to stay, this could provide a trigger for a second Scottish secessionist drive.
Success would depend on the strength of the arguments for independence this time around, she said, a nod to the fact that some party insiders have criti-cised the last campaign for be-ing too dependent on the value of North Sea oil.
Scots voted 55 to 45 per cent against independence in 2014, but the collapse of the Labour and the Conservative parties vaulted the SNP to unprecedented gains in the British election in 2015, where it won almost all the seats assigned to Scotland in the parliament at Westminster. — Reuters
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Orpic completes $3.8b funding for Liwa Plastics Industries
Times News Service
MUSCAT: State-owned Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Indus-tries Company (Orpic) said that the company has closed its Liwa Plastics Industries Complex’s $3.8 billion project financing facility for its $6.5 billion project.
This follows Orpic’s Decem-ber 2015 announcement of the successful award of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts to deliver its landmark Liwa Plastics Indus-tries Project (LPIC), according to a press statement.
Commenting on the signifi-cance of LPIC’s project financ-ing, Orpic chief executive officer Musab Al Mahruqi said, “Orpic’s LPIC project is part of our long-term growth strategy to firmly en-ter into the petrochemical market. This financing facility, which is the largest ever project financing transaction to be achieved in the Sultanate, is an indication of the level of confidence and support Orpic has from key institutions and stakeholders.”
Liwa Plastics Industries Com-plex financing has been sup-ported by export credit agencies
representing the governments of Italy (SACE Cdp), the Netherlands (Atradius Dutch State Business), Korea (K-Exim and K-Sure), the United Kingdom (UKEF) and Ger-many (Euler Hermes), along with 19 international, regional and local commercial lenders.
lead arrangersMandated lead arrangers and ar-rangers of the LPIC project financ-ing were Arab Banking Corpora-tion, BankDhofar, Bank Muscat, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, BNP Paribas Fortis, Cassadepositi e prestitis, CréditIndustriel et Com-
mercial, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Export De-velopment Canada, HSBC Bank, ING Bank (a branch of ING-DI-BA), JPMorgan Chase Bank, KfW IPEX-Bank, Korea Development Bank, NATIXIS, Saudi National Commercial Bank, Société Géné-rale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and UniCredit.
“Liwa Plastic Industries Com-plex represents a robust and resil-ient project to lenders – satisfying the highest international environ-ment and social requirements, and provides appropriate frameworks to address each of the technical,
commercial and legal challenges which customarily arise on major world-scale petrochemical pro-jects. The company has been able to successfully secure financing amid challenging global financial and economic conditions and with limited government guarantees which reflects the trust that in-ternational financing institutions have placed on the project and the investment climate within the Sul-tanate,” added Al Mahruqi.
Orpic completed the financing of Liwa Plastic Industries Complex on a highly accelerated timetable, which was designed to coincide
with the scheduled commence-ment of works on the project con-struction packages. Commission-ing for the Liwa Plastic Industries Complex project is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
Global plastics marketUpon commissioning in 2020, Orpic’s Liwa Plastics Industries Complex Project will transform Orpic’s product mix and business model, double company profit, cre-ate new business opportunities, generate significant employment opportunities and support the de-velopment of a downstream plas-tics industry in Oman.
With the global market for plas-tics growing, the $6.5 billion Liwa Plastics Industries Complex will firmly establish Orpic as a recog-nised player in the international pet-rochemicals marketplace – enabling Oman, for the first time, to produce polyethylene, the form of plastic that rates highest in terms of global demand and increased the current production of polypropylene.
Following commissioning, plas-tics production is forecast to in-crease by more than 1 million tons, giving Orpic a total of 1.4 million tons of polyethylene and polypro-pylene production.
Financing has been
supported by export
credit agencies
representing the
governments of Italy,
the Netherlands,
Korea, the UK and
Germany, along with
19 global, regional
and local lenders
Al Bashair plans to invest OMR37m in red meat projectMUSCAT: Al Bashair Meat Com-pany, which aims to provide fresh red meat to cover the shortage in local production, will invest OMR37 million during the initial stages of the project.
The new company, which hopes to achieve self-sufficiency by us-ing state-of-the-art technology and business operations, said the shortage of red meat currently stands at 80 per cent.
The company’s founding as-sembly recently held its first meet-ing under the chairmanship of Dr Rashid bin Salim Al Masrouri, chairman of the Founding Commit-tee and chairman of the Oman Food Investment Holding Company.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the funds and the investment companies invest-ing in the project — Oman Food Investment Holding Company, Oman National Investments De-velopment Company, Oman Investment Corporation, Civil Service Pension Fund and Arab Agriculture Development and In-vestment Authority.
The meeting discussed a report of the founding committee on the measures adopted to incorporate the company, a study on the cost of incorporation and getting approv-al, the election of new company board members, the appointment of auditors and fixing their fees for the first year.
Mohammed bin ObaidAl Maz-roui, chairman of the Arab Author-ity for Investment and Agricultur-al Development said the authority
is considering several investment projects, such as dairy production collection and a manufacturing project in the Governorate of Dho-far, a project for the production of vegetables using hydroponic tech-nology and a project for chicken.
Food securityMohammed bin Salim Al Awaid, representative of the Oman Na-tional Animal Wealth Develop-ment at the Al Bashair Meet Company said the project is a translation of the government’s directives and ambitious plans to achieve food security and added value for the Omani economy. Moreover, the project will gener-ate job opportunities for Omanis, he added.
Saleh bin Mohammed Al Shan-fari, member of the founding com-mittee and chief executive officer of Oman Food Investment Holding said the company will continue the initiatives in food security, espe-cially in the projects that will en-hance the Sultanate’s position as a hub for food products manufactur-ing and production. - ONA
N E W P R O J E C T
Oman’s inflation drops marginally in FebruaryMUSCAT: Oman’s inflation, based on consumer price index (CPI), fell by 0.07 per cent in February from January this year, while on a year-on-year basis, it increased 0.32 per cent, accord-ing to latest data published by the National Centre for Statis-tics and Information.
The food and beverages (non-alcoholic) set carrying a weight of nearly 24 per centin the CPI basket led the monthly fall with a price slump of 1.36 per cent, which was slightly offset by ris-ing prices of the housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels subset (with a weight of over 26 per cent) at 0.03 per cent.
Under the food and beverages
set, bread and cereals went down by 0.11 per cent, while fish and seafood saw prices fall by 1.08 per cent.
Prices of meat, and milk, cheese and eggs subsets rose by 0.15 per centand 0.08 per centre-spectively in February 2016 com-pared to January 2016 prices.
Oils and fats riseOils and fats rose 0.11 per cent, while a price fall was recorded in the fruits and vegetables sub-sets at 2.93 per centand 8.95 per centrespectively. Sugar, honey and confectionary subset prices increased 0.05 per cent, while non-alcoholic beverages rose by 0.14 per cent.
Tobacco went up 0.04 per cent, while clothing and footwear, and furnishing, household applianc-es and maintenance sets logged a price fall of 0.05 per centand 0.35 per centrespectively in February compared with January.
Prices stabilised in the health, education and communication sets over the period, even as transport prices hiked by 1.32 per cent. Recreation and culture turned more affordable by 0.07 per cent, while restaurants and hotels became costlier by 0.07 per cent.
Prices of other goods and ser-vices increased 0.17 per centin February compared to the previ-ous month. - ONA
E C O N O M Y
Sultanate to sign deal for temporary water projectsTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Oman Power and Wa-ter Procurement Company, the sole procurer of all new power generation and water desalination capacity in the Sultanate, will sign a water purchase agreement to es-tablish the Qurayyat and Aseelah temporary desalination plants with Muscat Water at a ceremony to be held on Monday, according to a press release.
The total potable water output of Qurayyat plant is 8,000 cubic metres per day (1.76 million gal-lon per day) whereas total potable water output of Aseelah plant is 10,000 cubic metres per day (2.2 million gallon per day).
The projects will be structured as Independent Water Projects (IWPs) with OPWP purchasing the potable water produced by the pro-ject under a water purchase agree-ment. The scope of the project, which will be located in Qurayyat in Muscat governorate and Jalan Bani Bu Ali in Sharqiyah South governorate, includes the design, construction, ownership, opera-tion and maintenance of a high ef-ficiency reverse osmosis desalina-tion facilities.
Aqua Swiss holds 70 per cent stake in Muscat Water while Al Sulaimi Group Holding holds 30 per cent. Both projects are due to begin operations by mid-2016.
A few days ago, Oman Power and Water Procurement signed OMR115 million ($300 million) agreements to establish the Barka Desalination Company.
P O T A B L E W A T E R
The new company,
which hopes to achieve
self-sufficiency by
using state-of-the-art
technology, said the
shortage of red meat in
the country is 80 per
cent at the moment.
INFLATION EASES: Under the food and beverages sub-group, bread and cereals went down by 0.11
per cent, while fish and seafood saw prices falling by 1.08 per cent. - ONA
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Musab Al Mahruqi, Chief execu-
tive officer, Orpic– Supplied picture
GIANT LEAP: Orpic had announced the successful award of engineering, procurement and construction
contracts to deliver its landmark Liwa Plastics Industries Project. – File picture
MALAYSIA SET TO APPOINT NEW CENTRAL BANK CHIEFA top Malaysian Finance Ministry official is set to be appointed as central bank governor next week, said a report. Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah will replace Zeti Akhtar Aziz as central bank chief. - Reuters
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MARKETS U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
US rejects largescale Jordan gas export proposalNEW YORK: United States regulators rejected Veresen’s multibillion-dollar proposal to build a terminal in the US state of Oregon that would export as many as two tankers of natural gas a week. They also denied its plan to a build a pipeline with Williams Partners to supply gas to the terminal.
Williams and Veresen failed to demonstrate that the pipeline’s benefits would outweigh the “ad-verse effects on landowners,” the Federal Energy Regulatory Com-mission has said in an order de-nying authorisation. And without a pipeline supplying gas, the Jor-dan Cove export terminal “can provide no benefit to the public to counterbalance” the impacts associated with its construction, the agency said.
The rejection throws into ques-tion the future of a project that has waited almost three years for regulatory approval. A worldwide glut of liquefied natural gas is meanwhile emerging, threaten-ing the economics of such export terminals in the US. As much as half of the nation’s LNG export capacity is at risk of being shut between 2017 and 2020, accord-ing to the research and consulting group Wood Mackenzie.
“Jordan Cove was one of the few projects off the West Coast we would have expected to move forward,” Het Shah, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in New York, said by e-mail late Friday. The terminal would have “brought much-needed relief” to gas markets in Western Canada and the Rockies by creating an-other outlet for the region’s pro-duction, he said.
Extremely surprisedCalgary-based Veresen said in a statement that it was “extremely surprised and disappointed” by the decision and plans to request
a rehearing on it. “We will contin-ue to advance negotiations with customers to address this con-cern,” Don Althoff, the company’s chief executive officer, said.
Williams, based in Oklahoma City, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
While Veresen has estimated in previous presentations that the Jordan Cove terminal would cost $5.3 billion, a report issued by the federal energy commis-sion’s staff last year estimated construction would total about $3 billion.
Shale boomJordan Cove is not the first ter-minal to have been rejected by the federal energy commission, but it may be the first export pro-ject to be denied since the US shale boom touched off a flurry of applications to send natural gas abroad. The commission had ap-proved at least seven export plans as of January 6 and was weighing applications for nine more, in-cluding Jordan Cove, reports on its website show.
Veresen had proposed to build four “trains,” or LNG production plants, at Jordan Cove that would have been capable of making 6.8 million metric tonnes of LNG a year. The 373-kilometre, $1.74 billion Pacific Connector gas pipeline proposed to supply the plant would have been owned by Veresen and Williams Partners.
The project has been mired in regulatory setbacks since it was first proposed, from delays over a state water permit to the extension of its public comment-ing period. “The more adverse impact a project would have on a particular interest, the greater the showing of need and public benefits required to balance the adverse impact,” the federal en-ergy commission said in its order on Friday. - Bloomberg News
N A T U R A L G A S
Bank credit in Oman grows 8.4 per cent to OMR18.32b
MUSCAT: Total bank credit of commercial banks in the Sultan-ate by the end of December 2015 amounted to OMR18,316.4 million compared to OMR16,898.4 million during the same period of 2014, an increase of 8.4 per cent.
A quarterly bulletin issued by the Research and Statistics De-partment of the Central Bank of
Oman (CBO) said that the per-sonal loan disbursement was OMR7,333.9 million, which in-dicates 40 per cent of the total commercial loan. The construc-tion sector received OMR2,89.4 million, with a share of 11.4 per cent. The service sector received OMR1,500.8 million, with 8.2 per cent share, followed by the indus-
trial sector at OMR1,458.1 million, with 8 per cent.
The bulletin pointed out that the import sector received OMR1,78.6 million, with 5.9 per cent. Trans-port and Communications sector got OMR999.9 million, with 5.5 percent. The financial institutions sector received OMR920.7 mil-lion, with a share of 5 per cent.
The mining sector (mining and quarrying) got OMR808.4 million, with 4.4 per cent.
The electricity, gas and water sector received OMR758.4 million, showing a share of 4.1 per cent.
The wholesale and retail trade sector got OMR631.9 million, with 3.5 per cent, followed by agricul-ture and related activities sector, which got OMR57.6 million, with
0.3 per cent. The export sector got OMR13.8 million, with 0.1 per cent, followed by the government sector at OMR12.1 million, by 0.1 per cent.
The bulletin said that the size of the bank credit in the Sultan-ate for other economic activities amounted to OMR460.3 million, a growth of 2 per cent, while bank credit for non-residents amounted to OMR192.5 million, by 1.1 per cent of the total volume of bank credit. - ONA
Personal loans were OMR7,333.9m, which
shows a 40% share in total commercial credit,
according to the Central Bank of Oman
Marissa hopes to lead Yahooeven if firm changes hands CALIFORNIA: Marissa Mayer is hopeful of keeping her job lead-ing Yahoo! even if the struggling Web pioneer changes hands.
Under pressure from inves-tors and facing a potential proxy fight, the chief executive officer has pledged to do what’s best for shareholders as Yahoo reviews alternatives for separating its core Internet business from a stake in Alibaba Group. There are many viable options for splitting the company, Mayer said during an interview on Thursday on the ‘Charlie Rose Show’.
Those included being acquired by a strategic buyer or private eq-uity, along with a reverse-spin to extricate the core Web operations from its Chinese holdings. “I cer-tainly hope the strategic alterna-tive has a place for me,” she said. “But that said, we’ll obviously honor our commitments to our shareholders.”
Mayer is considering strategic options for the company even as she tries to drive a turnaround with a new plan for sparking growth. Activist investor Star-board Value, which has been criti-cal of her efforts to restore growth and boost shareholder returns, has taken initial steps for a poten-tial proxy fight that could recast the board with new directors, people familiar with the matter said last month.
Yahoo’s future“The primary issue is Yahoo, our technology, the employees, the services, the end-users -- how do we get that to the best possible place for Yahoo and find it the best possible future,” she said. “I’m secondary to that.”
Mayer expressed confidence in the turnaround plan, saying she can see success coming closer though most similar efforts can take five to seven years.
Mayer said that, among other options, Yahoo going private may give her the opportunity to drive new recovery plans away from public scrutiny.
The company has said the turn-
around includes cutting costs to drive efficiency and invest in more promising opportunities. Yahoo announced Friday it would shut down Livetext, a messaging app, at the end of the month. The service, which was rolled out with fanfare last year, enabled users to communicate via video — without audio — and text.
The company will incorporate the ‘learnings and features’ into products including Yahoo Mes-senger, she said.
Yahoo also said it was closing regional media properties, in-cluding the astrology service in countries such as France and In-dia. – Bloomberg News
T E C H N O L O G Y
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CREDIT GROWS: According to the Central Bank of Oman, construction sector received OMR2,89.4 million credit, with a share of 11.4 per
cent. The service sector received OMR1,500.8 million, with 8.2 per cent share. – Times file picture
STRATEGIC OPTIONS: Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is considering
strategic options for the company even as she tries to drive a
turnaround with a new plan for sparking growth. – Bloomberg News
B3S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
MARKETUAE retains leading position among Oman’s export markets
A. E. JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: Oman’s neighbouring country, the United Arab Emir-ates (UAE), retained its position as the main destination of Sultan-ate’s non-oil exports in the first nine months of 2015.
The Sultanate’s non-oil exports to the UAE touched OMR468.7 million, indicating a 19.8 per cent share in OMR2,364.1 million non-oil exports of the country in the first three quarters of 2015, according to the latest statistics from National Centre for Statis-tics and Information (NCSI).
However, Oman’s exports to the UAE showed a decline of 18.1 per cent in the first nine months of 2015, compared to the same pe-riod of previous year.
Saudi ArabiaAccording to NCSI, Saudi Arabia was the second largest importer of Omani products, followed by In-dia, China and the United States of America (USA). China’s non-oil imports from Oman surged ahead by 47 per cent to OMR192.3 mil-lion during the period.
It may be noted that the Sultan-ate’s total non-oil exports fell by 23 per cent to OMR2,364.1 million
in the first nine months of 2015, from OMR3,068.9 million for the same period of the previous year. The fall in export revenue was mainly on account of a plunge in commodity prices in interna-tional markets.
UAE top exporterAs far as the Sultanate’s imports are concerned, the UAE retained its position as the top exporter of goods and services to Oman in the first nine months of 2015, with a share of 35.64 per cent (OMR2,978.8 million).
The country’s total imports from different trading partners edged down by 0.8 per cent to OMR8,356.9 million during the period.
According to the latest statis-tics released by NCSI, Japan was the second leading country for Oman’s imports, followed by Chi-na, India and the United States.
In fact, the Sultanate imported Chinese goods and services worth OMR479.1 million, showing a surge of 24.4 per cent over the same period last year.
Oman’s export development agency, Public Authority for In-vestment Promotion and Export Development (popularly known as Ithraa), is undertaking several initiatives to enhance non-oil ex-ports, especially to its target mar-kets.
These programmes include vis-its of trade delegations, participa-tion in international exhibitions, business-to-business meetings and market studies in potential export markets.
The Sultanate’s non-
oil exports to the UAE
touched OMR468.7
million, indicating
a 19.8% share in
OMR2,364.1m non-
oil exports in the first
nine months of 2015
IMPORTERS: Saudi Arabia was the second biggest importer of
Omani products, followed by India, China and the US, according to
National Centre for Statistics and Information.- File picture
MUSCAT: Oman’s trade balance for the first nine months of 2015 registered a surplus of OMR2,051.1 mil-lion, a decline of 71.2 per cent compared to the surplus in the same period of 2014 due to a fall in oil exports .
The National Centre for Statistics and Informa-tion (NCSI) said that the merchandise exports, which includes oil and gas, non-oil exports and re-exports registered a decline of 33.1 per cent to OMR10.41 billion compared to OMR15.55 bil-lion during the same period in 2014.
The bulletin said that the value of commodity imports as of the end of third quarter of 2015 stood at OMR8,356.9 million compared to OMR8,420.3 million during the same period in 2014; a decline of 0.8 per cent due to the slump in transportation equipment, live animal and their products’ imports.
The Sultanate’s trade bal-ance in 2014 posted a surplus of OMR9,195.7 million, a growth by 0.8 per cent com-pared to 2013. NCSI figures also showed that the value of oil and gas exports fell by 39.8 per cent during the first nine months of last year. The non-oil commodity exports declined by 23 per cent.
The total value of oil and gas exports stood at OMR6,157.6 million compared to OMR10,236.9 million during the first nine months of 2014. The value
of crude oil exports during the same period also stood at OMR5,277.0 million.The value of refined oil ex-ports stood at OMR131,900 and the value of LNG exports stood at OMR748.8 million compared to OMR1,059.6 million during the first nine months of 2014; a fall of 29.3 per cent.
The value of non-oil exports stood at OMR2,364.1 million compared to OMR3,068.9 million, includ-ing mineral products exports worth OMR488.8 million; decline of 46.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The value of rubber and plastics exports stood at OMR206.9 million; a decline of 23.7 per cent. The value of chemical industries exports stood at OMR565.8 million, a decline by 18 per cent. The value of mineral and min-eral works exports stood at OMR502.1 million. The value of the other non-oil exports stood at OMR600.6 million; a growth of 1 per cent.
The re-export activity declined by 16.1 per cent to stand at OMR1,886.3 million compared to OMR2,248.1 million during the first nine months of 2014. The export of transport equipment declined by 15.9 per cent to hit OMR1,224.1 million. The re-export of other minerals increased by 0.1 per cent to hit OMR379.6 million. The value of other activities stood at OMR282.6 million. - ONA
Trade surplus at OMR2b shows 71 per cent decline
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Sohar port sets the pace at Dubai cargo show Times News Service
MUSCAT: Experts from Sohar Port and Freezone participated in a number of panel discussions on themes around rail and regional logistics at the Cargo Show Mena last week. The two-day event, held at the Dubai World Trade Centre Arena, brought together over 3,000 industry professionals from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and around the world, said a release.
As one of the keynote speakers at the conference, Marc Evertse, Sohar port executive commercial manager, spoke about intermodal and multimodal connectivity and its role in reducing the costs of doing business. “Thanks to our
prime location outside the Strait of Hormuz and our seamless sea-road-air infrastructure, Sohar is ideally placed to become of the key regional logistics hubs,” he said.
New highwaysMany new highways are under construction in Sohar, including one connecting the Omani port di-rectly to Saudi Arabia, which will avoid the delays associated with the current routes through the UAE. Sohar is also investing heav-ily in technology, with new auto-mated truck appointment systems for the container terminal, as well as online customs clearance sys-tems and a complete port manage-ment system, that gives shipping
agents the platform to access and exchange information.
Summing up the two-day event in Dubai, Andre Toet, chief execu-tive officer of Sohar Port, said: “As the entire region shifts its focus to an economic base fuelled by knowledge, the Sultanate is ideally placed to play a critical role and be-come a major logistics hub. Where-as many western countries are still struggling to make the transition to a post-industrial economy, there is a huge opportunity for young countries like Oman to focus even more on education and training and leapfrog their way into leading roles in innovation sectors like sus-tainable energy, clean-technology, and logistics.”
C A R G O S H O W
RAIL AND LOGISTICS: Experts from Sohar Port and Freezone participated in a number of panel discus-
sions on themes around rail and regional logistics at the Cargo Show Mena last week. - Supplied picture
Asia should take bigger role guiding economy: LagardeNEW DELHI: Asia needs to take a leadership role in the global economy that reflects the con-tinent’s growing clout, Interna-tional Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said.
Asian officials should keep monetary policy supportive, while using fiscal policy to boost growth and macro-prudential measures to protect financial stability, Lagarde said in a speech
Saturday in New Delhi. Adopting structural reforms to boost com-petitiveness, growth and jobs will be key, she said.
Lagarde, who was reappointed last month for a second five-year term, called Asia the “world’s most dynamic region,” noting it accounts for 40 per cent of the world economy and will deliver nearly two-thirds of growth over the next four years. - Bloomberg News
E C O N O M Y
China factory output growth rate easesBEIJING: China’s industrial pro-duction and retail sales slowed in the first two months of the year, highlighting the pressure leaders will face to meet this year’s annual growth target even as the central bank governor said major stimulus wasn’t needed.
Industrial output rose 5.4 per cent from a year earlier in January and February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Satur-day, compared to the 5.6 per cent median estimate of economists surveyed. Retail sales climbed 10.2 per cent from a year earlier, miss-ing the 11 per cent projected gain in the survey, while fixed-asset in-vestment exceeded estimates with a 10.2 per cent increase.
The reports highlight the choice facing policy makers: step up mon-etary and fiscal stimulus and build up more debt, or let the nation’s industrial engines slow further while reducing overcapacity in the steel, cement and coal sectors. Steel output fell in the two-month period, while aluminum output tumbled 7.7 per cent, Saturday’s reports showed.
Growth profile gloomy“The overall growth profile re-mains still gloomy,” said Zhou Hao, an economist at Commerzbank AG in Singapore.
“The mix of data give us a worry-ing picture. Activity data remained weak while inflation and property prices are turning around.”
Speaking at a briefing just before the data release, People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan sought to project an aura of calm about the economy, saying that the government will be able to meet its target of at least 6.5 per cent growth over the next five years.
“Excessive monetary policy stimulus isn’t necessary to achieve the target,” Zhou said, reiterat-ing past comments that monetary policy is prudent with a slight eas-ing bias. “If there isn’t any big eco-nomic or financial turmoil, we’ll keep prudent monetary policy.”
– Bloomberg News
E C O N O M Y
B4
FEATURES U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
$
f you get involved in online debates about economic history, it won’t be long before someone tells you that the West is rich be-cause it stole the resourc-
es of the regions it colonised. This stolen-wealth theory is cited as the reason the UK and France are rich today, while Ethiopia and Burundi are poor. It also is sometimes used to argue that global capitalism is inherently unjust and that wealth must be radically redistributed be-tween nations as compensation.
The problem is, the stolen-wealth theory is wrong.
Oh, it’s absolutely true that colo-nial powers stole natural resourc-es from the lands they conquered. No one disputes that. And at the time, this definitely made the col-onised regions a lot poorer. The UK, for example, caused repeated famines in India by raising taxes on farmers and by encouraging the cultivation of cash crops instead of subsistence crops. That is a pretty stark example of destructive re-source extraction.
It’s also probably true that this stolen wealth helped much of the West get rich. Of course, Western
countries didn’t simply consume the resources they plundered — the global economy isn’t just a lump of wealth that gets divvied up, but rather relies on the productive ef-forts of individuals, companies and governments. The UK, for exam-ple, was able to industrialise not by consuming spices confiscated from India, but because its citizens invented power looms and steam engines and other technologies, and because its people worked very hard at factories and plants that used those technologies.
So if the West did steal resources from colonised nations, and if this theft did help them get rich, why do I say that the stolen-wealth theory is wrong? I say that because the theory doesn’t explain the global distribution of income today. It is no longer a significant reason why rich countries are rich and poor countries are poor.
The easiest way to see this is to observe all the rich countries that never had the chance to plunder colonies. Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and Japan had colonial empires for only the very brief-est of moments, and their greatest eras of development came before
and after those colonial episodes. Switzerland, Finland, and Austria never had colonies. And South Ko-rea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong were themselves colonies of other powers. Yet today they are very rich. They did it not by theft, but by working hard, being creative, and having good institutions.
Meanwhile, in the poor countries have long since taken control of their natural resources. State-con-trolled oil companies in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Iran and Russia own far more of the world’s oil than do giant Western corporations like Exxon or BP. The African countries control their own mines, and Latin American coun-tries their own crop land. The era of resource theft by rich countries is over and done.
Yet still, somehow, these coun-tries are not very rich. Only a small handful of tiny nations whose economies are based on natural resources — Brunei, Kuwait and Qatar among others — are actu-ally rich. Most are poor, despite controlling all of their own wealth. This sad fact is known as the re-source curse.
So it’s unlikely that resource-
rich countries would have become industrialised but for the depreda-tions of colonialism. And it seems quite possible that colonial na-tions such as France and the UK would have gotten rich without their resource plunder, as did Ger-many, South Korea, Switzerland and Taiwan. Does that mean colo-nialism was a benign institution? Definitely not. At a bare minimum, the tens of millions killed by colo-nial conquests and famines leave an indelible stain on the West. And while colonialism had benefits in some places, in many others it left a nasty legacy that is felt to this day. Many economic studies show that regions where colonizers focused on extracting resources were later cursed with pernicious political institutions. Those regions, even today, exhibit poor performance.
So colonialising nations did steal resources, and it did hurt colonies by doing it. But the real tragedy is how unnecessary that all was. The UK and France would have gotten rich without plunder-ing Africa, India and Southeast Asia. All of that violence and con-quest was probably for nothing.
— Noah Smith/Bloomberg View
I
STOLEN WEALTH THEORY
So if the West did steal resources from colonised
nations, and if this theft did help them get rich, why do I say that the
stolen-wealth theory is wrong? I say that because the theory doesn’t explain
the global distribution of income today. It is
no longer a significant reason why rich countries
are rich and poor countries are poor.
B5S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
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A’Saffa ensures high quality hygiene at its feed mill and hatchery facility
MUSCAT: A’Saffa Foods, Oman’s leading fully integrated poultry and processed food home-grown food producer has a long standing commitment of providing pure natural feed to its chickens — a mix of specially produced yellow corn and soya that delivers the nutrition the chickens need and helps to ensure the final product for the consumer is tasty, fresh and packed full of nutritious pro-tein, says a press release.
Feed millA’Saffa has set up Oman’s most modern feed mill in Thumrait. With a capacity of 15 metric tonnes
per hour, this fully automated feed mill produces specialised pellet and crumble feed especially to ca-ter to A’Saffa’s own needs.
Poultry feed being the major input in the poultry production accounts for around 70 per cent of the total production cost. With the poultry industry in the GCC and Middle East ready for a rapid growth, availability and cost can become critical influencing the production costs and the overall quality of the product. With this keen understanding and fore-sight, A’Saffa, through its feed mill assures highest quality of feed for its chickens.
A’Saffa’s feed mills are automat-ed with in-built facility to store corn and soya in steel silos. The finished product and other ingre-dients are further safely stored in the go downs.
Pelleting system, parallel mixer and grinding systems are automat-ed through logic controls. The end product is handled automatically from bagging to loading.
The feed produced in A’Saffa’s completely automated mill meets the highest hygiene and environ-mental standards.
Parent lineParent lines are reared by A’Saffa’s experts with scientific manage-ment processes in a bio-secure environment. With a keen un-
derstanding and insight of the re-quirements, the parent lines are reared to deliver improved feed conversion rate (FCR), increased productivity, better performance and adaptability of the chicken to Oman’s environmental condi-tions. A’Saffa’s experts add further value to help achieve better quality chicken meat and eggs.
The parent line ensures that all birds bred and reared in the farms,
are standardised, uniform with the right growth, all from the same parents, which make the end prod-uct uniform in taste, tenderness and healthy.
Fertile eggs laid by the parent birds are sent to the hatchery.
HatcheryChicken is favourable food in sup-porting the energy metabolism of the body. A’Saffa has its first state-
of-the-art hatchery in Thumrait, Salalah. A’Saffa’s state-of-the-art hatchery helps produce and de-liver the healthiest chicks with maximum potential for growth and optimum feed conversion rate (FCR). Further, uniformity in bird size is taken care along with adapt-ability and liveability. A’Saffa’s team of experts ensure that the eggs are hatched in fully comput-erised temperature and humidity controlled state of the art setters and hatchers.
Commenting on the way that company feeds and looks after its chickens, Sidhartha Lenka, A’Saffa Foods Head of Sales and Market-ing, said: “We are very proud of the way that we feed and ensure the welfare of our chickens. All of our chickens are fed with 100 per cent natural feed that is manufac-tured in our own feed mill located on our farm premises, using the latest scientific feed management programmes to ensure the best re-tention of nutritional value.
“At A’Saffa we also ensure that the birds are kept without thirst, hunger or malnutrition, free from discomfort, pain, injury or disease to ensure pure and healthy prod-uct. As with our core principles of following religious, healthy and ethical practices, the company also prohibits use of chicken and animal byproducts and substitutes for feeding the birds as happens in
some other poultry companies.”He explained that A’Saffa also
has a highly trained on site medi-cal team at the Thumrait farms complex who monitor the health of the chickens daily to ensure they are kept free from disease, have the right balance of feed and water and ensuring the final product to the consumer is always safe and pure chicken meat.
The farm facility at Thumrait is also certified to the highest in-ternational standards with the farm having achieved both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certification.
A’Saffa Foods is fully committed to offering a wide range of innova-tive products to its consumers and its partners. The company recog-nises the importance of the quality commitment of its partners and is committed to deliver products of the highest quality. This commit-ment is further underlined with the implementation of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) systems.
Lenka explained that this ma-jor investment in state-of-the-art technology and systems that match the highest standards anywhere in the world was part of A’Saffa’s continuing efforts to ensure that customers get the most 100 per cent natural, healthy and tasty halal chicken products available.
A’Saffa Foods
recognises the
importance of the
quality commitment
of its partners and is
committed to deliver
products of the
highest quality
Bank Sohar's Al Mumayaz branch guaranteed draws reward customers with OMR1,000 every monthMUSCAT: In order to reward cus-tomers across the entire bank’s branch network, Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme 2016 from Bank Sohar offers monthly branch guar-anteed draws where one account holder from each of the bank’s branches will win OMR1,000 eve-ry month translating to over 250 winners before year-end.
This draw comes as part of comprehensively revamped prize structure of the 2016 Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme, which now offers more than 1,500 prizes and more than any Al Mumayaz Savings Scheme to date while including the broad-est possible spectrum of winners
including hourly, children’s, gen-eral, ladies, and exclusive draw winners, says a press release.
Commenting on the new scheme’s branch guaranteed draws, Khamis Masoud Al Rahbi, senior AGM of Branches & Retail Sales at Bank Sohar, said: “One of the most appreciated aspects of last year’s scheme by our custom-ers was our branch-specific draws conducted in various branches throughout the year as well as the branch-wide year-end draw; through which we ensured having winners from every branch.
"This year we decided to up the ante and host monthly branch guaranteed draws which will guar-
antee a winner from every branch across the Sultanate.”
In order to be eligible for the monthly branch guaranteed draws, the account holders need to maintain a minimum monthly av-erage balance of only OMR100. In addition to these draw, the Al Mu-mayaz Savings Scheme will con-tinue with its hourly prize draws of OMR 1,000 each from Sunday to Wednesday; totalling over 900 winners by the end of the year. An-other new addition this year is the daily children’s draw, which will see one minor account holder win OMR100 every day from Sunday to Thursday.
There will also be a monthly
draw specifically for children where one minor account holder will win OMR1,000. In total there will be more than 240 winners of children’s draws before the end of the year. This year’s general draws include monthly draw of OMR10,000 and a year-end draw of OMR200,000 split amongst four winners. As part of the monthly draws, and for the first time ever, a dedicated ladies draw will also be conducted with two winners of OMR5,000 each; total-ling 20 winners. Lastly, the bank will also be conducting exclusive draws of OMR10,000 each month and OMR50,000 as part of the year-end draws.
R E V A M P E D P R I Z E S T R U C T U R E
IS Muladha students visit Suwaiq farm for agriculture experienceMUSCAT: Science Department of Indian School Muladha had organised a field trip recently to Al Raja farm Suwaiq owned by Nehad Agronomy Services.
With the aim of gaining prac-tical experience and learning about the complex connections of issues in agriculture, the envi-ronment and natural resources, students of Class VIII accom-panied by Mini, Nisha Ullas, Nijo, Sulamin and Aasif visited the farm. The farm cultivates different kinds of fruits, vegeta-bles and seasonal flowers, says a press release.
The students were hosted by Shehul Hameed, production manager, where they were in-formed about the history of the organisation, different crops of summer and winter season, types of soil (loamy and sandy loam), temperature requirement and advantages of drip irrigation. The next stop was at the capsi-cum farm; there were different
varieties of capsicum grown on the farm as per the international norms. Shehul informed the stu-dents that the coloured peppers are healthier than the traditional green ones.
Integrated pest management procedure was explained to the students. Students also visited the onion, corn and tomato farms and were allowed to pluck the vegetables later on. The last stop was at the main building where vegetable and flower exhibi-tion was arranged by the farm authorities which was enthral-ling. Shaun Mathews, the general manager of the farm interacted with the students and answered all their queries. Students were presented with bouquet of flow-ers. It was indeed a unique oppor-tunity to know the modern farm-ing and exporting techniques.
The trip was organised under the guidance of S. I. Shareef, prin-cipal; V. S. Suresh, vice principal and John Ebenezer, HOD.
F I E L D T R I P
Oman participates at 50th edition of ITB Berlin
MUSCAT: The Ministry of Tour-ism is participating in this year’s 50th edition of ITB Berlin, world’s largest travel trade show, which will conclude today in Germany.
The Sultanate is participating through the Ministry of Tourism, representing 36 organisations from the tourism sector, includ-ing a separate stall for the national carrier of the Sultanate – Oman Air, says a press release.
Oman’s delegation is headed by Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mahrazi, the Minister of Tourism, who at-tended the official opening of the exhibition and participated in dif-ferent activities, along with other international tourism ministers and government entities.
He will also attend events with the international tourism organi-sation, UNWTO.
The Ministry of Tourism and the different representations from the Sultanate take part in the ITB Berlin show on a yearly basis, as it is considered the biggest trade show in the world.
The show gives the opportunity to vendors of the Sultanate to show-case the latest tourism develop-ments, as well as learn from the dif-ferent international developments around the world.
The Sultanate continues its ef-forts to promote itself in the in-
ternational markets through trade shows like this one and support the country’s efforts in achieving the goals set out for 2040.
The first three days of ITB fo-cused on agreements and meet-ings between international delega-tions as well as the organisations
participating in the trade show while the last two days hosted the general public and visitors from around the world.
Last year, the show received 175,000 visitors who were exposed to 10,096 participants and exhibi-tors representing 186 countries.
T R A V E L T R A D E S H O W
B6 S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
ROUND-UP
MUSCAT: Nissan from the house of Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has launched an exciting 5-day ‘Get it All’ campaign.
The promotion is aimed at offer-ing serious buyers and customers with some of the most competitive offers on Nissan vehicles along with a host of other benefits. This offer is applicable till March 17, says a press release.
The unique offers from Nissan give customers an opportunity to enjoy exclusive briefings, tips, advices and suggestions from Ni-ssan officials on the entire Nis-san range. Visitors will also get a chance to take a test drive of any of their favourite Nissan vehicle with Nissan officials to assist and guide through the aesthetics of the vehi-cles at all times.
Edge over competitors Nissan’s iconic vehicles deliver
a refreshed vision of ‘innovation that excites’ with introduction of new levels of sophistication and state of the art features. Nissan ve-hicles are known to offer smoother ride comfort, more refinement and benchmark fit and finish, while de-livering breathtaking performance and road-holding.
Their ‘multi-dimensional per-formance’ means the driver can enjoy the full depth of a Nissan’s capabilities whether navigating the corners of a winding moun-tain road, cruising on a motor-way or even travelling in an urban environment.
Bigger cashback and more benefits Nissan is offering a host of model specific benefits as part of its cur-rent scheme promotion that in-clude cash gift up to OMR2,500, free registration, free insurance (select SUV’s only), six years’ un-limited mileage extended war-ranty, easy financing options and periodic maintenance service only up to two years/20,000km which-ever is earlier (offer includes only on the new service intervals of 10,000km). The offer is applicable on private registrations or person-al vehicles only.
The offer varies across all mod-els. Further details can be had from Nissan sales advisers.
Nissan Oman is known to offer some of the firsts in the country as they are committed to offer some of the best services to its custom-ers. “We consider understanding and anticipating customer needs as crucial to our continued suc-cess. We believe in ‘customers for life’ concept and strive to provide the best value for money to our customers by offering world-class products and services.
“With our current offer we want to reach out to as many cus-tomers and auto enthusiasts and give them back something special which is essential to our continued success,” said a senior official of Suhail Bahwan Automobiles.
Easy finance options Customers are guaranteed hassle-free financing process while pur-chasing any Nissan vehicle during this week as there is no processing fee or documentation charge to be paid. Customers will also get to avail attractive interest rates and lastly have an option for cus-tomised financing and enjoy spot approvals too. During this promo-tion, trade-in offers will also be available. Customers will get an opportunity to exchange their ex-isting vehicles for a new Nissan model of their choice.
Social media platform Nissan Oman’s Facebook page has gained huge momentum for over a year as they have been successful in reaching out to a diverse audi-ence on the social media platform. Beating top competitors in the Sultanate region, Nissan Facebook page has been the most liked or fa-vourite page past two years leading up to having one of the highest fan following today.
The aim of Nissan’s Facebook page has always been to offer view-ers and Nissan fans an interactive experience and since Nissan as a brand is built on the ethos of ‘in-novation that excites’; through its page, Nissan showcases its cut-ting-edge technology to connect with its audience.
It also showcases Nissan’s path breaking technological features of its various models in easy to understand mode focusing on
core advantages.The page also provides a pletho-
ra of information on the wide range of models from Nissan which is updated on a daily basis to provide the latest information at all times comprising of interactive videos, behind-the-scenes access, inter-national news, pictorial galleries, aesthetic details, and unique mod-el features. The page also regularly runs contests on all its latest mod-els to keep viewers enticed and engaged at all times. The aim has been to be at par with customers’ requirements and needs.
Nationwide presence Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, the exclusive importers and dis-tributors of all Nissan vehicles in Oman, have their Nissan show-rooms spread across the Sultanate. Their showrooms are strategically located all across the country in Muscat, Sohar, Sur, Salalah, Shi-nas, Samail, Ibra, Ibri, Nizwa, Buraimi, Barka, Bahla, Jalan Bani Bu Ali, Seeb, Mabelah, Sinaw and Bidaya. This goes to show that Nissan Oman has been success-fully growing in operations and is consistently spreading its network throughout the Sultanate of Oman.
SBA commitment Suhail Bahwan Automobiles is largely committed to supporting Nissan’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on cus-tomer satisfaction and by provid-ing world-class after-sales ser-vices in Oman.
With a national network of more than 19 showrooms, 22 service centres and 35 spare parts out-lets, SBA has further built upon its legacy of trust, excellent customer service and providing value for money to each of its customers.
The unique offers
from Nissan give
customers an
opportunity to enjoy
exclusive briefings,
tips, advices and
suggestions from
Nissan officials on
the entire
Nissan range
Aston Martin DB11:
The most powerful
and efficient model
MUSCAT: Showcasing a fresh and distinctive design language, pioneering aerodynamics, pow-ered by a potent new in-house designed 5.2 litres twin tur-bocharged V12 engine, which produces 600 horsepower and 700 NM torque, built upon a new lighter, stronger, and more efficient bonded aluminium structure, DB11 is the fastest, most powerful, most efficient and most dynamically gifted DB model in history.
As such it is the most signifi-cant new Aston Martin since the introduction of the DB9 in 2003.
As a true 21st century Aston Martin the DB 11 combines the very latest technology developed in conjunction with technical partner, Daimler, with the finest quality and hand craftsmanship, says a press release.
A vast forward-opening clam-shell bonnet defines the front end, and the rear features a daz-zling bit of airflow-management magic called AeroBlade. Aft of the C-pillars, subtle openings chan-nel air into the rear body work and out through a narrow slot on trailing edge of the boot lid. Aston calls it a ‘virtual spoiler’, and it generates significant down-force at speed without requiring an un-gainly fixed wing.
The DB11 uses a new twin-turbo
5.2-litre V12. The engine, designed in-house, produces 600 horsepow-er and 700 NM of torque. DB11 will run from zero to 100 KMS in 3.9 seconds, which is brisk if not world-beating, and keep mov-ing until the speedometer needle touches the 320 km/h mark.
DB11 has three transmission modes GT, Sport and Sport+ with each mode increasing the aggres-siveness of the gear shifts and de-veloping he exhaust soundtrack to create more a visceral experi-ence and increase driver engage-ment allowing DB11 drivers to enjoy the full scope of both tour-ing and sporting capability.
The 2+2 interior is as enticing as the exterior, and entirely more habitable by humans — two plus two of them, in fact. And the boot, claims Aston, is ‘large enough to accommodate two large holdalls plus carry-on baggage’. The cabin materials, colours and textures — particularly the brogue-detailed leather surfaces. Alas, is the crystal-topped Emotional Con-trol Unit, a conversation-piece key that slotted into the centre console and served as a glowing engine-start button.
A 12-inch TFT LCD screen provides a virtual gauge cluster, with infotainment functions handled on an 8-inch screen atop the centre console.
E X C E P T I O N A L D E S I G N
Oman Fisheries sets up work area disaster recovery siteMUSCAT: Towards ensuring continued productivity even dur-ing major disruptions, Oman Fisheries Co. has successfully implemented a work area disaster recovery site (back up site) at its corporate office in Ghala.
The site will help the company meet its various IT infrastructure needs apart from ensuring mini-mal impact to business opera-tions following any disaster, says a press release.
Commenting on the site im-plementation, Said Al Rawahy, general manager of Oman Fisher-ies Co., said: “The disaster recov-ery site implementation reflects Oman Fisheries Co. manage-ment’s commitment to enable a highly productive atmosphere for its staff to contribute to the growth of the company and the nation. Providing an alternate work environment and thus en-suring smooth and uninterrupted business operations falls under Oman Fisheries’ corporate re-sponsibility towards customers
as well as the company itself.”“We have a solid disaster recov-
ery framework under the compa-ny’s business continuity planning system; and the implemented dis-aster recovery site is integral to ensuring business continuity at Oman Fisheries,” Shanmugham, general manager (Operations) at Oman Fisheries said.
“The disaster recovery site is designed to ensure near-com-plete backups of user data, and it uses asynchronous sites to fully mirror the affected original site’s data environment using WAN links and specialised software. In the event of a work area disaster, the company will now be able to relocate staff limiting the losses to normal operations to the mini-mum level, within the shortest possible recovery time. Efficient work area with enhanced data re-covery time will help us continue our business operations during disasters,” he added.
“The disaster recovery site im-plemented at Oman Fisheries is
capable of being operational (in terms of data processing) even before key personnel are moved to the site. The site ensures that pro-duction environment(s) run con-currently with the main data cen-tre, significantly reducing impact and downtime to business opera-tions. In the event of a major out-age, the recovery site is capable of immediate takeover of the impact-ed site,” commented Amarnath, IT manager at Oman Fisheries.
Data loss and downtime are eliminated through a continuous capture of byte-level changes and asynchronous real-time replica-tion of changes. Failover cluster without shared storage or geo-graphical limitations has also been implemented to avoid single point of failure and facilitate nodes in multiple locations, he added.
Eventually the work area disas-ter recovery site enables enhanced mobility, availability and recovery for server workloads, improved mirror performance and data re-covery plans for databases.
E N S U R E S S M O O T H O P E R A T I O N S
Nissan launches new 5-day offer ‘Get It All’
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Bank Sohar takes part in SQU Annual Career Fair
MUSCAT: Ever committed to-wards the support of educational initiatives in the Sultanate and de-veloping employment opportuni-ties for Omani youth, Bank Sohar has once again participated in the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) Annual Career and Training Op-portunities Fair for a sixth year.
The event was held under the patronage of Dr. Abdullah bin Nasser Al Harrasi, chairman of the Public Authority for Radio and Television, and was attended by a number of the university officials, representatives from the govern-ment and private institutions, together with a large number of students, says a press release.
Commenting on the bank’s par-ticipation in the three-day event which took place recently, Munira Abdulnabi Macki, GM of HR and Corporate Support at Bank So-har said, “At Bank Sohar we have always been keen to recruit, train and develop qualified young Oma-nis supporting them in entering this industry and building a suc-
cessful banking career. As a matter of fact, since the bank’s inception it has attained an Omanisation ratio of 92.19 per cent. Through our participation in events such as this, we can enlighten students on the available job opportunities and the benefits of working at the bank. Furthermore, we have the utmost confidence on the quality of students graduating from Sul-tan Qaboos University, consid-ering the fact that it is one of the premier educational institutions in the Sultanate.”
Held at the ‘Chamber of Culture – Grand Hall’ annually, the three-day career fair attracted a large number of participants from pri-vate and governmental employ-ment sectors and witnessed visi-tors from across the country. Each of the participating organisations were carefully chosen accord-ing to certain criteria such as the availability of outstanding quality and quantity of offered jobs and training opportunities.
Bank Sohar capitalised on the
opportunity offered by the career fair platform and the large num-ber of talented students; attract-ing a large number of potential candidates and showcasing the various products, services and career opportunities available for talented young Omani undergrad-uate students. The bank also re-ceived numerous applicants who showed interest in becoming part of the bank’s dynamic workforce.
“Bank Sohar has always been fully committed towards nurtur-ing and developing Omani youth and grooming them into finan-cial leaders of tomorrow. We were delighted to have received such an overwhelming interest from the students at the career fair,” added Munira.
Bank Sohar has a committed history of working with various educational institutions and gov-ernment organisations towards ensuring greater access to educa-
tion and business knowledge. In addition to its latest par-
ticipation in the SQU Annual Career and Training Opportuni-ties Fair 2016, the bank has, in the past, also sponsored several training programmes and initia-tives from several other organi-sations and educational institu-tions across Oman.
Organised by the Centre of Ca-reer Guidance at SQU, the Annual Career & Training Opportunities Fair ensures the provision of job opportunities or training to the students and graduates of Sultan Qaboos University at all levels of undergraduate majors. Over the years, the fair has proved itself to be a productive avenue for job opportunities and helping uni-versity graduates to participate actively in nation building. It also helps them to build excellent re-lationships with local employers and global companies.
Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) annual
Career and Training Opportunities Fair
attracted a large number of participants
from private and governmental employment
sectors and witnessed visitors from across
the country
Daleel Petroleum conducts QHSE Awareness DayMUSCAT: As part of the compa-ny’s commitment to industry poli-cies and standards of HSE, Daleel Petroleum held its 12th annual Quality, Health, Safety and Envi-ronment (QHSE) Awareness Day in its oilfield recently that aimed at promoting a QHSE culture and awareness amongst the employees.
A rich programme was arranged for HSE Day 2016 that its activities sparked the participants’ concern and interest, says a press release.
The programme included a number of activities including walkathon, blood donation, and sports activities that engaged par-ticipants from the head office in Muscat as well as the field.
In addition, there was a drama performance that embodied the importance of safety observation. All activities conducted confirmed that Daleel Petroleum is active in promoting HSE awareness amongst the company’s employees.
Gong Changli, chief executive officer of Daleel Petroleum, de-livered a speech emphasising the importance of the company con-
ducting its operational activities and business in a manner that pro-motes the health and safety of its employees, the public and protect-ing the environment.
On this occasion, Marash Al Kalbani, operations manager, high-lighted the necessity of checking the safety of daily operations, such as tools and equipment used, the potential risks and how to manage them if they occur before the begin-ning of any operation in Block 5 oil concession of the company.
During the ceremony, certifi-cates of appreciation and recogni-tion shields were awarded to Daleel employees and its contractors in recognition of their outstanding contribution and efforts in the im-plementation and commitment to HSE policies and standards.
Ahmed Suliman Al Mahruqi, quality, safety, health and envi-ronment manager, delivered a motivational speech as a way of raising morale and motivating the employees towards high levels of performance for securing a safe and healthy working environment.
P R O M O T I N G Q H S E C U L T U R E
OMAN REFRESHMENT COMPANY HOLDS AGMOman Refreshment Company held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Al Falaj Hotel. Youssef Ezzikhe, general manager;
Sheikh Hamoud Al Hinai, managing director; Buti Obaid Al Mulla, chairman; Sheikh Ahmed Al Hinai, vice chairman and
Mohamed Abdullah Moosa Al Raisi, director of Oman Refreshment Company, attended the meeting. — Supplied picture
B8
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Bank Muscat marks GCC Traffic Week with Drive Safely campaign
MUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flag-ship financial services provider in the Sultanate, as part of its com-mitment to road safety in the Sul-tanate, has launched a campaign in
association with the Royal Oman Police to mark the GCC Traffic Week beginning today.
Aimed at inculcating responsi-ble driving behaviour by motorists,
this year’s GCC Traffic Week mes-sage is ‘Your Decision Determines Your Fate’, says a press release.
The bank has lined up a series of activities covering various com-munication channels such as SMS, cinema, radio and social media to raise awareness on safe driving. The highlight of the campaign is a four-part video clip titled ‘Value Life, Drive Safely’ which power-fully communicates four aspects responsible for majority of road accidents - speeding, fatigue, driv-ing distractions such as texting on mobile phones and negligence of wearing seat belt. The video clips focusing on the major causes
of road accidents and the tragic consequences of negligent driv-ing are being screened in popular cinemas and posted on the bank’s social media channels during the GCC Traffic Week, building up the campaign aimed at creating a safe driving environment in Oman. The campaign messages are also highlighted on radio, newspapers and magazines.
The ‘Value Life, Drive Safely’ campaign is a natural progres-sion of the health and safety measures adopted by the bank. The bank considers human capi-tal as the most valued asset and any loss or disruptions caused by
accidents lead to major setbacks for the affected persons.
As ambassadors for health and safety in the banking community in Oman, Bank Muscat remains committed to proactive measures to maintain a safe environment for all on Oman roads.
Bank Muscat, as part of HSE initiatives, is the first to create a safety management system in the banking sector in Oman.
In line with the Royal directive of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to enhance road safety and reduce traffic accidents, the bank has launched vari-ous initiatives to spread traffic safety awareness among employees and
other stakeholders.The bank vehicles are moni-
tored under the in-vehicle moni-toring system (IVMS) aimed at ensuring safety and avoiding ac-cidents, thereby contributing to ef-ficient use of fuel and correspond-ing reduction in carbon footprint. Defensive driving training pro-grammes are also arranged for em-ployees to motivate them to follow safe driving practices.
Bank Muscat remains commit-ted to road safety in partnership with the government and the ROP, aimed at educating people, espe-cially employees, to make safer choices when using the roads.
Aimed at promoting responsible driving
behaviour by motorists, this year’s GCC
Traffic Week message is ‘Your Decision
Determines Your Fate’
ahlibank partners with SQU Career FairMUSCAT: Oman’s fastest grow-ing financial institution ahlibank was part of the much awaited SQU Career and Training Opportuni-ties Fair held recently held at the Grand Hall, Cultural Centre in Sultan Qaboos University, says a press release.
Commenting on the bank’s as-sociation with the fair, Lloyd Mad-dock, CEO, ahlibank, said: “SQU’s Career & Training Opportuni-ties Fair this year opened further avenues for us to connect with the youth. This was yet another chance for us to engage with stu-dents and show them the scope of career and professional growth opportunities within the banking sector. Being voted as the ‘Best Bank in Oman’ for the fourth year in a row by OER-Gulf Baader Capi-tal Markets survey, we feel it is our responsibility to promote young talent and extend all possible sup-port to the educational sector and other youth-oriented activities.”
Said Al Hamdani – DGM and head of Human Resource, com-mented: “The SQU Career and Training Opportunities Fair attract
more than 45 participants from private and governmental employ-ment sectors and between (12,000-15,000) visitors from all over Oman. This is one of the best opportuni-
ties for organisations like us to aim at maximising business relations and also secure new ones.”
All participating organisations are carefully chosen according to
certain criteria such as the avail-ability of outstanding quality and quantity of offered jobs and train-ing opportunities. This year the fair is gaining special attention due to the establishment of the Entrepreneurship Corner in im-plementation to the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to encourage Omani youth to start their own businesses and be self-employed.
The fair was abuzz with several academic, social and art activities; and ahlibank hosted a special stall at the event, showcasing the bank’s products and services.
Al Hamdani concluded saying, “ahlibank has since inception been committed to the growth of educa-tion and development programs in Oman. The bank enjoys an excel-lent rapport with Oman’s premier educational institutions and takes special interest in hiring graduates from reputed colleges in the coun-try. Selected candidates embark upon an extensive and rigorous training program which provides experience across all operations of the bank, for a period of one year.”
P R O M O T I N G Y O U N G T A L E N T
MEC international
conference set to be
held on March 15, 16
MUSCAT: Middle East College (MEC) is organising the third MEC International Confer-ence on Big Data and Smart City (ICBDSC) which will be held on March 15 and 16.
The conference will be inau-gurated by Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, CEO of Public Estab-lishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE), says a press release.
Co-sponsorsThe conference is technically co-sponsored by IEEE, IEEE Communication Society, and IEEE Oman chapter and it aims to bring together researchers, designers, developers, and practi-tioners interested in the advanc-es and applications related to the area of smart cities and big data.
Among the keynote speak-ers are Prof. Martin Curley, vice president and director, Intel
Labs Europe at Intel Corpora-tion, Gilles Betis, Urban Life and Mobility Action Line Leader, EIT Digital; Chair, IEEE Smart Cities Initiative and Dr Manuel San-romà, managing director, Open Administration of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain to name a few.
Skill developmentIt is worth mentioning that MEC had already successfully organ-ised two international confer-ences on information and com-munication. MEC has research collabora-tion with University of Barce-lona which places education and training at the core of develop-ment and seeks to connect vari-ous agendas whether they be city planning, logistics, sustainability, skill development, global media and connectivity or regional pol-icy collaboration.
B I G D A T A A N D S M A R T C I T Y
BMW Vision Vehicle makes its world
debut at Centenary Event in Munich
MUNICH: The year 2016 sees the BMW Group celebrate its centenary under the motto ‘The Next 100 Years’.
Throughout its history the company’s image has been de-fined by a future focus and pio-neering action – all made possible by its extraordinary team of em-ployees, who share a fascination for mobility which is integral to all our lives, says a press release.
“At the BMW Group, we are always on a quest for the best so-lution. It’s part of our DNA,” said Harald Krüger, chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, at the Centenary Event in Mu-nich recently. “It’s also the spirit of our collaborations, a recurring theme that permeates our corpo-rate and leadership culture.”
Three qualities in particular set the BMW Group apart: the capacity to learn and adapt, tech-nological innovation, and a sense of responsibility toward society. “We have demonstrated on many occasions throughout our his-tory that we are capable of learn-ing fast and taking bold steps,” Krüger said.
Against this background, the BMW Group’s centenary celebra-tions are set to focus primarily on what lies ahead and explore how individual mobility might develop over the coming decades.
To answer this question, the BMW Group has generated a fu-turistic scenario with a clear vi-
sion: premium mobility by the BMW Group will be completely effortless, comprehensively avail-able and tailored to every custom-er’s individual preferences. At the moment, the world is on the verge of realising automated driving; in the not-too-distant future the majority of cars will probably be completely self-driving and travel the streets of cities inhabited by far more people than today.
In the future, one thing will be in ever shorter supply: time. But connectivity will become increas-ingly commonplace, and technol-ogies will learn to learn from peo-ple. “Future mobility will connect every area of people’s lives. And that’s where we see new oppor-tunities for premium mobility,” Krüger added.
BMW Vision Next 100’The BMW Group has now made its vision for the future a real-ity – with the ‘BMW Vision Next 100’. This vehicle combines cou-pé-type sportiness with the dy-namic elegance of a sedan – but rather than being an anonymous transport machine, it is a highly customised vehicle that is per-fectly tailored to suit the driver’s changing needs.
Driver-vehicle interactions are managed by Alive Geometry; Boost and Ease modes offer a choice of driver-controlled or ve-hicle-controlled operations, and the interior of the vehicle chang-
es to suit the mode of travel. In Boost, the entire vehicle focuses on the driver, offering the support needed to maximise the driving experience – for instance by indi-cating the ideal driving line, steer-ing point and speed. Ease mode sees the interior transform: the steering wheel and centre console retract; the headrests turn to the side, and the seats and door trim merge to form a single unit so that the driver and front-seat passen-ger can turn towards each other.
“If, as a designer, you are able to imagine something, there’s a good chance it could one day be-come reality,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, head of BMW Group Design. “So our objective with the BMW Vision Next 100 Years was to develop a future scenario that people would engage with.”
The BMW Vision Vehicle made its world debut at the Centenary Event in the Munich Olympic Hall on March 7, 2016 – exactly one hundred years after the com-pany that is now known as BMW AG was first entered into the commercial register. About 2,000 guests from industry, politics, research, society and the media will be present, as will selected dealers, suppliers and employees. A multi-media experience will guide them through the history of the company to this latest inter-pretation of tomorrow’s premium mobility, culminating in the un-veiling of the Vision Vehicle.
G R A N D C E L E B R A T I O N
Omani law firm AMJ receives global Islamic Finance awardMUSCAT: Top Oman-based cor-porate and finance law firm Al Bu-saidy Mansoor Jamal & Co. (AMJ) has won an international award for its advisory role on Oman’s OMR250 million inaugural sover-eign sukuk issuance.
The firm received the prestig-ious global Sovereign Deal of the Year 2015 award from the indus-try leading Islamic Finance News (IFN) at its annual Deals of the Year awards ceremony at the Ritz Carlton in Dubai recently, says a press release.
The IFN Deals of the Year were established in 2006 and recognise those who have participated in the industry’s most groundbreaking
transactions each year. Oman’s benchmark sovereign issuance also won an honourable mention in the top global ijarah and sukuk categories.
Speaking on behalf of the five-partner practice, founder and managing partner, Mansoor Ja-mal Malik said: “We are delighted that Oman’s first-ever sovereign sukuk issuance has been recog-nised as the standout sovereign deal of the year in the global Is-lamic finance space.
“We are pleased to have contrib-uted to a successful debut offering which is expected not only to boost Oman’s emergent Islamic finance industry but also to strengthen the
capital markets and to support the government’s economic diversifi-cation drive.”
Despite challenging economic conditions, Oman’s debut sukuk was oversubscribed and the min-istry of finance expanded the programme by 25 per cent from OMR200 million to OMR250 mil-lion to accommodate the strong orderbook from a wide base of conventional and Islamic institu-tions. As well as being Oman’s first sovereign sukuk, it was also the first debt capital market instru-ment – Islamic and conventional – in Oman to be priced through a book-building process with a uni-form price auction.
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AFGHANS EASE PAST ZIMBABWE AND INTO SUPER 10 STAGE >C2
>C5
UNDERSTANDINGANXIETY
No let up against Bangladesh, warns Oman skipper Sultan
T.K. MOHANDOSSsportseditor@timesofoman.com
DHARAMSALA: With rain forc-ing ICC World T20 Group A into a two-team affair, Oman are deter-mined to fight fire with fire as the amateur boys of the Sultanate will face ICC full-member and highly experienced Bangladesh for the first time here on Sunday.
“There will be no let up on our aggression,” warned Oman captain Sultan Ahmed on eve of the crucial make-or-break day.
Whatever happens Oman Crick-et has delivered more than expec-tations on the world stage and if that stunner happens on Sunday, rain permitting, it will be icing on the cake over the historical debut win the other day.
In Group A, it is left to Bangladesh and Oman to fight it out for the lone spot available in Super 10 and the match promises to be a nail biter.
“We will have a game plan for Bangladesh and the danger man Tamim Iqbal,” the Oman team skipper said.
Tamim indeed has been in
terrific form since the Premier League in Bangladesh and also the Pakistan Super League in the UAE.
He continued with his form in the match against the Netherlands steering Bangladesh to victory almost single-handedly and also toasting on the Irish bowlers in whatever play was possible on the rain-hit Friday.
Suspect actionAnother advantage for Oman will be the two bowlers — Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny — who
were reported for suspect bowl-ing action. Naturally there will be nerves behind the performance of Taskin and Arafat, which Oman will capitalise on. However, Oman needs to be at their best if they want to realise the dreams of caus-ing another shock in the ongoing World T20 tournament. The need for tightening the obvious gaps in ground fielding holds foremost im-
portance for Oman and coach Du-leep Mendis had hinted at the boys put into strict regime.
The big hitters of Oman must also be cautious while facing the more experience bowling power of Mashrafe Mortaza-led Bangladesh.
For Mortaza, this World T20 will be his last international event as soon after the Asia Cup final he had hinted his desire to retire from the international stage.
Duleep’s strategyAfter training indoors on Saturday,
Duleep said that various options are being considered keeping in mind possible weather interrup-tions on Sunday.
The rain has been on and off on Saturday forcing teams to train in-doors and Duleep confirmed that all the players are fit and raring to go.
On strategy planned for Bang-ladesh, Duleep Mendis said more than the opponents it is the weath-er that was more than a concern.
“We are planning various com-binations keeping in mind re-duced overs contest. As you saw
we brought in Rajesh Ranpura for Jatinder Singh yesterday, we would like keep options open for the do-or-die match as well,” said the coach.
According to Duleep it means that he will bring in more big hit-ters, if the rain prospects are more. In that case Jatinder may have to sit out. Rajesh’s inclusion gives an all-round option for the captain as well.
But to know who will be in and who will be out one has to wait un-til few minutes before the match.
Duleep also mentioned that plans have been made to target some of the hard-hitters of Bang-ladesh, including the in-form Tamim Iqbal.
Charged upOman Cricket official Pankaj Kh-imji, who has been completely with the team since qualification, said: “We are totally charged up and the boys are raring to unleash their magic on the Bangladesh team. We are battle ready, both physically and mentally.”
Dead rubberMeanwhile, ousted Ireland and the Netherlands will face-off in a dead rubber before the Oman-Bangla-desh knock-out.
Respective captains William Porterfield and Peter Borren have been crying foul over the step-motherly treatment of associates and they would want to bow out with pride weather permitting.
Ireland definitely needs to guard their reputation of being the best outfit among the ICC associates while the Dutch wants to prove that their fair performance against Bangladesh is no fluke but fruit of the hard work they have done since qualifying for the World T20.
Oman coach Duleep
Mendis said team’s
think-tank is working
on various strategies
keeping in mind the
weather interruptions
BIG PRESSURE GAME FOR US: MASHRAFE >C2
BATTLE READY: Members of Oman team pictured during an indoor training session on the eve of their crucial Group A match of the World
T20 against Bangladesh in Dharamsala on Saturday. – Times Sport
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Big pressure game for us, says Bangladesh captain
T.K. MOHANDOSS sportseditor@timesofoman.com
DHARAMSALA: Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said on Saturday that his team is ready for Oman challenge and will play to their best potential to make the Super 10 grade of the ICC World
Twenty20 in style.“Certainly it is a big pressure
game for us and I want all our play-ers to contribute, especially the batsmen and bowlers,” the Bangla-desh skipper said, who desperately is looking for a win.
Mashrafe understands that any slip-up will trigger the critics back home. “I know Oman are a good
side and full of determination. They will be all pumped up after the vic-tory against Ireland,” he added.
However, Mashrafe did not pick any particular player in the Oman side, though he mentioned that ‘Oman is a tough well-knit unit and they have many surprise packages up their sleeves’.
“Oman will come all out at us
knowing that win only will take them through. We are not really worried about the weather be-cause we have a better net run rate,” he opined.
On concerns in his bowling de-partment especially after Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny have been reported for suspect bowl-ing action, Mashrafe said: “It’s not
a major concern as we have a good set of bowlers. But I don’t want to be critical on ICC. If there is a report against the two, we must follow the procedure and get them cleared.”
Adding on the Bangladesh skip-per said: “Since they can continue to bowl, I hope the report don’t af-fect their performance.”
On Mustafizur Rehman, his main strike bowler in recent times, Mashrafe said the bowler is on re-covery path and will be ready for the Super 10 stage. However, he did not comment on whether he will be seen in action against Oman.
On lesser games for the associ-ate team, Mashrafe explained even Bangladesh came up the hard way to become a full-member.
“Yes they need to play more, but it is for the ICC to do the needful,” he said.
Regarding the washed out game against Ireland, Mashrafe said: “We desperately wanted to win the game to take away the pressure from us.”
“We cannot control the weath-er and now the match against Oman has turned out to crucial for us,” he added
The Bangladesh-Oman match will be a night match and will be the first time both will be playing each other in T20 Internationals.
Mashrafe described
Oman as ‘a tough
well-knit unit, who
‘have many surprise
packages’. The
Bangladesh captain,
however, refused
to reveal if left-arm
pacer Mustafizur
will be seen in action
against Oman
I know Oman are a
good side and full of
determination. They
will be all pumped
up after the victory
against Ireland
Mashrafe MortazaBangladesh captain
England beat New Zealand in warm-up tie
MUMBAI: England produced an impressive all-round perfor-mance to outclass New Zealand by six wickets in their warm-up match ahead of the World Twenty20 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.
Batting first, skipper Kane Williamson struck a quick fire half-century as New Zealand posted 169 for eight in 20 overs.
In reply, openers Jason Roy (55) and Alex Hales (44) used their skills to good effect as Eng-land chased down the total with ease, scoring 170 for four wick-ets in 19.2 overs.
Chasing a target of 170, Eng-land got off to a flying start with openers Roy and Hales smash-ing the Kiwi bowlers to all parts of the ground to pile up 53 runs in the powerplay.
But after striking seven fours and two sixes, Roy had to head back to the pavilion as he was caught by Trent Boult off the bowling of off-spinner Mitchell Santner to have England at 77 for one in 8.2 overs.
Incoming batsman Joe Root (12) too fell in the space of four overs to hand New Zealand a slight advantage.
With Hales looking good to bring up his half-century, off-spinner Nathan McCullum got him caught and bowled in the 16th over followed by Eoin Morgan (20) in the 18th over to take the pressure away from the Kiwis.
But incoming hard-hitting batsmen Jos Buttler (24 not out) and Ben Stokes (8 not out) took their team over the line.
Mitchell Santner (2/24) and Nathan McCullum (2/25) were the pick of the Kiwi bowlers.
Earlier, opting to bat, New Zealand’s hard-hitting opener Martin Guptill (16) gave the team a good start but unfortu-nately threw his wicket away as he caught by Chris Jordan at mid-on off the bowling off Reece Topley in the second over itself. New Zealand were 19 for one then.
Leading from the front, his opening partner and skipper Kane Williamson (63) held on striking nine boundaries and one six to help his team cross the 50-run mark. Williamson was well supported in the end by Henry Nicholls (14).
Despite the fall of Guptill, Williamson scored at a good pace to bring up his half-centu-ry in just 26 balls.
But as both the batsmen was looking set to pile up some use-ful runs, off-spinner Moeen Ali got the much needed break-through dismissing Nicholls in the eighth over. Incoming bats-man Luke Ronchi (13) along with his skipper helped the team cross the 100-run mark in the 10th over itself.
Brief scores: New Zealand 169/8 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 63; Adil Rashid 3/15, Reece Topley 2/39) lost to England 170/4 in 19.2 overs (Jason Roy 55, Alex Hales 44; Mitchell Santner 2/24, Nathan McCullum 2/25). - IANS
A L L - R O U N D S H O W
NAGPUR: Scotland dished out a superb all-round performance to notch up an eight-wicket win — their first victory in an ICC event — over Hong Kong via D/L method in a rain-affected inconsequential match of the ICC World Twenty20 on Saturday.
In the Group B preliminary round match that was interrupted twice due to rain, Hong Kong post-ed 127 for 7 in 20 overs but with rain delaying the start of the second innings, Scotland were given a re-vised target of 76 runs in 10 overs.
Scotland then overhauled the target with the loss of two wickets and as many overs to spare to post their first victory in an ICC global event at the Vidarbha Cricket As-sociation Stadium in Jamtha. It was Matt Machan who took them to victory with a six off Nadeem Ahmed in the last ball of 8th over.
For Hong Kong, Ahmed (1/20) and Aizaz Khan (1/11) picked one wicket each. Chasing 76 to win, opening duo of George Munsey (19 off 11 balls) and Kyle Coetzer (20 off 19 balls) added 20 runs in first
two overs before spinner Ahmed dismissed the former in the first ball of the next over.
Coetzer then blasted a couple of fours as Scotland amassed 29 off the three power play overs.
New man Matthew Cross (22 off 14 balls) too got into the act and plundered two sixes and a bound-ary as Scotland reached 56 for one in six overs.
He was dismissed by Aizaz with Nizakat taking an easy catch at deep midwicket.
Machan (15 off 4 balls) and Coetzer then finished the job for Scotland.
Earlier, electing to bat, Hong Kong rode on Mark Chapman’s 41-ball 40 to post a modest 127 for 7 in their 20 overs after a brief rain interruption in the last over.
Brief scores: Hong Kong 127 for 7 in 20 overs (M Chapman 40; MW Machan 2/26) lost to Scot-land 76 for 2 in 8 overs (M Cross 22; Aizaz Khan 1/11). Target revised to 76 in 10 overs due to rain delay. — PTI
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GROUP A Played Won Lost Tied N/R Net RR PointsBangladesh 2 1 0 0 1 +0.400 3Oman 2 1 0 0 1 +0.283 3Ireland 2 0 1 0 1 -0.283 1Netherlands 2 0 1 0 1 -0.400 1
GROUP BAfghanistan 3 3 0 0 0 +1.540 6Zimbabwe 3 2 1 0 0 -0567 4Scotland 3 1 2 0 0 +0.308 2Hong Kong 3 0 3 0 0 -1.267 0
S T A N D I N G S
Unbeaten Afghanistan ease past Zimbabwe and into Super 10 stage
NAGPUR: Afghanistan on Satur-day romped into the main round of the ICC World T20 after crushing Zimbabwe by a whopping 59 runs in their final Group B qualifying contest, here on Saturday.
In a do-or-die match, the Af-ghans outplayed Zimbabwe in all departments by first scoring a challenging 186 for six in 20 overs and then bowling out opposition for 127 in 19.4 overs.
Afghanistan won all their three qualifying round matches having won their first two games against Scotland and Hong Kong respec-tively. Afghanistan have been
clubbed with England, Sri Lanka, West Indies and South Africa for the Super 10 and they will open their campaign against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens on March 17.
The Afghans turned the match on its head during the last 10 overs of their innings with Mohammed Nabi (52 off 32 balls) and Samiul-lah Shenwari (43 off 37 balls) add-
ing 98 runs for the fifth wicket. Na-bi’s innings had four boundaries and two sixes while Shenwari hit a six and a four.
In the back-10, Afghanistan
scored a massive 113 runs after the first 10 overs produced 73 for the loss of four wickets.
Opener Mohammed Shahzad also did a great job by going after the bowling during the Powerplay overs, notching up 40 off 23 balls with seven boundaries and a six.
All the Zimbabwe pacers, who had a decent outing so far, went for runs. Wellington Masakadza (0/31), Tendai Chatara (0/34 in 3 overs), Donaldo Tiripano (1/41 in 3 overs) all went for runs.
The only successful bowler was Tinashe Panayngara, who claimed three wickets conceding 32 runs in four overs.
The best part about Afghanistan batting was their fearless stroke-play. If the fine leg was up, they hit the lap shot, played the upper cut over third man and punished any loose deliveries that came their way.
Zimbabwe were never really in contention as they could score only 39 in the Powerplay overs with field restrictions on. They lost wickets at regular intervals with none of their batsmen cross-ing 20-run mark.
Leg-spinner Rashid Khan (3/11) was the most successful bowler while Hamid Hassan (2/11), Sa-miullah Shenwari (1/31) and Mo-hammed Nabi (1/29) all chipped in with wickets. - PTI
In a do-or-die
match, the Afghans
outplayed Zimbabwe
in all departments
by first scoring a
challenging 186 for
six in 20 overs and
then bowling out
opposition for 127 in
19.4 overs
AFGHANISTANM. Shahzad c H. Masakadza b Williams 40Noor Ali Zadran c S. Raza b Panyangara 10A Stanikzai c S. Raza b Panyangara 0Gulbadin Naib b Panyangara 7S. Shenwari c Sibanda b Tiripano 43Mohammad Nabi run out 52Shafiqullah (not out) 9Dawlat Zadran (not out) 0Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-17) 25 Total (6 wkts; 20 overs) 186Did not bat: Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Hamid HassanFall of wickets: 1-49, 2-50, 3-60, 4-63,
5-161, 6-184.Bowling: W.P. Masakadza 4-1-31-0 (w-1); T.L. Chatara 3-0-34-0 (w-2); D.T. Tiripano 3-0-41-1 (w-4); S. Williams 4-0-25-1; T. Panyangara 4-0-32-3; Sikandar Raza 2-0-15-0 (w-3).ZIMBABWEV. Sibanda c H. Hassan b Rashid Khan 13H. Masakadza b Hamid Hassan 11R. Mutumbami c N. Zadran b M. Nabi 10S. Williams st M. Shahzad b Rashid Khan 13M.N. Waller b Samiullah Shenwari 7Sikandar Raza b Hamid Hassan 15E. Chigumbura c Shafiqullah b Rashid 10
W.P. Masakadza b Dawlat Zadran 6D.T. Tiripano run out 2T. Panyangara (not out) 17T.L. Chatara c Shafiqullah b A. Stanikzai 8Extras (lb-11, w-4) 15 Total (all out; 19.4 overs) 127Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-43, 3-47, 4-59, 5-65, 6-90, 7-95, 8-98, 9-118.Bowling: Dawlat Zadran 4-0-30-1 (w-1); Hamid Hassan 3-0-11-2 (w-1); Samiullah Shenwari 4-0-31-1; Mohammed Nabi 3-0-14-1 (w-1); Rashid Khan 4-0-11-3; Gulbadin Naib 1-0-15-0; Asghar Stanikzai 0.4-0-4-1.
IMPRESSIVE SHOW: Afghanistan players celebrate after clinching a berth in the T20 World T20 Super 10 stage with an easy victory over
Zimbabwe at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday. – AFP
Scotland defeat Hong Kong
R A R E S U C C E S S
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Pakistan team arrive in India
KOLKATA: Cleared by their gov-ernment after days of uncertainty over their participation, the Paki-stani contingent arrived in India to take part in the World Twen-ty20 cricket tournament as they landed here after a long flight.
The 27-member Pakistan cricket contingent arrived in the city from Abu Dhabi, finally end-ing days of suspension over their participation in the mega event.
The Pakistan contingent com-prising 15 players, 12 officials and support staff, reached the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Interna-
tional Airport at 7:55 pm amid tight security after the Pakistan government finally gave their cricket board the green signal to fly to India.
Hundreds of fans gathered at the airport to welcome the Paki-stan team as Shahid Afridi and his players came out of the airport. The Pakistani skipper recipro-
cated the warm gestures, waving at the crowd before leading his teammates into two buses as they went straight to the team hotel.
It took about an hour for the Pakistan players to clear their immigration formalities before they finally came out of the air-port to the loud cheers of the fans gathered there. - PTI
Hundreds of fans
gathered at the
airport to welcome
the Pakistan team as
Shahid Afridi and his
players came out of
the airport
WARM WELCOME: Pakistan team coach Waqar Younis arrives with his team at NSCBI Airport in Kolkata on Saturday. – PTI
South Africa beat India in warm-up tieMUMBAI: Star batsmen Jean-Paul Duminy and Quinton de Kock struck fluent half centuries as South Africa registered a nail-biting, four-run victory against In-dia in the warm-up match ahead of the World Twenty20 cricket tournament at the Wankhede Sta-dium here on Saturday.
Batting first, South Africa posted 196 for eight in 20 overs, thanks to Duminy’s 67 and Quin-ton de Kock’s 56.
In reply, despite Shikhar Dha-wan’s 73 retired not out and Ma-hendra Singh Dhoni’s 16-ball 30 in the end, India fell short of the target as they could manage only 192 for three in 20 overs.
Pacers Dale Steyn, Kyle Ab-bott and leg-spinner Imran Ta-hir claimed one wicket each for South Africa.
Earlier opting to bat, South Africa got off to a disappointing start losing opener Hashim Amla
(5) in the third over. But the fall of wicket didn’t worry his opening partner de Kock (56 retired not out) as the left-handed batsman scored at a good pace to take the pressure away from the team.
Brief scores: South Africa 196/8 in 20 overs (J.P. Duminy 67, Quinton de Kock 56 retired; Hardik Pandya 3-36, Mo-hammad Shami 2-37 and Jasprit Bumrah 2-51) bt India 192/3 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 73 retired; Imran Tahir 1-25, Kyle Abbott 1-32, Dale Steyn 1-36). - IANS
T H R I L L I N G M A T C H
Messi, Neymar help Barca to 12th straight victoryBARCELONA: Barcelona equalled a club record of 12 con-secutive league wins as Neymar and Lionel Messi were among the scorers in a 6-0 thrashing of strug-gling Getafe 6-0 at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
The victory takes Barcelona 11 points clear of nearest challeng-ers Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga standings.
An own goal by Getafe defender Juan Dominguez put Barca on their way to victory after eight minutes but then Messi missed a fourth penalty of the season, be-fore laying on passes for Munir El
Haddadi and Neymar to stretch Barca’s lead.
The Argentine superstar added a fourth goal before the break with a curling strike from the edge of the area.
Neymar then struck a 21st goal of the season in all competitions, again assisted by Messi, while Arda Turan completed the thrash-ing with an overhead volley.
Luis Enrique’s side are in the midst of a record of 37 matches without defeat in all competi-tions and the victory over Getafe matched the 12 straight league wins they achieved in 2012-13 un-
der coach Tito Vilanova.Before the match Barca en-
joyed their first week without a match in 2016, and Luis Enrique made five changes from the team that won 4-0 at Eibar last Sunday, resting Luis Suarez, Dani Alves, Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic before their Champions League round of 16 second leg match with Premier League side Arsenal on Wednesday.
Getafe sit one point above the relegation zone in 16th place and the trouncing they received at the Nou Camp was their eighth defeat in nine league matches. - Reuters
L A L I G A
Man City held to 0-0 draw by NorwichNORWICH: Manchester City’s hopes of regaining the Premier League title suffered a poten-tially grievous blow on Saturday as they were held to a goalless draw by struggling Norwich City at Carrow Road.
The unpredictable 2014 champions dominated posses-sion and territory but still did not have the urgency nor inven-tion to pierce a well-organised Canaries’ rearguard.
And they had to settle frus-tratingly for remaining fourth in the title race, still nine points behind leaders Leicester City. - Reuters
P R E M I E R L E A G U E
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HealthSECTIONC L I F E STY L E S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
ANXIETY is an extremely uncomfortable feeling of unease and nervousness similar to fear, usually about an event with an uncertain outcome. It has both emotional and physical sensations and evokes the flight or fight response in us. It’s uncomfortable and people do whatever they can to reduce it.
Difference between normal anxiety and anxiety disordersNormal anxiety is a feeling we have all faced especially when under stress or when making decisions. Usually after a short while or when the situation is resolved it disappears. Anxiety disorders are overwhelming and the anxiety is constant and interferes with the normal functioning in an individual.
Causes of anxiety disordersIt’s important not to undervalue the distress that people have with anxiety disorders. They are not a sign of personality weakness nor do they respond to simple advice. People who have never faced the constant anxiety find it difficult to understand the suffering of this disorder. Anxiety disorders
are caused by problems in the functioning of brain circuits. These can be caused by genetic factors, early childhood trauma, hormonal imbalances, and stress. Usually they are triggered by a combination of the four factors.
What are the different anxiety disorders?
this condition have feelings of terror that strike suddenly and repeatedly with no warning. Other symptoms include chest pain, palpitations, and a feeling of choking, which may make the person feel like he or she is having a heart attack.
called social phobia, it involves overwhelming worry and self-consciousness about everyday social situations. The worry plays on a fear of being judged by others, or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment
fear of a specific object or situation, such as snakes, heights, or flying. The level of fear is usually inappropriate to the situation and may cause the person to avoid common, everyday situations.
This disorder involves excessive, unrealistic worry and tension of common every day events. Negative thinking and worry is a constant companion during each day.
How do we help in anxiety disorders?Understanding and compassion are very important in dealing with it. It’s important not to criticise or undervalue the suffering that people go through. People with anxiety disorders must be supported to seek professional help to deal with their symptoms and regain their confidence and strength. Simple words of advice do not help people with anxiety disorders and only help to confuse them. Remember that normal anxiety is incredibly uncomfortable, how much more debilitating chronic uncontrolled anxiety is. They need our help.
Story Dr Gerald D’Costa
ANXIETY is a universal affliction affecting millions. And while most will admit to being under some kind of pressure — be it financial, work or family challenges — getting to unplug and unload is proving to be a difficult task.
Joyce Meyer, best-selling author, speaker and teacher, agrees that the demands of modern life can be all-consuming, making it hard to mute distractions. In her new book, OVERLOAD: How to Unplug, Unwind, and Unleash Yourself from the Pressure of Stress, Meyer addresses this problem by identifying the catalysts of worry in your life, as well as offering practical, effective advice and wisdom from a scriptural standpoint that she believes is the answer to curing your stress.
“Nobody is immune to stress,” Meyer says. “But through exploring the inspiring insights you triumph over stress, you can achieve the joyful, peaceful life that is intended for you.”
Other ways that may help you regain some sense of control and generally decrease anxiety can be
Your home needs to be a place where you go to recuperate and rejuvenate for the next day. The space should be calm and harmonious.
are thousands of ways you can relax. Whether it’s unwinding with music, reading a good book,
taking a warm bath by candlelight, going for a walk or engaging in a sport you enjoy, you know what relaxation feels like and you know when it’s happening to you,” Meyer writes in OVERLOAD, “I strongly encourage you to make relaxation a part of your daily life.”
commuting time to calm down. This may seem like an oxymoron, but you’d be surprised at how easy it is to disconnect from daily pressures or work on the car ride home. Relax by listening to an audio book or singing along to your favourite music, and, if the weather permits, roll down the windows and let the sun and breeze carry your troubles away. -NewsUSA
Unplug and Unload
FIND-IT-ALLC6 S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
Dhuhr 12.21pmAsr 3.46pmMaghrib 6.20pmIsha 7.30pm
Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.03am
PRAYER TIMINGS
CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman
SHATTIThe Divergent Series: Allegiant (Action| Adcenture| Sci-Fi) PG12Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz3:30, 6:30, 9:00 & 11:30PMTriple 9 (Action | Crime | Drama) 15+Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor3:00, 6:00, 9:30 & 11:45PM The Other Side of the Door (Horror) 18+Cast: Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto8:15 & 11:55PMLondon Has Fallen (Action| Crime) PG12Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman2:30, 4:30, 7:30 & 10:00 Zootropolis (Action | Drama | Thriller) PG12Voice Overs: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman5:15PM
MUSCAT GRAND MALLThe Divergent Series: Allegiant – 2D (PG12) Action| Adcenture| Sci-FiCast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, 12:15, 2:30, 7:00, 11:30 PMGold Class – 8:30 PMTriple 9 – 2D (15+) Action | Crime | DramaCast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, 9:30, 11:45 PMGold Class – 3:30, 6:15, 11:00 PM London Has Fallen – 2D (PG12) Action| Crime | Thriller |Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman,5:00, 9:30 PMZootropolis – 3D (PG12) Animation | ActionVoice Overs: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bate-man, Idris Elba12:30, 2:45, 5:00, 7:15 PM
PANORAMA MALLLondon Has Fallen-2D(Action, Crime)(PG12)Cast : Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman4:30, 7:00, 9:30, 11:30 PM
Zootropolis (3D) (Animation, Action)(PG12)Voice Overs : Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman2:30, 5:45 PMTriple 9-2D (Action, Crime)(15+)Cast : Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie3:30, 6:30, 9:00, 11:30 PMTriple 9 (2D) (Action, Crime)(15+)-VIP LOUNGECast : Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor3:45, 8:45, 11:00 PMThe Divergent Series: Allegiant-2D (Action, Adventure)(PG12)Cast : Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Theo James2:45, 9:00, 11:30 PMThe Divergent Series: Allegiant (2D) (Action, Adventure)(PG12)-VIP LOUNGECast : Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Theo James6:30 PMThe Divergent Series: Allegiant (Action, Adventure)(MX4D)(PG12)Cast : Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz3:30, 6:15, 8:30, 10:45 PMBleeding Heart (2D) (Drama)(15+)Cast : Jessica Biel, Zosia Mamet5:15, 7:45 PM
AZAIBA Triple 9 (2D) (Action |Crime) (15+) Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie3:30, 6:30, 11:30 PMLondon Has Fallen (2D) (Action) (PG12) Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman3:00, 5:00, 11:45 PMThe Divergent Series-Allegiant (2D) (Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Theo James3:30, 9:30, 11:45 PMJai GangaaJal (2D) (Hindi) (Action) (TBC) Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Rahul Bhat3:15, 6:00, 9:00, 11:15 PMNeerja (2D) (Hindi) (Biographical) (PG12) Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azami6:00 PMPuthiya Niyamam (Mal) (2D) (Drama) (PG12) Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara7:00, 8:30 PMKadhalum Kandathu Pogum(2D)(Tamil) (Romantic | Comedy) (TBC) Cast: Vijay Setupathi, Madonna Sabastian8:45 PM
RUWIScreen 1Jai GangaaJal (Action) –PG12Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Jha, Rahul Bhat, Ayush3.30, 6.30, 9.30 PMScreen 2The Divergent Series: Allegiant (2D) (Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi) –PG12Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James 4.00, 10.00 PMPuthiya Niyamam - (Mal) – PG12Cast: Mammootty, Nayantara, Baby Ananya7.00 PMScreen 3Neerja (Action / Biography) –PG12Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi 3.45, 6.45, 9.45 PM
SURThe Divergent Series - Allegiant ( Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi ) ( PG12) Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Theo James 4:30, 8:45 PMTriple 9 ( Action |Crime | Drama ) (15+) Cast: Casy Affleck, Kate Winslet
4:15, 8:00, 11:45 PMMartyrs ( Drama | Horror | Thriller ) (18+) Cast: Troian Bellisario, Bailey Noble 10:05 PMPuthiya Niyamam (Malayalam) (PG12) Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara11:00 PMZootropolis (3D) ( Animation) (PG12) Voice Overs: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bate-man, Idris Elba6:45 PMLondon Has Fallen (Action) ( PG12) Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman6:15 PM
SOHARLondon Has Fallen – 2D (Action) (PG12)Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Charlotte Riley2:45, 7:00, 11:30PMThe Divergent Series: Allegiant– 2D (Action | Adventure | Sc-Fi) (PG12)Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, 2:45, 5:00, 9:15, 11:30PMTriple 9 – 2D (Action | Crime | Drama) (15+)Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie2:30, 7:15, 9:30, 11:45PMZootropolis – 3D (Animation) (PG12)Voice Overs: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bate-man, Idris Elba2:30, 4:30PMBleeding Heart – 2D (Drama|) (15+)Cast: Jessica Biel, Zosia Mamet, Joe Anderson5:30, 7:15PMThe Other Side of the Door– 2D (Horror) (18+)Cast: Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky4:45, 11:45PMJai GangaaJal – 2D (Action | Drama) (PG12)Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Rahul Bhat, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar9:00PMKadhalum Kandathu Pogum– 2D (Roman-tic | Comedy) (PG12)Cast: Vijay Setupathi, Madonna Sabastian6:30PMPuthiya Niyamam – 2D (Family) (PG12)Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara9:00PM
BURAIMILondon Has Fallen (Action) (PG12)
Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Charlotte Riley9.45PMThe Divergent Series: Allegiant (Action |Adventure | Sci-Fi) ( PG-12) Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, Theo James7.00, 9.15, 11.30PMZootropolis 3D (Animation | Action| Adventure) ( PG12 ) Voice Overs: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bate-man, Idris Elba5.15PMPuthiya Niyamam (Malayalam) (PG12)Cast: Mammootty, Nayantara7.15PMTriple 9 (Action | Crime | Drama) (15+) Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie4.45, 7.15, 9.30, 11.45PMMartyrs (Drama | Horror | Thriller) (18+)Cast: Troian Bellisario, Bailey Noble 5.00, 11,45PM
SALALAHThe Divergent Series: Allegiant (2D) (PG12) (Action| Adventure| Sci-Fi) Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz 11:30AM, 2:45, 9:15, 11:15PMLondon Has Fallen (2D) (PG12) (Action) Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, 2:30, 10:00PMTriple 9 (2D) (15+) (Action | Crime | Drama)Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor.12:30, 12:30, 7:00, 9:00, 11:45PMBleeding Heart (2D) (15+) (Drama)Cast: Jessica Biel, Zosia Mamet, Joe Anderson3:00, 7:05PMThe Other Side of the Door (2D) (18+) Cast: Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky5:00, 11:55PM13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Beng-hazi (2D) (15+) (Action|Thrille) Cast: John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, James Badge Dale4:30PMZootropolis (3D) (PG12) (Animation | Action) Voice Overs: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bate-man, Idris Elba12:00, 4:45PMPuthiya Nayamam (2D) (PG12) (Malayalam) Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara7:15PM
CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW
ROYAL OMAN POLICE
Emergencies and inquiries: 9999
General Directorate of
Passport and Residence 24569603
Directorate General
of Customs 24521109
Traffic violations inquiries 24510228
Public Relations Admin 24560099
EMBASSIES IN OMAN
Afghanistan 24698 791/4
Algeria 24605 593
Bahrain 24 605 074/133
Bangladesh 24 698 660
Brazil 24640100
Brunei 24 603533
China 24 696782
Cyprus 24 699815
Egypt 24 600 982/411
France 24681 800
Germany 24835000
India 24684500
Indonesia 2469 1050
Iran 24 696 944/7
Iraq 24603642
Italy 24693727
Japan 24 601 028
Jordan 24692760/1/3
Kazakhstan 24 692418
Kenya 24 697664
South Korea 24 691490
Kuwait 24 699628
Lebanon 24 693208
Libya 24603466
Malaysia 24698329/643
Morocco 24696152/3
Nepal 24696177
Netherlands 24603706
Pakistan 24603439
Palestine 24601312
Philippines 24605335
Qatar 24 691 153/2/4
Russia 24602894
Saudi Arabia 24601705
Senegal 24694139
Somalia 24697977
South Africa 24647300
Spain 24691101
Sri Lanka 24697841/2
Sudan 24697875
Switzerland 24603267
Syria 24697904
Tanzania 24601 174
Thailand 24 602684/5
Tunisia 24603486
Turkey 24697050/1/2
UAE 24400000
United Kingdom 24609000
United States 24643400
Yemen 24600815
PHARMACIES
Round the clock
Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24782666
Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542
Salalah 23291635;
Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585
Muscat Region
Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766
Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691
Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740
Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080
Dhofar Region
Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,
Salalah 23291635
HOSPITALS
Al Amal Medical & Health Care
Centre 24485052
Atlas Hospital
Ruwi 24811743/
Ghubra 24504000
Al Musafir Specialised
Medical Clinic 24706453
Hatat Polyclinic LLC,
Ruwi 24563641
Azaiba 24499269
Sohar 2683006
Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2
Al Massaraat Clinic &
Laboratory 24566435
Al Makook Medical
Coordinance Centre 24499434
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24787766, 24787780
Capital Polyclinic 24707549
Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,
Ruwi 24799760/1/2
Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740
Ceregem National Raak 24485633
Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217
Elixir Health Centre 24565802
Emirates Medical Centre 24604540
1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274
Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340
International Medical
Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5
Kims Oman Hospital 24760100
24 Hrs Emergency 24760123
Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128
MBD 24799077
Al Khuwair 24478818
Magrabi Eye and
Ear Hospital 24568870
Muscat Private Hospital 24583600
Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment
Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666
Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000
AIRLINE OFFICES
Muscat Airport Flight information
(24 hours) 24519456/24519223
Aeroflot 24704455
Air Arabia 24700828
Air France 24562153
Air India 24799801
Air New Zealand 24700732
Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128
British Airways 24568777
Cathay Pacific 24789818
Egypt Air 24794113
Emirates Air 24404400
Ethiopian Airlines 24660313
Gulf Air 80072424
Indian 24791914
Iran Air 24787423
Japan Airlines 24704455
Jazeera Airways 23294848
Jet Airways 24787248
Kenya Airways 24660300
KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737
Kuwait Airways 24701262
LOT Polish Airlines 24796387
Lufthansa 24796692
Malaysian Airlines 24560796
Middle East Airlines 24796680
Oman Air 24531111
Pakistan International
Airlines 24792471
Qatar Airways 24771900
Qantas 24559941
Royal Jordanian 24796693
Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485
Singapore Airlines 24791233
Shaheen Air 24816565
SriLankan Airlines 24784545
Swiss International
Airlines 24796692
Thai Airways 24705934
LISTINGS
LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)
15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily
15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily
15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily
06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily
08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri
13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily
13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily
16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily
16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily
TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)
17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily
TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)
14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily
14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily
TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)
08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily
08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily
TO SUR (ROUTE 55)
07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily
14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily
TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)
06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily
06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily
TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)
07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily
10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily
10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily
19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily
TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)
06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily
SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)
15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily
TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)
06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily
06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily
13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur
13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur
15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily
15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily
TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)
07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily
07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily
07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily
TO MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)
05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily
05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily
05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily
07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily
13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri
13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily
13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily
13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily
17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily
TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)
07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily
TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)
06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily
06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily
TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)
15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily
15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily
TO SUR (ROUTE 55)
06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily
14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily
TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)
12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily
12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily
TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)
07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily
10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily
10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily
19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily
TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)
06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily
DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)
15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily
TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)
07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily
07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily
13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri
13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri
15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily
15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily
FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)
16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily
16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily
16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily
@SHATTI @AZAIBA
The Divergent Series: Allegiant (PG12) (Action| Adventure| Sci-Fi) Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz, , Theo James3:30, 6:30, 9:00 & 11:30PM
Puthiya Niyamam (Mal) (2D) (Drama) (PG12) Cast: Mammootty, Nayanthara, Baby Ananya7:00, 8:30 PM
BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking
24540855
Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com
London Has Fallen (Action / Crime / Thriller)Cast: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart 8.00, 11.55 PM CP No: 351 (PG12)13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (Action / Drama / Thriller)Cast: John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber 2.00 PM CP No: 352 (15+)Bleeding Heart (Drama)Cast: Jessica Biel, Zosia Mamet, Joe Anderson2.00, 4:00, 6:00 & 10.00 PM CP No: 353 (15+)The Divergent Series: Allegiant (Adventure)Cast: Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Navomi Watts4:30, 7:00, 9:30, 11:55PMCP No: 341 (PG12)
STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776
Website: www.isurf.co.om
Puthiya Niyamam (Mal) (Thriller) Cast: Mammotty & Nayantara 3-30 , 6-30 & 9-30 PM Cinema Main Kadhalum Kadhandhu Pogum (Tamil) (Com) Cast: Vijay Sethupathi & Madonna Sebastion 3:30, 6:30 & 9:30 PM Cinema-2Action Hero Biju (Mal) (Act\ Comedy) Cast: Nivin Pauly & Anu Emmanuel 3:45, 6:45 & 9:45 PM Cinema -3Kalyna Vaibhogame (Telugu) (Drama \ Com) Cast: Naga Shourya & Malavika Nair 3:45 PM Cinema -4 Neerja (Hindi) (Act\ Drama) Cast: Sonam Kapoor & Shabana Azmi 6:45, 9:45 PM Cinema -4
Next Change: Maheshinte Prathikaram (Mal)
Kapoor & Sons (Hindi); Pugazh (Tamil)
Programmes are subject to change
@PANORAMA MALL
Triple 9 – 2D (Action | Crime | Drama) (15+)Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie3:30, 6:30, 9:00, 11:30 PM
WEATHER
290
Maximum
200
Minimum
TEMPERATURE
90-60%RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and
parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to
extra@timesofoman.com
AADHIDEV MANIKANDHAN March 13, 2012
SIDDHI MAKWANA March 13, 2010
RIHAAN SUNIL THOMASMarch 13, 2015
WITH LOVE
LIFESTYLEC7S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
Ensure proper disposal of garbage.
Don’t litter a beautiful country like OMAN.
Retirement can boost positive changes Individuals who retire become more physically active, reduce their sitting time, are less likely to smoke, and have healthier sleep patterns, when com-pared with people who are still working, finds a new research. “A major life change like retirement creates a great window of opportunity to make posi-tive lifestyle changes — it’s a chance to get rid of bad routines and engineer new, healthier behaviours,” said lead researcher Melody Ding, senior research fellow at the University of Sydney in Australia.“The lifestyle changes were most pronounced in people who retire after working full time. When people are working and commuting, it eats a lot of time out of their day. When they retire, they have time to be physically active and sleep more,” Ding added.-IANS
BR I E F
Hair thinning and hair loss. What you can do yourself.
here is little you can do to prevent hereditary hair loss, but treat-ments may re-verse some of
its effects. For temporary hair loss, try the following to slow hair thinning and encourage regrowth.
contribute to hair loss. Make sure you include plenty of pro-tein and iron in your diet.
-ments to perm or straighten your hair. They contain chemi-cals that may make hair brittle and liable to break at the roots.
that pulls on your scalp, or wear a cap or hat continuously unless you have to wear head-gear for your work.
possible, rather than using a hair dryer. Don’t pull on your hair with a brush or comb when it is wet.
haircut can make a difference. Short, blunt cuts can make hair appear thicker. Some men pre-fer to cut their hair very short, or shave it off, to disguise a re-ceding hairline.
hereditary hair loss, you can try a preparation containing mi-noxidil that may restore hair.
Temporary hair loss often oc-curs after an illness or period of stress, or because of a skin infection such as ringworm. Chemical hair treatments, and hairstyles and hats that pull on the hair, can contribute to the problem. Some drugs and long-term illnesses cause hair loss, and women may lose hair temporarily after childbirth. Per-manent hair loss is usually heredi-tary and can begin to affect men as early as in their twenties. Women who inherit the trait develop thin hair later in life but do not usually become bald.
Natural RemediesProtein is essential for building and repairing tissues in the body, including hair. Make sure about one sixth of your total calorie intake is made up of foods such as meat, fish, cheese, and nuts.
hair, so eat plenty of iron-rich foods such as grains, beans, fish, poultry, meat, and leafy green vegetables.Make an appointment to see your doctor if:
-idly or in patches in recent weeks.
be due to a medication or an illness.
-lifestyle@timesofoman.com
We all know that excess sugar consumption leads to health prob-lems like obesity, diabe-tes and other lifestyle
diseases. While we tend to control our direct sugar intake, sometimes we unknowingly consume sugar that is added to foods that don’t even taste sweet like breads, con-diments, and sauces. Also, it be-comes difficult to avoid those add-ed sugar found in processed food. A little attention to what we eat and drink can help us control our sugar intake. Here are few ways to slash sugar from your diet.
Read Food LabelsWhile buying things like tomato sauce, crackers, or any condi-ments check the ingredients list. If they have words “corn syrup”, “fruit juice concentrate”, “cane sugar”, “brown sugar”, “raw sugar” or “high-fructose corn syrup” mo-lasses, it means that the product is high in sugar. So next time you go to buy your favourite flavoured yoghurt or cereal, make sure you check out on these names. Your seemingly healthy food might not be so healthy in reality.
Cut Down on Raw SugarCutting off sugar from food and beverages like tea and coffee is the best way to reduce sugar intake. Cut back on processed foods which are typically laden with added sugar. Keep sugary snacks away. Cut back on sodas and soft drinks. Go for unsweetened, whole-grain cereals. Don’t substitute artificial sweeteners for sugar. All sugars are sugars. Brown or raw sugar isn’t any healthier than others.
Eat RegularlyEat three meals and two snacks or five small meals a day. For many people, if they don’t eat regularly, their blood sugar levels drop, they feel hungry and are more likely to crave sweet sugary snacks.
Adjust Serving SizesYour serving sizes are a huge key too. Instead of a whole cookie, eat half. Eat a quarter of a cookie and savour it. You will be surprised at how quickly your body will adjust.
Opt for Fresh Fruits Canned fruits are packed with a high amount of corn syrup or fruc-tose that are essentially, different forms of sugar. Simply eat fresh and season fruits to remove such unwanted sugars from your diet. Similarly, fruit juices sold in the packaged format contain unnec-essary sugar. Either have a whole fruit with all its fibres or squeeze-out fresh juice.
Get Enough SleepSometimes when we are tired we often use sugar for energy to counteract the exhaustion. Ex-cessive craving for sugar might be a sign of emotional need that isn’t being met.
Ideal SubstitutesInstead of adding sugar in reci-pes, use extracts such as almond, vanilla, orange or lemon. You can also enhance the taste by adding spices like ginger, allspice, cin-namon or nutmeg. Substitute un-sweetened applesauce for sugar in recipes. Drink lots of water as it reduces sugar cravings or have a piece of fruit when you have a sweet craving. Cravings are gen-erally short-lived so if you can di-vert your mind then you are sure to overcome it. Try going for walks.
WHO GuidelinesWHO’s current recommendation, is that sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake per day. Five per cent of total energy intake is equivalent to around 25 grams (around 6tsp) of sugar per day for an adult of normal Body Mass Index (BMI). The suggested limits on intake apply to all mon-osaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) that are added to food by the manufacturer, the cook or the consumer, as well as sugars that are naturally pre-sent in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates.Much of the sugars consumed today are “hidden” in processed foods that are not usually seen as sweets. For example, 1tbsp of ketchup contains around 1tsp of sugars. A single can of sweetened soda contains up to 40g of sugar. -lifestyle@timesofoman.com
LIFESTYLEC8 S U N DAY, M A R C H 1 3, 2 0 1 6
SMART WAYS TO LOWER YOUR SUGAR INTAKE
The World Health
Organisation (WHO)
recommends to
consume no more
than 6tsp of sugar
per day. It applies to
all monosaccharides
and disaccharides
added to food and
also the hidden sugar
in processed food.
6 tsp per day
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Luxury flat for rent in Bareeq Al Shatti building
Spacious 2 BHK with sea view,
split A/Cs, fixed wardrobes,
kitchen appliance.
Near Opera Gallery.
Rent RO.900/- negotiable.
Contact - 94084335 / 96920789
Flat for rent in South AlGhubrah
3 rooms, hall and 3 toilets, kitchen
rent 450/-. Contact: 99335580
1BHK at Al Hamriya near Muscat
Pharmacy contact: 99224748-
99332297
Flats, shops and basement in
MBD area and Honda road.
Contact: 92433127/96291778/
92589235/97293708
1 & 2 BHK Flat in Al.Khuwair.
Contact - 99792181
2 BHK flat in Ghobrah.
Contact - 99792181
2 BHK flat in Ruwi.
Contact - 99792181
Office Space Available in Al Khu-
wair & CBD.Contact – 99792181
Villa in Al Khuwair. Contact: 92125648/25250300
1BHK close to Indian nursery,
Darsait blog -1619, way No .1322
RO 225/-. Contact: 99476728
Land (17000sqm) with office /
store /shaded area for rent at Ghala
industrial area –prime location.
Contact:99476728
Rooms for rent in Al Khuwair near
Ibis hotel. Contact: 95124975
Double bed room flat CBD area.
Contact: 97608564
Industrial land in misfit for near
Hal service & Al Awazi.950sq.M
with 3rooms,5 bathroom, bound-
ary wall with 2 sides road facing
&large parking in front.
full or part area.
Contact- 99364007/99454425
3 Deluxe flat in Ghobrah near
Chedi hotel 550 RO per monthly
Contact: 90161220
2 BHK flats /office & shops valu-
able in a new building at Honda
road .Contact: 91165807
Vila for rent in Al Mab-
ela South near gulf college.con-
tact:95950025
Furnished room available for
executive bachelor in Ruwi area.
Contact - 99054542
2 B/R Luxury Fully Furnished @
Al Khuwair 33 1 B/R Luxury Fully
Furnished @ Al Khuwair
5 B/R Fully Furnished villa @ Ma-
dinat Al Ilam 5 B/R Fully Furnished
villa @ Madinat Al Ilam. For Daily,
Weekly, monthly or Yearly contract.
Please Contact: Atlas Real Estate
& Rent a Car LLC 99249069 /
994617563/92888376 / 24834888E
mail: info@alshahiintl.com
Store, workshop, garage for rent in
Misfah. Contact – 99792181
1 & 2 B/R flat in Al Khuwair.
Contact – 99792181
4 B/R villa in Al Ansab.
Contact – 99792181
2 B/R flat in Wattaya, Mumtaz &
Ruwi area. Contact – 99792181
Open land + workshop + labour
camp in Ghala & Rusayl.
Contact – 99792181
Store & workshop in Ghala, Misfah
& Rusayl. Contact – 99792181
Flat, 1 bedroom, kitchen, toilet in
AL Khuwair family bachelors
R.O 150/-. Contact: 95154331
2 Bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, car
park R.O 200/- & 1 bedroom,
kitchen, toilet R.O 130 in Al Khu-
wair. Contact: 95154331
1 Bed room, sharing K& T, R.O 100,
2 bedrooms , sharing K& T R.O
200/- in AL Khuwair.
Contact: 95154331
Flat for rent 2 BHK 2 split A/C, 2
toilets, Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti
Masjid. Contact – 97007934 /
92609232
Commercial/ residential flat for
rent in a new building. A ware-
house also available, location
Muttrah. For more details contact
– 99364735 / 95729711
Room Al khuwair 120 R.O
Contact: 97799175
2 BHK flat with big rooms
behind Bank Muscat, Near ISWK.
99373290, 24815012
Studio type in Qurum.
Contact: 92230462 -98273470
2 BHK in Wadikabir RO250.
Contact: 97799175/92144045
2 BHK in Ghobrah RO310.
Contact: 97799175/92144045
1.2BHK in Darsait .Contact:
97799175/92144045
Flats 2 bedroom Majlis, 2 toilet,
kitchen balcony near Indian school
Darsait new building rent R.O
275/-Contact: 99243059
4 BHK villa in Qurum.
Contact: 97799175/92144045
2 BR flats with 2Baths Kitchen
Al Amerat Aster Hospital .
Contact: 99366142
Furnished flat for rent near City
Center Mawalah. 2 Rooms, Majlis,
hall, kitchen & 4 bathrooms. Rent
RO.400. Contact – 99336776
1000sqm two rooms with com-
pound well at Misfah Sanaiya.
Surround huge open land for trailer
movement, Suitable for tile, sanitary
ware, building materials etc store.
Contact: 99342733 /99795241
Flats in Darsait. 94051789-97201688
3 Rooms, 2 Toilets Flat for Rent. 18
November Street. Near Mars Hyper-
market and The Chedi. Ghobrah -Good
for Commercial or Residential use.
OMR 295/- month. Call 94477222
Conditioned room with toilets in
Al Khuwair. Contact: 92620858
/92605500
2 BHK fully furnished flat at Ruwi
MBD area. Contact – 93211557 /
24814853
Villa in Al-Khuwair 33. Quality
Finishing. Consist 5 Bedrooms, 1
Living room, 3 Lounges, All with A/C,
Kitchen and storage.
Contact: 90665135
2BHK and 1BHK flats spilt air
conditioners are available for
rent in new building in Al Qurum,
near rose Garden. Interested
persons may content on phone:
9513331/96722449
For rent in Mabela Sanaya road
no.6.show room two shutter &
warehouse (900m2) & staff
accommodation & office with split
A.C. reasonable rent
Contact: 99318152&99225067.
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, M A R C H 1 3 , 2 0 1 6 D3
FOR RENT
FOR RENT FOR SALE
WAREHOUSE AVAILABLE FOR RENT
IN BALADIA SANAYAH AMIRAT
(Floor area 600sqmtrs and mezzanine of 500sqmtrs)
1100sqmts fully cover warehouse
Please contact: G.S.M
99417229/92621039
Commercial flats of 3 & 2
BHK in Al Ghobra North 18 Nov
street RO.650/- & 450/- Contact
91776665
Brand new villas in Al Ansab.
Contact - 94051789-97201688
Flats in WadiKabir. Contact - 94051789-97201688
600 M2 showroom or office in
Bousher in front of Dolphin complex.
RO.3.5 per m2. Contact 91776665
Offices & Showrooms in Al Khoud. Contact 94051789-
97201688
Fully Furnished apartments in
Boucher (35) Contact- 94051789-
97201688
Brand new 4 BHK villa in Al Fai
compound Al Khoud. RO.475/-
Contact – 91776665
02 BHK residential flat opposite
to Al Nahdha hospital.
Contact: 99342733 /99795241
To spend interesting times with
family or friends a new park for
rent in Al Amerat near Sultan Cent-
er for details. Contact: 99332273
Whatsapp 95806364
Building and house in Al Amerat
near Bahwan stores suitable for
big store and resident for work-
ers for details. Contact: 99332273
Whatsapp 95806364
2 Bed rooms flats with hall 2
bathrooms in Darsait near Muscat
municipality. Contact: 92584715
Flat for rent in Hamriya.
Contact 99341112
2 Bed room centrally air condi-
tioned flat in CBD prime location.
Contact: 24714625/91173997
New flats for rent at Al Ghobrah
near to atlas hospital the flats
includes 2 living room , 1hall ,
kitchen , toilets , air conditioned
room & high Quality finishing rent
per flat is R.O 375/-. Interested
candidates please
Contact: 00968- 97093283
Flats in Wadi Kabir. Contact: 94051789-97201688
4 Bedroom new villa Al Mawaleh
1/2 KM to city center mall High
end fit outs split A/C full kitchen
fitting all rooms w/ private toilets
monthly 600/- R.O.
Contact : Hassan 99349990
Two bedrooms flat in Al Ghob-
rah near Oman Oil of 18 Novem-
ber Street. OMR 330 Monthly.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or
97509955.
ACC. AVAILABLE
Room with toilet for working lady.
Contact: 91450718
Sharing single big room for fam-
ily or couple with separate bath-
room near Badr Al Sama clinic
Al Khuwair. Contact - 99796500
Accommodation available in Al
Khuwair, single room with fur-
niture and A/C, sharing kitchen.
Contact - 94297820
Furnished room attached bath for
Indian bachelor, Al-Falaj Ruwi &
lady Wadi Kabir near Mars
hypermarket.
Contact: 96202458/96761960
Furnish bedroom with attach
bathroom for executive bachelor.
Contact: 97704794
Room with attached bathroom and
sharing kitchen available for
Executive bachelor or small family
at wadikabir Contact 93049849
Room available in Mumtaz area
1 room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen & 1
room, common bathroom. Inter-
ested please Contact: 92680041
Mr. Altaf
Room for rent with furniture.
Al Bustan villeage. # 93687466
ACC.WANTED
WANTED
IELTS Coaching (academic)
required nearby wadi Kabir area.
Please call on mobile or
msg on Whats up.
Mobile no: 92927880/
99012165
BUYING
Bobcat available for rent.
Contact 97623299
Buying cars for cash.
Contact: 90202090
1ST GRADE RUNNING ESTABLISHMENT
FOR SALEFully equipped
Signboard Fabrication
workshop.
Contact – Muhammad
90579500
For sale Porta cabin; new & used
(wooden steel p.u.panel)
Contact-99318152
Email:ahastco@gmail.com
A well established automotive
service center is for sale in Mabela
area of 2850sqm
please contact Virat: 94656682
Dental chair and mobile X-ray unit
for sale.contact:92737149
Office furniture for immediate
sale 15 workstation, 4 executive
desk, chairs & branded 4 TVs. #
94104022
Household & electronic items for
sale. Contact – 99421740
Expat leaving. Household items
for immediate sale, 99457386
New & used (refurbished) Porta
cabin with ablution for sale.
Pleases Contact: 97143704 or
email: rsttllc@gmail.com
Treadmill heavy 120kgs new
OMR 140/- with massager.
Contact: 92670572
400 sq mtrs Commercial/Resi-
dential land in Mabela Phase 5
Block 2. OMR 165 Thousand.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or
97509955
A well running pharmacy for sale
at prime location.
Contact- 99627621, 93240949
Well established coffee shop / res-
taurant prime location at AL Khoud.
Contact: 92188777/98700760
Space for printing press available
at wadikabir with or without
machinery. Contact 99328430
Shop for sale near Oman House,
Muttrah. Contact 99024362.
Almost new beach/ garden lounge
chairs /bar stools/ counter. Photos
can be sent 95865457
Luxury Apartments in Bousher
(35). 95056808-97201688
Villas in Al Khoud. 95056808-
97201688
Required single room for an
executive lady (non cooking) in
Darsait, Ruwi, Wadi Kabir.
Contact - 98591132
Accommodation required with
food for 1 month, bachelor for
March month. Preferably Al Ghob-
rah area. Contact: 99335742
220 M2 SHOWROOM
FOR SALE@ Sanaya/ Hospital
Road- Sohar
PLEASE CONTACT:
00968 - 9898 9532/
2471 4325info@paramountmuscat.com
CLEARANCE SALEWhite wood, Red wood,
Manhole covers, Hard ware,
Electrical items & other
building materials
for clearance sale
(price negotiable)
Location Barka – Al Rumais
For further details &
inspection,
Please contact - 96125603
Concrete Plant & Pump,
for immediate sale
Plant Pemat mixer, Econocrete - full set
TEKA Concrete Pump mounted on MAN Chassis
about 450 Square Meter area, with cabins.
Contact Mr Mateen - 92892209/Mr Sreejith - 99478263/ Mr Aqueel - 99338619
LOST
Contact Person
Mr.Mudassir :99314330
Mr.Joao Pereira: 99435952
RESTAURANT
AVAILABLE
FOR RENT Of area 500 Sq mts with well
equipped kitchen and dining
facility on Ground Floor at
DARVESH Building,
Near Royal Hospital.
FOR LADIES
Europe beauty centre offers 50%
discount on beauty packages, home
services, slimming & post delivery
massages. CBD – 24797813 /
97082451 / 94004152. Wadi
Kabir – 24815805 / 94004153 /
96761960
Contact - 98978745
480 SQM With centralized Air Conditioner
In SOUTH MAWALEH (near Burj Al Sahwa Round About, Nizwa Road.)
COMMERCIAL/ OFFICE(Open space)
FOR RENT
Sibtain Mohammed has lost
Pakistani Passport No. AB5073112.
Finder please handover to ROP.
OFFICE SPACES
FOR RENT230 SQ. Mtr each
Ready to move in two
offi ces for rent near Man
Truck Showroom, Ghala
Contact -
99269841 / 92429917
2 Room, 2 Bathroom, kitchen cat
parking 200 Rails.
Contact: 92005298
Four bedroom two floors luxurious
and spacious residential villa in
Al Hail North, near to the sea and
Oman oil. Each room has its own
bathroom. It has splits A/C’s and
shaded car park. OMR 750 month-
ly. Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or
97509955
2BHK split A/C 200/- Monthly
& 1BHK spilt A/C 150/- monthly
new building good location Barka
Market. Contact: 99342661
Warehouse at Wadikabir - total
area 3500 sqm - covered ware-
house (500sqm), office,
accommodation (1000sqm), open
area (2000sqm) please
contact: 99273774 - 99202278
Flats for rent in Ruwi Mumtaz
area 2 bedroom. Contact:
91409667/24291500
1BHK Flat with spilt A/C near
star cinema 210/-. Contact:
99358589/95570288 /97079146 Full furniture room for rent for
family monthly 200/- .
Contact: 99251975
House in Amerat near to Makah
hypermarket with 3 room+ 5 toilet+
hall+ living room+ kitchen.
Contact 98885055/ 92744168
Fully Furnished apartments in
Boucher (35). 94051789-97201688
Single room with A/C & WIFI
having separate entrance for
non –cooking Indian execu-
tive, near Rawasco, AL Khu-
wair rent 130/- (W& E). Contact
92888691/95397442/97201100
Flat with two rooms with window
A/C, with toilets & car parking way
No: 1670 north Al Hail near Dos-
teen restaurant 1KM Inside.
Contact: 99238334
3BHK in Qurum P.D.O high 350/-
Monthly. Contact: 99342661
Flats in Muttrah. Contact:
94051789-97201688
Offices in Ghala. Contact: 94051789-97201688
Offices & Showrooms in Muttrah.
94051789-97201688
Duplex villa in Qurum 29.
94051789-97201688
Offices & Showrooms in
Al Khoud.94051789-97201688
Brand new villas in Al Ansab.
94051789-97201688
For rent and investment Land
industrial shops in Rusayl.
Contact: 99323957 / 95490842
Flats in Qurum. Contact
94051789-97201688
Flat for rent south Al Mabela.
Contact: 95331177/95230355
1B/R apartment executive fully
furnished at AL Khuwair 33 & 5 B/R
villa unfurnished at Madinat
Al Ilam & 5 B/R villa furnished at
Madinat Al Ilam. Contact: Atlas Real
Estate & rent a car LLC -24834888/
99249069/92888376/94617563
Email: info@alshahiintl.com
Luxury villa of 5 BHK in Al
Khuwair 33 RO.650/- Contact –
91776665
Flat for rent in Al Hail south
2 bedroom.
Contact: 91409667/24291500
Steel Scrap materials for im-
mediate sale: Contact 99273774/
99202278
HD Scaffoldings, Shuttering
Jacks, Wooden Planks, Shutter-
ing wood assorted, Tower hoist
(lift), Concrete Mixer, Bending
Machine, Steel Fabrication Ma-
chinery (Searing/Cutting, lathe &
Welding) including tools for im-
mediate sale: Contact 99273774/
99202278
Urgent sale of steel scrap only
serious buyers kindly contact:
+968 96725423 for viewing the
items.
Single colorful Bed and Sofa for Sale
at Al Khuwair. Contact 92881849 /
What`s up No 97290565
DAILY GUIDED4 S U N D AY, M A R C H 1 3 , 2 0 1 6
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
DRIVER
MEDICAL
SALES / MARKETING
DRIVER
ADMIN
CATERING
ADMIN
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
7 yrs exp Dubai marina chandelier
restaurant, Arabic food and grill
Arabic salad. Contact: 94896474
Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp
looking job. Contact: 99531802
Required urgently a Legal Consultant/ Lawyer for reputed
law firm in Sohar, Muscat. Can-
didates should have 5-7 years
experience as a Legal Consultant/
Lawyer with good knowledge of
Computer & should be fluent in
English both written & spoken.
Email C V to shejaanil66@gmail.
com or Contact 99153620
between 8am to 1pm & 2pm to
5.30 pm on Sunday to Thursday
Indian male good experienced in
Accounts, ERP Tally 9 & Admin in
India & Oman, presently on visit
visa, looking for suitable placement.
Contact 94834687
Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in com-
merce, overall 5 yrs exp in accounts/
finance field. On visit visa. Immedi-
ately available. Contact 92836216 /
muhammad.tausif623@gmail.com
DOMESTIC HELP
DOMESTIC HELP
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Accountant with two years of
experiencerequired for building
material shop .contact no.99318152
Email:ahastco@gmail.com
Required Accounts Officer- en-
sure accurate processing of
revenue data into ERP systems
and invoicing module. Posting of
invoices to customer SAP portal
and delivery to customer offices
and interface with country man-
ager/ reporting to regional CEO.
Qualifications: BSc accounting.
Relevant experience & knowledge
on online accounting systems
especially the customer
SAP system. Submit CV to:
me-job@interwell.com
Accountant with gulf experience
in construction field preferred with
Oman driving license. Interested
candidates send CV to:
Email: omanhari@yahoo.com
Gsm: 95892831/95197615
Housemaid required for full-time
for Indian family, Hindi/English
speaking CBD area Ruwi.
Contact: 96183093
Housemaid required for caring
two babies for Keralite family
at Al Hail. Contact: 99423608
/95662154
Looking for a part-time cook-cum-housemaid in Azaiba.
Call 92450197.
Required Cleaners & Office boys. Contact 24707833
Housemaid (overseas) Indian
family looking for job. Contact
99531802
MISCELLANEOUS
Required urgently experienced Civil Engineers having 2-3 years on
building construction jobs.
Contact: 99472795
Required Site Inspector (PRO) hav-
ing Omani D/L. Contact – 24291500
Email: hr16.careers@gmail.com
Required Hydraulic Mechanical. Contact - 95251213
Civil Engineer with minimum 5/8
years experience with valid Oman
driving license. Contact Interested
candidates send CV to:
Email: omanhari@yahoo.com
Gsm: 95892831/95197615
Required candidates for following
posts: Accountant, Storekeeper, Foreman Building Maintenance, Van-salesman (water), Helpers. Candidates with Omani driving
license preferred.
Contact 99273774/99202278
Omani national Security Staff similar experience for immediate
employment for an international
school. Contact: 99468907
Wanted house driver cum cleaner with Oman valid license contact:
99415443
Looking for motor cycle license holders for FMCG merchandising
contact: 92312112
Trailer driver + Hiab truck .
Contact: 99332185
Required a expat driver with
Omani D/L. Contact – 91409668
Wanted driver. Contact:
91025698
Part or full time Driver Required
call us 91120552
ENGINEER/MECHANIC.
REQUIRED PROJECT MANAGER
FDuqm/Oman
Graduate Engineer with 20+ years experience preferably
in Oman/ GCC with valid D/L and transferable visa,
computer literate. Send CV to Email :
omanproject2011@gmail.com
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTEDWanted Nurse for a dental centre
in capital area. Interested may
contact – 93431024 or send CV to –
drasyanaseem@gmail.com
Wanted male for managing a lab
referral department: degree in
pathology/microbiology/laboratory
/science. Omani or GCC driving
license. Send CV to:
healthfactor@gmail.com
Wanted Staff Nurse for a derma-
tology clinic in Muscat .must have
MOH license and NOC. Attractive
salary and offered. Email:
clinic-clinicvacacncy2015@gmail.
com
Required female Nurse, with MOH
license for private dental clinic in
Bowshar area, Muscat.
Contact: 92189807
Required Staff Nurse and house maid in Mabela. Clearance avail-
able. Urgent Contact. 95200180.
Wanted ORTHODONTIST, IMPLANTOLOGIST with or without
MOH License for a polyclinic.
Excellent Salary, Commission and
Accommodation. Phone: 99006915
Email: alhinaee.clinic@yahoo.com
GP doctor needed for reputed clin-
ic. Preferably with MOH license or
with Dataflow & Paramatics pass
Contact: 95388934
Nurse required for a dental clinic
in Al Khuwair. Contact 95114616
Required gynecologist GEN: practitioner lady lab Technician and pharmacologist immediately
for a clinic in Suwaiq.
Contact: 95081010
Email: umchealthcare@gmail.com
Indian male 25 B.B.M 4yrs
experience Arabic speaking
with Oman/D/L seeking suitable
position in accounts Admin sales
contact:91266733-
email: safvank.ka@gmail.com
8 years of intensive Oman experi-
ence in procurement & supply
chain management looking for
suitable placement.
Contact: 97755488
Indian female BS, 2 yrs exp
looking for suitable position in
HR & Administration. Contact –
94656009
Urgently required Document
controller / material controller /
HR job 15yrs exp. D/L available plz
contact; 96777019/92386043
Indian female with B. Tech and
MBA H/R (Liverpool UK) with exp
2yrs looking for suitable job and
visit visa. Contact: 98401623
Indian Male more than 10 years
gulf experience in Office / Sales
Coordinator, Admin, Secretarial
and purchase with good com-
puter skills. Holding Oman Driving
license. Looking for suitable place-
ment. Contact 99709336
Indian female Graduate with 4yrs
exp, looking for suitable placement
in admin/accounts .
Contact 99236071
Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+
experience in Administration/HR,
Customer Support, Office Coordina-
tor with good Computer skill, Now
on Visit Visa,looking for suitable
position. Contact: 90196235
Indian male MBA 33yrs having
10 yrs of exp seeking full time suit-
able placement in Administration/
HR/ Operations/ Coordination/
Logistics. Holding valid D/L.
Contact 99054786
Indian male MBA- UK 18 yrs Gulf
exp in Administration/ HR & Public
relationship. Fluent in Arabic/
English with D/L. Looking for suit-
able position. Contact - 99897280
Female business graduate from
UK with four years experience in
procurement purchasing expedit-
ing logistics and supply chain in
UAE seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 99581399
Filipino male with 13 years HR and
Administration managerial experi-
ence. MBA & CIPD holder. Currently
looking for job in Oman. Interested
employer Contact - 97728418.
Indian, 26 yrs , female , 5 yrs exp
in HR/ Admin with valid Oman
D/L seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 98236033
Indian male MBA / HR and
marketing 2 years experience in
royal bank of Scotland looking for
opportunities in banking operating
marking and HR services excellent
communication Kills.
Contact: 90661245
MCA Indian Female on a visit visa
seeking suitable job.4yrs exp in of-
fice Admin &IT. Contact: 92286147 Indian female, Masters in HR,
having 4 + years Oman experience
in media management and HR,
looking for openings in HR, Educa-
tion, Admin, Corporate communi-
cations. Contact 98252030
28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com -
Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/
India experience looking for a
suitable placement. # 90187483
shobinkarikkan1987@gmail.com
Kerala male 25 yrs B.com diploma
in IATA PGDCA Tally 2 yrs exp ac-
counts in Kerala. Currently in Oman
NOC available. Contact: 99323841
Email: rohitpanam@gmail.com
Dynamic Indian Male Account-
ant with 9 Years Experience seeks
suitable placement. NOC available.
Contact: 96902860
Accountant India male 25 yrs BBA
working seeking for suitable place-
ment: 98201244
Indian male 22 yrs B.Com with one
year exp in accounting auditing with
good working knowledge in tally
erp-9 looking for a suitable place-
ment now on visit visa
Contact: 97189500
Indian male 25 years of age, Bach-
elor degree in B.Com, seeking suit-
able place in Oman, on visit visa.
Contact – 91240544 / 98016928
Indian female MBA Accountant, 8
yrs exp in accounts seeking suit-
able placement. Contact: 96117303
Indian Accountant with 30 years
experience in construction (Finan-
cial & Cost ), Administration, Store
Keeping and HR seek full/part time
assignment anywhere in Oman or
UAE. Contact 98598099
Indian female MBA in finance
currently on family visa seeking
suitable placement.
Contact: 96471025
Indian female Accountant 8yrs
exp in Oman. Contact:93726921
Part time accountant, up to fina-
lization of accounts looking for job
after 5 PM (location prefers – MSQ
– to AL Hail). Contact: 95694737
Urgently required a Marketing Executive with 2 years experience
and driving license (GCC) for a re-
puted building material & electrical
showroom in Al Khoud.
Please send CV to –
startradingmuscat@gmail.com.
Contact - 94320909
Required Salesman cum Drivers for spare pas shop in Ghala .
Contact: 99410172
Looking for an immigration advisor who has experience in
counseling for PR and migration to
Canada and Australia. Email your CV
at consultancyvisa82@gmail.com
Sales Executive Required for an
office Stationery company in
Muscat with Oman D/L and Noc
Send your CV to
info@centraltrading-oman.com
Required Sales staff 2 NOS Having
experience in Cosmetics Sales.
Send your updated CV to
james_kunju@yahoo.com
GSM 92683688
Omani or European female Sales representative required for part
time please send CV to
gcpe16@gmail.com
with expected salary
Required Sales/ Marketing executives having light license
for facility management co.
sendcv-ocean@omantel.net.om
Challenging tyres Omani compa-
nies seeking for Sales Man only
an tyres division sales minimum
2 years experience send CV to
saeed@liwainvestments.com
Urgently Required Steel Fabri-cated Products Salesman with
an experience in steel fabrication,
MUST have Oman driving license,
and immediately join. Apply,
fax 00968–24605955, emails
sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,
sbeoman@yahoo.com
SALES / MARKETING
REQUIRED
AN AUDITORWith 6years of experience.
Th e candidates should be a
commerce graduate
experienced in auditing.
Interested candidates may mail their CV’s to:
auditbureau2016@gmail.com
OUR CENTER IS LOOKING FOR FULL TIME:
: Hair related treatments
house training classes. Advises clients on hair care and use of products.
Ensures that the high standard of service is maintained.Salary based on skills and experience.
Please submit CV to info@artemishfp.com
TECHNICIAN
TECHNICIAN
Urgently required Electronics Technician with at least 2-4 yrs
exp, in network cabling, access
control, telephone systems,
interested send the CV to
info @smartvisionoman.com
SEEKING SKILLED
EMPLOYEES
1. Skilled iron worker
2. Skilled iron welder
3. 3D sign board specialist
4. Skilled painter
5. Skilled carpenter
6. Car wash supervisor
Email : creativityeast@gmail.com
A reputed, long standing, multi division Company in Oman requires
Finance manager to be based in Muscat.
Th e person should be a Commerce Graduate with 10 years
professional experience in Accounts up to Finalization,
cost control, inventory and tax planning.
Interested candidates can apply at: jobs4oman2016@yahoo.com
Candidates to apply who can meet present Oman Government’s
visa condition.
SITUATION VACANT (FINANCE MANAGER)Urgent placement for Polyclininc at Mabella, Seeb
1. Gynaecologist - Arabic Speeking -F
2. Pharmacist -M/F
3. Staff Nurse -F
Kindly send CV to alsalamaoman@gmail.com
www.alsalamamuscat.com
Th ose who hold valid MOH Licence and NOC from the current sponsor will be given preference.
4. Radiographer -F5. Lab. Technician -M/F6. Marketing Executive -M/F7. Receptionist -F
Indian Chartered Accountant - with 8 yrs + Exp in Finance/
Accounts/Auditing in Oman &
UAE. Seeking suitable position
in Muscat/Dubai and available
immediately for joining. NOC avail-
able. Available till 9.3.16 in Oman.
CONTACT #: 98707434
Email: casmart007@gmail.com
Jordanian, Senior accountant, 15 yrs experience in Oman finance
& accountant. Contact: 92881223
Indian male 28 yrs MBA finance/
marketing and graduate in com-
puter experience 3 yrs seeking
suitable job, now family visit visa.
Contact: 93195378
Email: faisalme.beg677@gmail.com
Accounts Manager 24 years work-
ing experience 8 years in Oman
looking managerial position with
family status interested to work
construction or manufacturing trad-
ing organization. Contact: 95919546
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with
13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman in
manufacturing, trading & contract-
ing Cos, capable of handling all
accounting, finance, banking, L/C,
import, export & finalization seeks
placement. NOC Available.
Call+968-98932752,
mail:jjohnmuscat@hotmail.com
Indian Male Accountant 10yrs Exp.
in OMAN Retail & Furniture Co. (Re-
lease Available) #92564955
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com Fi-
nance-Indian with 7 years experience
in Finance & Accounts up to finaliza-
tion. Currently employed in Oman.
Having D/L & NOC. #94122464,
Email: cammk13@gmail.com
Indian male MBA (finance) one
year exp in Oman with D/L and
Noc. Looking for Suitable
placement contact: 94103975
Indian male Accountant looking
for a suitable placement in Salalah.
More than 20 years exp in account-
ing job (up to finalization of ac-
counts) 8 years working experience
in middle east in Dubai, Muscat &
Salalah. Contact - 91325029
Sri Lankan Accountant CIMA
Inter mediate qualified, on visit.
Contact: 90660764
Part-time Accounting assignment.9am-5pm.#91126314
Accounts part time services
available to handle all accounts up
to finalization, on Monthly basis
finalization and consulting works.
Contact: 96247295
Indian C.A finalist having 7 years
exp in Finance field, looking for a
suitable position with license and
NOC. Contact – 98097009
25 Years/Male Indian/B.com with
2 Years Experience/Seeking Job
in Finance and accounts/Skills
Tally ERP9/SAP-FICO/MS Office.
Immediately Joining.
Contact No: +96897184087
Email: modi_harshal@ymail.com
Indian male 34 Yrs, Dual MBA
Finance and marketing with IT
skills, 7+ yrs of experience,
Looking for suitable placement.
Contact : 94879615,Email-
sajan_chacko1981@yahoo.com
Indian male, B.Com with 6 years
experience as an Accountant,
looking for suitable placement.
Mob: 93903458 ,
Email : Akkandyrijesh@gmail.com
Chief Accountant 25 years expe-
rienced looking for part/full time
accountant job.
Contact: 95598477/98803439
Indian male 25 B.Com (graduate)
2 years experience as accountant
in country club India with ERP
oracle r12, tally knowledge. On visit
visa immediately available.
Email: shabi.hyd@gmail.com
Contact- 9042-1161
Indian female 25 yrs, MBA HR &
Marketing, with one and half years
experience as accountant and
6 months experience in teaching,
now on a visit visa, seeking suit-
able position. Contact: 99624044,
mail: np.neethu1@gmail.com.
An Omani construction company located at Muscat looking for
Marketing executive with
GCC driving license & NOC
send C.V to kwk585@gmail.com
Required Sales Executive knowledge of building materials.
Full or part time.
Contact: 99421513
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENTA famous Italian brand is seeking for female applications for the
position of “Counter Sales” which will be located in one of Muscat’s most popular malls.
Qualifi cation required:
Fluent English speaking, Arabic speaking is preferred,
good communication skills, basic knowledge with computers.
Experience required:Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in sales
Candidates are requested to send their CVs on recruitnomination.sales@gmail.com
EDUCATION/TRAIN
The Egyptian school requires chemistry Teacher for IG, English, Science & mathematics. Teacher’s application should be
submitted by hand or by email –
egyptianschool98@gmail.com /
24603930
Required personal lady Trainer at home in Wadi Kabir.
Contact – 94100959
We, the storm shield in the talented candidates for the below
positions (Indian only): Maintenance Technician (male -1) should have knowledge of new
mobile devices & 3 years Oman
experience Contact: 94441111
Send CV to
email: gshield9@gmail.com
Pakistani light looking job 3 years
experience in Oman. #93711608
Bangladeshi male light driver
looking for job 3 exp.
Contact: 93254149
Looking for job driver 10 yrs exp.
Contact: 99035942
Indian light driver cum house
cleaner. Contact: 96255558
/99415443
Light driver. Contact: 96756014
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, M A R C H 1 3 , 2 0 1 6 D5
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
DRIVER
EDUCATION/TRAIN
EDUCATION/TRAIN
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERIndian male 30 years, having 5 years
of experience in industrial automation and utility
maintenance in India (MRF Tyres), holding valid Oman D/L.
Contact - 92789995Email: akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com
IT
Indian male 22, Chemical Engineer
residing in Oman looking for suitable
placement. Contact: 92379181
Electrical Engineer, Indian male,
6 years industrial experience on
visit-visa, seeking job- ready for
any roles. Contact: 98750295
Email:bebala04@gmail.com
Building Site Supervisor working
in Oman since Mar 2010 with Oman
D/L looking for suitable placement
.contact:91507828
Diploma electrical candidate look-
ing for suitable job, having 2 yrs
experience in electrical utilities
maintenance and plant mainte-
nance. Contact: 94652387
B.Tech electronics & Comm.Engg
with CCNA certified with 2yrs exp.
Contact-99490930.
email; sujith8938@gmail.com
An Iraqi civil with more than 30
years experience in (Iraq and G.C.C)
looking for a job, (N.O.C) available.
Contact: 96561306
Email: iq.bgd.mnsr@gmail.com
Civil Engineer 11 yrs exp in con-
struction field having Oman driving
license & NOC. Contact – 94194399 /
shiblyrock@gmail.com
Indian male 22, Chemical Engineer
residing in Oman looking for suitable
placement. Contact: 92379181
Engineer has 10 years local & in-
ternational experience in ready mix
concrete also in Oil & gas filed also
in marketing & sales field ,
has Omani driving license.
Contact : 92534098
Indian History graduate with diploma in Safety with
valid Oman Driving licence seeks suitable placement.
Contact-93361624, Email-dheerachpadikkala@gmail.com
HOSPITALITY
MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS
Indian male Graduate hotel man-
agement 12 yrs exp operations &
sales oriented GCC driving license
and release available.
Contact - 94525463
Hospitality Degree 5 yrs exp
holding Dubai driving license.
Contact - 91234870
Hospitality/Hotel/ Restaurants
Dynamic result oriented hospital-
ity professional with 20 years of
international exp. MBA in Hotel
Management, specializing in
Hotel/Restaurant start ups, con-
cepts & Franchise development
with proven records. Seeking for
Challenging positions in reputed
groups as GM/COO/CEO/Business
Head. (NOC available)
Contact: 96059470
EXPERT ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE F
HR& CRM, appraise IT system for
Contact: Tel - 96500729
Indian Civil Engineer in UAE
seeking suitable placement in
Muscat-Contact 00968 99142171
Project Engineer 14 yrs exp of
project execution & operations,
all kinds Mech/civil and interior
decoration with license
Contact: 93260559
Sudanese Civil Engineer 4 years
experience –98093544
B.E Mechanical and diploma with
75%, age 28, 2yrs Hyundai Motor
and 3yrs in water treatment.
Contact - +91 9003612305.
prabugh28@gmil.com
Male 25 age M.B.A, HRM, BE Auto-
mobile 3.4yrs exp production engi-
neering. Contact: +91 9841873619/
vickey040890pt@gmail.com.
Diploma Civil Engineer 13 years
GCC experience NOC available
with valid Oman driving license.
Contact: 99794456
Indian male 37 yrs X-Ray welder
7 yrs exp (ARC, TIG, ARGON,
Welding) seeking suitable job.
Contact: 91360190/98223683
Diploma in computer, looking for
any office job, exp in tele support and
sales, on visit visa. # 95917613
B.Com Graduate with five and half
yrs exp in Oman as a purchaser. NOC
available. Valid driving license. Look-
ing for suitable placement
Contact: 96772166
Graduate, computer literate, experi-
enced in sales, credit control,
accounts, Omani D/L , seeks suit-
able placement. Gsm 98805474
A lady entrepreneur with BF Tech
1st Class (Fashion Technology)
since 2006 in Kerala like to make
change for better. Specialized in
designing, Production Management,
Fashion Art, Grading, Surface orna-
mentation, Garment Construction.
Email: prettyjinu08@gmail.com
Mobile: +919539397097.
Indian female on visit MBA
(International Business- Market-
ing & Logistics), BE (Computers &
Science Engg.) Trained in SAP-BI/
BW with 1 year experience
seeking for job Contact: 90228586
Email:fathimasha16@gmail.com
REVIT (ARCH), Diploma Civil 3yr ,
in visit visa , exp. Salary : 250
PH : 92279784
Electrical diploma Engineer with
1.5 years experience in AutoCAD
designing for LV constructions and
diesel generator maintenance look-
ing actively for job in Oman.
Contact: 92171858/90595609
Email: nelsondas213@gmail.com
Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) with
2 and half years experience Indian
male 24 years in visit visa. Contact:
96620482 / + 919605423272
Email: bijumonps@gmail.com
Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp
seeks suitable position ina reputed
company. NOC available.
Contact – 96789711
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
in Oman as a project engineer for
governmental & private projects.
Contact – 90164912
Procurement Engineer (27 years
single male with Oman Driving Li-
cense) having 7 years experience
(UAE 2, Oman 3) with expertise in
MEP, Water, Electromechanical,
Instrumentation seeking suitable
placements. Contact 95852033,
mail: hemal1988@gmail.com
Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian
male 24 years with 1+years Indian
experience,(Certified in Staad
Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).
Looking for a Suitable position.
Available In Sultanate of Oman
(Muscat) on Visit Visa.
Contact: 92835952. E-mail:
mohammedamair.bin@gmail.com
Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience in
designing, assembling, commis-
sioning execution etc having valid
GCC license too looking for a suit-
able. Contact: 00968-98052942
Email: azamjeelani78@gmail.com
Procurement Manger Indian
Engineer + MBA. With 16yrs exp,
Oman driving NOC valuable
Contact: 96561943-
email:srajan_kripa@yahoo.com
Indian well experienced per-
sonal assistant/executive office
manager/ senior administrator /
commercial executive with license
looking for a change. release letter
available – 99168054
mbkishore@hotmail.com
The Business Development Man-
ager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years
Inside and outside Oman following
activities: construction(Very strong
and qualified to bringing business
for civil work Or any type of the
construction work for many million
per year with a good experience in
pricing and collect payment and
cash management of the company
& marketing projects & invest-
ments& tenders & real estate.
Contact 92385033
Manager having 12 years experi-
ence in Sales & property manage-
ment with valid GCC driving license
looking for a suitable placement NOC
available. Contact: 98125226
B.E Arch working as a project man-
ager (interior fit outs) specializing
in shop fit outs restaurateur, offices,
lifestyle shops etc looking to work
in a reputed firm NOC available.
Contact: 94274437
Operation & Accounts Manager. Indian 18yrs experiences in Oman
–operation, admin, fiancé, purchase,
HR& sales looking for SR.position.
Contact:99889396-
Email: srjobsinoman@yahoo.com
Indian male 35 years, mechanical
engineering diploma, 15 years of
total experience, 4 years in Dubai,
seeking challenging assignments in
business development/management
& sales, on visit,phone:95990541,em
ail:kckurup.v@gmail.com
P.M/Electrical Engineer B.Sc
5yrs exp.(2yrs in PDO area)driving
license looking for suitable job
mob.:91175016
E.mail:elmuthana@hotmail.com
General Manager MEP also manage
civil, MBA, BE Electrical, 10 yrs exp
in Oman valid D/L, release available.
Contact – 92447102
MBA with 18 years of experience in
Procurement, 2 years in Sohar, Oman
driving license with vehicle, looking
for suitable position.GSM :94047501,
ahmed16071974@gmail.com
Indian male experienced in priority
and retail Banking handling HNI/
ultra HNI and SME portfolios as rela-
tionship manager in UAE and India,
with UAE driving license on tourist
visa looking for suitable opportunity.
Please contact #90204929
E-mail-hani.leo@gmail.com
Indian male, with experience in op-
erations management, information
security, purchase & stores mgmt,
hold UAE driving license, on visit
visa, seeks suitable job. #91904541
Email: naushers@yahoo.com
B.Tech Engineer (Indian, 23yrs
male) 1.5 yrs exp (IBM India &Pvt
Ltd & seizer engineers (Pvt ltd)
looking for suitable job.
Currently on visit visa ready to
join immediately
Contact: 93354092/990249660.
email:eapenbijoy92@gmail.com
Pakistani male Diploma Civil En-
gineer 4yrs exp in Oman bulling &
mega projects, valid license Oman.
contact:98821022
A Pakistani Civil Engineer having
5yrs exp in consulting and build-
ing field, looking suitable job good
running company with valid driv-
ing license. Contact: 91800277
BE Electrical Engineer search-
ing for suitable job. Experience
plc driver panel control wring oh
crane air compressor etc.
Contact: 90628814
Mechanical Engineer having
Omani driving license and 2yrs
exp seeks suitable placement.
email:malvindevidan@gmail.com
Mechanical Diploma Engineer having 8yrs of exp seeking for
suitable currently on visit visa.
Contact- 94657806
Diploma Civil 5yrs exp seek-
ing suitable placement
Email:sushbinde86@gmil.com.
contact: 96938770
Indian male B.Tech civil engineer
(Auto cad 3 max) 4 yrs exp in
planning, designing & site Super-
vision seeks Suitable placement
NOC available contact: 95472155
B.Tech Mechanical Engineer with
6 yrs of exp in India & Singapore
as welding inspector. Having NDT
level 2, Cswip3.1, 1so 900:2008
leap auditor certifications .looking
for suitable job. Currently on visit
visa .contact: 98919114
Project Engineer 9 Civil, 7.5 yrs
in Oman, need suitable placement,
NOC release available. #91129192
Sudanese Electrical Engineer, granted with distinction, hard-
working and can adapt to different
work conditions. Contact: 98133281
Electrical & Electronics Engineer with 3 years GCC exp in sales, GCC
driving license. Seeking suitable
placement. Contact - 90301410
26 yrs Indian Male – B.Tech
(IT) - 6 yrs exp -sales & admin
-seeks suitable placement -
91848460 / 98304080; Email:
arun9895431989@gmail.com
MANAGER
MEDICAL
Indian Female, MSc Maths from a
central university, B.ED qualified with
over 6 yrs into teaching. Distinction
holder and passion for teaching, cur-
rently on family visa seeking lecturer
jobs. Contact: 91360147.
Indian female 25years M.C.A
on family visit required suitable
placements also interested in
teaching. Contact: 90417133
Email: renjitharose04@gmail.com
Network Engineering with 9 years
and half experience seeking suit-
able placement. Contact: 95249087
Sudanese mechanical Engineer, 2 years experience HVAC
firefighting, on visiting visa.
Contact 95630047
Sudanese civil Engineer holding
bachelor with two years of experi-
ence in Oman has resident visa and
valid license. Contact: 94393880
Indian male 31 years Civil
Engineer diploma holder 4 years
experience in Oman need place-
ment N.O.C available.
Contact: 93298395
HSE & Fire Safety Engineer 4 years experience air port opera-
tional safety, power & chemical
industry. Contact: 94374241
22 Years exp in Gulf civil building
construction project manager.
Contact – 0097430824610 /
arshadjamalkhan@rediffmail.com
B.Tech Electronics & comm. Engg
& MBA Degree in operation man-
agement with five years experi-
ence in optical fiber planning coor-
dination etc. Contact: 94819139
Indian Male Degree Holder BE (civil) having 11 years of Oman
experience with valid Oman driving
license looking for a suitable job
.NOC available and ready to join im-
mediately. Mobile: 93803950.
Mail:kavinvasi2007@gmail.com
B.SC Civil Engineer 27 yrs Oman
experience as project manager,
structural Engineer looking for
suitable placement NOC/ LOCAL
transfer available.
Contact: 99349578
Email: farooqatm@hotmail.com
Electrical Engineer with 18 years
exp in UAE. Contact: 98148034
Email: shassalih66@gmail.com
Structural Engineer, 8 yrs expe-
rienced in flat slab, post tensioned
& slab-beam multi story building
design & supervision with driving
license. Contact: 98256860
Mechanical Engineer M.Tech
2 years experience HVAC design
& site Engg revit MEP Auto CAD.
Contact: 90150913 Email:
mahmanmechengg@yahoo.im
MBA Graduate with 6 yrs exp in
IT solutions, sales & marketing,
solution selling, POS, ERP, time at-
tendance, security system, software
development projects, websites &
mobile apps. Seeking suitable posi-
tion. Contact - 92103545
Indian Male, IT System Engineer
having 4 yrs of experience in sys-
tem administration.CCNA,MCSE,
Linux. Looking for suitable job.
Contact :91272867
Indian female, B.Tech gradu-
ate, with one and half years
experience as ‘web developer’
interested in web development
and has experience working in
HTML,CSS,Bootstrap, JavaScript
and Photoshop. Contact: 9592
7075 e-mail id:
mariarosejacob90@gmail.com
MSC (IT) male 32 age 4
yrs networking system ad-
ministrator. Seeking a suit-
able placement +918608247110.
email:samad3301@gmail.com
24yrs Indian male B.SC Computer
Science with 2 yrs networking and
IT helpdesk support exp, a Cisco
Certified, seeking for suitable
placement. Contact: 96910605-
email:shaikzube@gmail.com
Pakistani male 26 yrs BS (CS)
hold 2 yrs UAE exp in IT software,
knowledge in Oracle 1g, MS SQL,
C#Net, word press, IT networking
and hardware. Looking for suit-
able job. Contact – 92826049 /
m.saifmasood@outlook.com
Indian male diploma in computer
4 yrs exp in system admin, tele
call support, IT hardware network-
ing. Looking for suitable position,
on visit visa. Contact - 95917613
Indian male, IT professional , BE
in ECE with 2 yrs of networking
and Technical Support Engineer-
L2’ experience with CNA certifica-
tion, looking for full time job -
GSM 92916894 ;
Email: salu.mn555@gmail.com
Indian female, B.Tech graduate,
with one and half years experience
as ‘web developer’ interested in web
development and has experience
working in HTML, CSS, Bootstrap,
JavaScript and Photoshop.
Contact : 9592 7075, e-mail id:
mariarosejacob90@gmail.com SAP/ABAP Consultant, BCA, MCA,
ASP.Net certification, Indian fe-
male 30, having 1.5 yrs exp, family
visa, seeking placement.
Contact – 99109121/
ashamaryphilip@gmail.com
Indian male 25 years BSC (C.S)
with basic hardware and software
knowledge seeks suitable place-
ment now on visit visa.
Contact: 92319677
Email: ismabsc@gmail.com
Omani 26(M) seeks placement,
6 yrs excellent experience
networking hardware software.
Contact: 95356166
Sudanese net work Engineer holding IT BACHELOR (CCNA,
CCNP, and MCSE) has one year
experience and license.
Contact: 92394485
DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN
Indian Female 24yrs, AutoCAD
draftsman with 3ds max & rivet, 4yrs
exp. looking for suitable vacancy in
Muscat now in visit visa .
Contact: 95601266
Email: reshmanb121@gmail.com
AutoCAD Draughtsman seeking
job. Contact: 95516807
Indian Female, Bsc Fashion De-
signer with Oman driving Lisence,
looking for any good job.
Contact 98757582
B. Arch graduate female with 1
yr experience looking for suitable
placement as an architect / Inte-
rior designer Contact 95981197
email: merlnoronha@gmail.com
Interior Designer Seeking suitable
job. On visit visa in Oman.
Contact - 92166130
Interior designer 3 years experi-
ence 1 year in Oman and 2 years
in Egypt, experience in interior
design, 3D max, AutoCAD,
Photoshop. Contact - 94762876
AutoCAD draftsman experience 2
years. Contact: 93738335 /95809393
Email: mammoosing@gmail.com
Staff Nurse (female) with MOH
license. Looking for opportunity in
Muscat. NOC / release letter avail-
able. Contact - 99433415.
Indian female Dentist specialized
endodontic looking for a suitable
placement prometric completed.
Contact: 96410448
Indian Bsc Female Nurse with
6.5 years exp, 4 years in KSA.
Passed Oman Pro Metric with 69%,
completed data flow. Presently in
Muscat in visit visa looking for a
suitable placement.
Contact 94744900, 94742834,
jincyalphonese@gmail.com
Indian male Nurse 32 years Oman
parametric and data flow completed
8 yrs emergently experience.
Contact: 92463190
Male GP Doctor with NOC 6 yrs
experience in Oman for perm/locum
job. Contact : 97746074
An experienced Sudanese female Dentist with MOH license look-
ing for job. Contact 96436517
/97396088
Pakistani driver with Elantra 2016
model car seeks job: 95873286
Pakistani light driver looking job
9 yrs exp in Oman.
Contact: 96048460
Light driver Indian 4yrs exp in
Oman having own car looking for
job, release available .
Contact: 93053917
Driver looking for job, speaks
English, Hindi & Arabic & 4 yrs
Oman exp with valid Oman driving
license contact: 92820309
2 Years exp in driving, seeking
any job .Contact: 97460056
Bangladeshi male looking for job.
Contact - 93822195
20 Years Embassy experience expert driver cum PRO seeks suit-
able place. Contact – 94297820
Driver cum electrician 7 yrs exp,
seeking suitable placement.
Contact – 98255214
3 Years driving exp in Muscat,
speaks English, Arabic, Hindi&
Bengali. Contact- 97462781
Driver job wanted. Contact
96393082
Pakistan driver with car.
Contact: 97198672 / 98988208
Seeking driver job with own car.
Contact: 98031620
Looking for job light duty driver
6 years experience NOC available.
Contact: 92381696
Indian male, Mechanical
Engineer having 1year experi-
ence, on visit visa looking for
suitable job. Contact:97416564,
Email:jovinmathias@gmail.com
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
Structural buildings marine. Avail-
able NOC release. Contact: 92451323.
Email: zubairali134@yahoo.com
HSE Engineer (B.E Mech+Diploma
Safety+NEBOSH+OSHA) over
10yrs. Exp, (Visa Release Letter
(NOC) available), seeking suit-
able placement, Mob:97061817,
Email:jayanammu1977@gmail.com
Omani HSE supervisor. Email:
jeebal3000@gmail.com
Indian female civil engineer
B.Tech having 3 years experience
sound knowledge of software,
REVIT STAD PRO structural detail-
ing currently on family visa seeks
suitable placement.
Contact: 95345591
Civil Engineer (BE) having total
5 years experience in building
construction looking for a suitable
placement. D/L available
Contact# 94450270
Sri Lankan Engineer (27 Years
old) – B.Sc Engineering (Hon)
Mining / Geotechnical Presently
in Muscat, 1.5 years experience.
Contact 91295802
acmfaslan123@gmail.com
Indian Electrical Engineer Btech,
female 24 seeking job, presently
in oman having 2 year experience
in design and estimation of Ht &Lt
projects. Contact 968 97436557,
Mail id : sibinanoop1@gmail.com
Bachelor Civil Engineer 6 Years
in Oman experience Valid Driving
License seeks suitable placement
Phone 97619722
Email – golamrob@yahoo.com
Diploma in Mechanical Eng pip-
ing system in AutoCAD work, 21+
years experience with Driving
license. Contact: 95267113
Email: rkakkaryil@gmail.com
Civil Engineer 6 yrs Exp in Oman
with license. Contact: 98975518
7 Yrs Exp. PM in Mech. Engg in
the field of Building Const. Oil &
Gas Seeking Job.94625598
Road and Construction Engineer with 5 years exp in Oman.
Contact: 97667113
Mechanical Engineer with 3 Yrs
experience in international Oil
& Gas company looking for job
Contacts: Tel: 90164236 Email:
mustafaoshi-62@hotmail.com
Indian female, 31 yrs, 7 yrs expe-
rienced as AutoCAD civil drafts-
man (2 yrs experience in Oman)
currently in Oman seeks suitable.
Contact 96789441
Email: simi5304@gmail.com
Sudanese Telecom Engineer, 5 years experience, 3 years in
Oman PMP certificate.
Contact: 93391008 Email:
momen.awadallam@gmail.com
Indian Male 23 years B.Tech
Civil having 2 years experience in
quantity survey and site manage-
ment looking for suitable place-
ment. Contact:- 95042656
Bangladeshi male, University
M.Com, Working as an Accountant
& Administrator in Oman; search-
ing better job. Phone: 94864966
Email: sunrisetoiqbal@gmail.com
DAILY GUIDED6 S U N D AY, M A R C H 1 3 , 2 0 1 6
Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
SIT. WANTED
SIT. WANTED
SITUATION WANTEDEDUCATION/CLASSES/COMPUTER/WEBSITE
Karate and self defense classes
at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per
month twice a week Monday and
Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM.
CONTACT 98294551
Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English
class for Malayalam Speakers in Azaiba and Ruwi
earn in two monthstion guaranteed
Tel: 95244310
Classes for Spoken EnglishTOEFL / GRE / GMAT / SAT
Excellent Guidance and Coaching Satisfaction Guaranteed
IELTS PREPARATION Target Band 8.0
EAGLES INSTITUTE92325542 | 93657915 | 93657917 | Email: engominst@gmail.com
WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-
gence (BI) creation and man-
agement at rock bottom price.
Contact: http//webviewoman
Indian Engineer, B. Tech (Mech),
MBA, MLM (Master of Labour
Management), 23 yrs experience,
5 years in Oman in the positions
of Operations Manager and Plant
Manager with Oman Driving
License seeks suitable placement.
Contact: 99744612. E-mail:
deleepkumarpk@gmail.com
Indian Male B. Tech, 10+ years
of extensive work experience in
various aspects like Computer
Networking, Technical Support,
Management and Engineering
with good communications, inter-
personal and technical skills seeks
suitable opportunity. Now in Oman
on Visit Visa GSM : 9489 8009,
Email : bios4u@gmail.com
Indian male network cabling tech-
nician (19-years gulf experience)
Seeking for suitable placement.
Contact - 0091-8089909265 (In-
dia) email: mohithavp@gmail.com
Mechanical Engineering 6 years
experience. Contact: 00968-
998907110091-9841867534
Email: sayed.fortuner88@gmail.con
Structural Engineer Education
B-Tech in civil Engineering, Work
Experience More than 6 yrs con-
tact no.: +968-91431483 E-mail:
mohsinyousuf86@rediffmail.com
Indian Female Accountant, now
in Oman on Visit Visa, looking for
suitable placement, #94250871
Indian Female MBA Finance, 6
years Oman experience as account
looking Full time/part time ac-
counting Jobs. Contact- 99044292
SKILLED / UNSKILLED
Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fitter
gulf & Indian exp looking job.
Contact: 95175192
Filipinas lady having exp in
ticketing and preservation, call
center, secretarial and real estate
is now looking for job please
call.94054080
Five years in travel field B.Com.
IATA & pursuing MBA including
experience in the travel desk of
(ITC managed) five star hotel,
looking for suitable position.
Contact 9470 5767, 9465 2485,
9536 4479
TOURS & TRAVEL
Indian Male 28 MBA Marketing
with 4 years of experience in sales
with good communication skills
now available in Muscat on visit
visa. GSM 95840153 /
Mail akbarshareef786@gmail.com
Indian sales marketing profes-
sional highly experienced in busi-
ness development in ME India and
Africa seeks suitable placement.
Contact: 97897611
B.Com male 2 yrs experience in
sales Computer knowledge,
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 98371144
email: nabilnazar22@gmail.com
Indian male, MBA Marketing
having 2.5 years Sales experience
immediately looking for a suitable
position. Contact: 91415145,
Email: shariqs88@gmail.com
Male 38 yrs Graduate 07 years
experience indoor / outdoor
electronic field with D/License &
NOC available (as per new rule).
Contact: 92453375
SALES / MARKETING
AVAILABLE
Party & Wedding equipment rentals.
Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-
ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,
Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes,
Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound
Systems and spectacular lighting.
Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering
and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound &
Light. ww.tunesoman.com,
E-mail: info@tunesoman.com
NRI
Villa for sale Mavelikara
behind Cheltikul Angara Tem-
ple 3 BHK1700 SQF within 10
cents. Contact: 968-96920346-
7025525606
Flat for sale 1360 Sq.ft semi
furnished 3 BHK Flat with covered
car park near Vennala, Eroor North
Tripunithura, with close proximity
to seaport- Airport road ,info park
,vyttila hub, Ernakulum medical
center, gold souk, Oberon & lulu
malls-for sale. Contact: 96725458
Flats villas land for sale in Pune
Contact: 95272138/918139098275
Furnished Apartment for sale at
near Nedumbassery Airport.
Contact: 92394014
MATRIMONIAL
Hindu Boy -30 Yrs MBA Finance
Graduate working in Muscat seeking
alliance of Hindu girl only.
Contact: 98278401
A Graduate Syrian Christian Pen-
tecostal boy, 27, working in Oman
as Store-in-Charge seeks proposals
from parents of suitable girl, prefer-
ably those working in Oman.
Contact 92411983
40 Years male divorced, working
in Muscat seeks suitable proposals,
Indian. Contact - 91346321
Malankara Catholic Male Nurse (28) from Thiruvalla working in
Nizwa Private Co. Alliance invites
parents/nurses working in Oman.
Contact: 968 98267338,
0091 9287215726
Indian male Roman Catholic 40yrs divorcee working in Muscat.
Seeks suitable alliance from widow/
divorcee/ single.
Contact: 96059801.
DRIVING
MV SALE
Toyota Corolla, White, 1.6, 2011,
Automatic, Warranty available,
excellent condition, 63500 KM.
All services at Toyota only. 3650
OMR. Contact: 96530058
Nissan Qashqai 2013 low mileage
30.000kms comprehensive insur-
ance UAE Oman valid till 2016 .
Contact: 96665430
Pickup for sale, model 2013,
diesel engine 4x4. #94194399
BMW 525.I 2006. Contact: 99336093
Hyundai Sonata 2008 model,
expat driven & well maintained.
Contact: 94222681
MANAGER
The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years
Inside and outside Oman following
activities: tenders& real estate&
construction & marketing projects&
investments & transportation & Ma-
rine services& companies manage-
ment& develop business.
Contact: :- 92385033
Production Manager 9 years
experience in Oman manufacture
and development factories .GRB.
GRC. GRG rubber molds and false
ceilings, fiberglass and executive
at site emadadly2000@yahoo.
com96149081
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
SECRETARIAL & OFFICE
Executive Secretary/ assistant Indian female 9 years experience in
Oman, Diploma in Business
management. Valid D/L.
Contact: 96684705
Lady Secretary / Sales Co-coordi-
nator 12 years experience in Oman
in reputed companies, seek imme-
diate Employment. Call: 95244761
SALES / MARKETING
Indian male 23 yeas BBM & Diplo-
ma in logistic. Looking for Indore/
Outdoor sales & marketing suitable
placement, currently in one month
visit visa. Contact: 93180270/
faizanmck@gmail.com
Having more than 5 yrs exp in
sales indoor & outdoor with driv-
ing license. Contact – 90126776
4 Years of experience in Sales
with driving license.
Contact - 90615235
An experienced sales & market-
ing person having several years
experience in GCC with valid D/L.
Looking for a suitable position.
Contact – 92124669
Indian male with 6 yrs of GCC
exp in sales and service & 1 year
of exp in gym fitness instructor.
Seeking job presently in Mus-
cat in family visit visa. Con-
tact: 90694335/ 99438360 or
email:sahildgreat99@yahoo.com
Sales Executive 8yrs exp build-
ings materials group of company
in Oman NOC available. Seeking
suitable job. With D/L in Oman
.email: sameermoul@gmail.com
Indian female 23 diploma
in tool and die making with
one and half yrs exp and also
interested in sales & mar-
keting.contact:94743992-
email:selveena054@gmail.com
SriLankan malebusiness manage-
ment BA (UK) Graduate.Special-
izedmarketing, key Accounts,sales,
and customer services .4years
work experience in England .seeks
opportunity in Oman. D/L avail-
able. Tell: 94820153.
email:inshafmalk@yahoo.com
MBA graduate having 6 years exp
in Sales & Marketing, 4 years with
PEPSI, India, having international
driving license permit seeks suit-
able placement.
Contact : 95308167,
Email : samir.pag@gmail.com
NOC available looking for opening
in sales 10 years experience in
Oman with driving license to join
immediately. Contact: 95941228
Indian male 33 yrs, 11 yrs exp
in Oman in sales field, with NOC
seeks suitable placement.
Contact – 96169598 /
adilj.8782@gmail.com
MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS
BBA MBA.Male, Indian Human
Resource/ Administration/ Office
work1 Year Experience Knowledge
in MS-Office, Photoshop Searching
for suitable job E-mail: antonysha-
jan11@gmail.com.Contact Number:
+91 9655469680 +91 8754086178
Indian male 26 years MBA
finance, seeks suitable placement.
Contact – 92715032 /
ajisd@yahoo.com
Bangladeshi male, University MA,
Working as Store In-charge cum Lo-
gistic Manager in Muscat; search-
ing better job. Phone: 91997605
email: mohamednazrulislam2@
gmail.com
INDIAN-Male 34yrs, M.Com
with 14yrs Exp ( 8yrs in Oman &
6yrs in India)Presently working
as PROCUREMENT OFFICER for
ROAD,CIVIL,ELECTRO-MECHAN-
ICAL & Others Projects in contg
& Trdg co LLC, Having Oman LT
D/L, NOC available & willing to join
immediately within in a month -
M:94064650,
Email: nagauae@gmail.com
Indian male, 16 years Oil & Gas
experience (Down Hole Tools),
3 years in Oman, Dip. Mechani-
cal Engineer, Having D/L and NOC.
Email – jajisuni@yahoo.com,
Mob: 965 956 18.
Civil Draftsman seeking job.
Contact-95516807
Indian male: 24 years, diploma
in computer science and B.E (CSE)
having experience in hardware
and networking seeks suitable job.
Contact: 91170912
Email: sales2@witoman.com
Sudanese male. Five years diplo-
ma in civil engineeringhave five
years experience in construction
industry. Mobile: 96995670
Sri Lankan female looking for a
housemaid job. Please send details
to s.c.balthaza@gmail.com
Contact: 94036979
Land surveyor Experience: 8 years. Contact: 99585265 Email:
wajid.mohiuddin5251@gmail.com
Indian male executive secretary
having vast experience in admin,
logistics & procurement well versed
with computer .seek suitable place-
ment. Contact: 99514286
Indian male, accountant 2 year
experience doing accounts in Tally
and Excel. Searching for suitable
job. Contact: subbayan_r@gmail.
com GSM: +918098637908
BE Mechanical Engineering with
one year experience now on visit
visa, looking for suitable posi-
tions”#90637918 / 99335742,
email: aquasharath@gmail.com
Looking for a part time job for
drawings struc. BBS Q/S & piping/
pipeline auto cad work. #92103713.
Job Wanted as a Music Teacher
Classical Vocal Music, Having 3
years India Exp.Contact- 90310876
A young CA (ACA & ACCA quali-
fied) with 4 years experience in
one of top audit firms in UK & KSA
seeks suitable placement in Oman.
Contact: Kamran
(hkamran112@gmail.com),
+44 7480 1196 74. +968 93595050
25 year old male B.Com and
insurance graduate with 6 year
experience looking for an opening
in accounts, finance or operations.
Driving license and NOC available.
Contact-95236312.
lilommca@gmail.com
MCA with 13+ yrs of teaching.
Worked as PGT (Comp Sc.) in CBSE
Board Schools, 2 yrs experience
in s/w development. Seek suitable
placement. Contact - 90477217
Bangladeshi Male, University
MA, Working as Store In-charge
cum Logistic Manager in Mus-
cat; searching better job. Phone:
91997605 email:
mohamednazrulislam2@gmail.com
Indian male AUTO CAD Draughts-
man (civil) 8 years experience, seek-
ing for part time job.#- 99070584 /
email: remluvp@gmail.com
BS in Civil Engineering Experience: 3 Year (Road Projects)
Omani license: 9 Years. # 97427701
Email: hassanrvc1989@gmail.com
Homeopathic Doctor having 2
years experience seeks suitable
placement.Contact-93615169,
geethasreenathnn@gmail.com
Pakistani Male having 6 years
Experience Valid Omani Driving
license working as a Transport
Manager looking for a suitable
position. Salary is negotiable.
Mob: +96893363316 / 94202746
mohdnaveed043@gmail.com
Indian Male Accountant I have 2
year better experience in account-
ing field. I can do all my accounts in
Tally and Excel searching for suit-
able job. Contact: +919087776759
contactsubbayan5@gmail.com
GSM : +918098637908,
Indian female 23 BA economics
with computer knowledge looking
for the post of Administration dept
or day care or sales please
Contact 96155921 or
Email- fysal.nellaya@gmail.com.
Indian Female, 24 MA Eng. Litr
with 2 yrs experience in teach-
ing & 14 months in Administra-
tion cum Secretary, Currently
on visit visa, seeks suitable job.
Contact: 92613704/99260702
Email:rohinis2010@gmail.com
Indian Male, 26 years, with 7 years
of experience in Sales Field in ship-
ping company in Dubai, looking for
suitable placement. Experienced
working in safety Marine equip-
ment and well versed with MS
Office. Contact: 90182494/
manojmallya999@gmail.com
Marine Services / Business
Development having more than 15
Years experience in GCC Countries
with Indian Male with experience
in Operations Management / Sales
and Procurement / Ship Chandling
/ valid GCC Driving License seeks
suitable job. Presently in Oman on
Visit Visa. GSM : 9053 55 65,
Email : rafi.vprc@gmail.com
Indian Female, 35years, Bach-
elor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) with
6months experience and BSc &
MA seeking position as Insurance
Coordinator or suitable positions in
pharmacy, pharmacy stores, hos-
pital, polyclinic & pharmaceutical
companies or in front office/admin-
istration office preferably in hospi-
tal. Please contact on 90236481
Male Locum Pharmacist with
MOH & Driving License. Available
on request from March to April
2016; Contact #: +968
9188 5485/+968 9943 8058.
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, M A R C H 1 3 , 2 0 1 6 D7
TOURS
TOURS
RENT A CAR
25 - 50 seater bus with PDO &
BP specification for monthly rent
& small car with driver. Contact
99839898
SITUATION WANTEDCARGO
TRANSPORTATION
Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with
Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain
Marine Tours contact 98029602,
92808636
We arrange tours & accommoda-
tion at all the beautiful places in
Oman. Contact 99839898
SITUATION WANT-ED
BUSINESSSITUATION WANT-
EDBUSINESS
ONE STOP SHOP
BUSINESS SERVICES
Contact Saleh: 96723485
Public relation services (PRO), Formation new
companies, LLC companies, investor visa, business setup,
prepare business & companies accounts, legal
services, representing you and your company.
Transportation available for
Al Khuwair, Azaiba, Al Hail to Ruwi
area. Contact - 94297820
Transportation. Contact
98505294
Ruwi, Muttrah, Al Khuwair,
Muscat, Qurum, seek transporta-
tion. Contact: 91132238
Transportation. Contact
99508282 /93113534
Transportation. Contact
99508282
From Mabela to Mawaleh for
school student. Contact: 92757673
Transportation. Contact
92015894
Transportation available Ruwi to
Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.
Contact: 91103909
GOOD NEWS
Ayurvedic treatment for joint
pain, backache, paralysis, mas-
sage, steambath, obesity, spondy-
litis. Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic,
18 November Street, Azaiba.
Contact: 99639695 / 97397320
FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know
more about Islam, please call:
99425598, 99250777, 99353988,
99253818, 99341395, and
99379133. For ladies: 99415818,
99321360, 99730723
Orvisit:www.islamfact.com
Ayurvedic treatment for backache,
paralysis, arthritis etc & mas-
sage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam).
Contact:24475280 / 95371664 /
92504980 www.siddhayur.com
RENT A CARBest Rates for Saloon
Contact: 97869042 / 95730550
sales@modernreem.com
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability
D8 S U N D AY, M A R C H 1 3 , 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDE Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
MANPOWER
SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES
SERVICESWe Provide Cleaners,
General cleaning etc.
Contact : 94277020
Split & window A/c servicing &
maintenance. Contact 93769089 /
95323517
GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,
Contact 99314807/24792998
Water proofing ABUQABAS-
Contact 99320217/24788722
LEGAL SERVICEAn Indian lawyer Provides all legal
Labour issues, contracts, agreements,
new business in Oman, Civil, criminal cases,.service issues.
Sarafudheen, ,Legal Advisor
Muscat. GSM: 97351649
House shifting & transporting.
Contact 92490422
House shifting. Contact: 99708138
Pest control treatments, Ocean center LLC .
contact:99344723
MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of
your marble. Contact 24793614/
99314807
A/C maintenance & servicing,
fridge, washing machine & dish
washer repairing, painting & clean-
ing services, electrical & plumbing.
Contact: 99447257 / 97014234 /
24504281
Marble crystallization & grinding, cleaning & carpet shampooing.
Ocean center LLC.
Contact:99344723
Split A/C servicing R.O 10 only.
Contact: 94217681 / 99210141
Building maintenance. Contact: 96173326
Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile
polishing, pest control & anti-ter-
mite treatment, general cleaning
painting,Plumbing, Electrical,
shifting. Contact Mundhir
Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.
Contact: 24810137, 99450130
House shifting packing.
Contact: 99657644 / 98518013
carpet shampooing, sofa shampooing, pest control treatment & general cleaning
of villa & building.Express Building Cleaning Services.Contact 98480070 / 94134784
Pest control & Building cleaning all kinds of pest control
MY
Contact: 98814733 /98814740 Al Husn Cleaning L.L.C
Villa cleaning, shifting, marble
crystallization, tiles polishing,
shampooing sofa & carpet. Modern
Eastern Arms. 92145560
Sahal Al Wadi White Trad. Spe-
cialist in repairing of cold store,
chiller, A/C & refrigerator.
Contact – 94528546
Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont
Maintenance services electric,
plumbing and A/C. Contact:
96524904 / 94285064
Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles
polishing, carpet shampooing,
maintenance.
Contact ABU QABAS- 99320217
/24788722
Marble crystallization & grinding, Ocean center LLC .
Contact:99344723
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