times of oman - january 21, 2016
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Times of Oman - January 21, 2016TRANSCRIPT
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THURSDAY, January 21, 2016 / 11 Rabi Al Thani 1437 AH timesofoman.com timesofoman.com/whatsapp facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman instagram.com/timesofoman ISO 9001:2008 Certifi ed Company
To the students of Sultan Qaboos University, 2000
FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN
During the ministerial meeting of Indian Ocean Rim States - an association we have long worked for and which has been achieved thanks to God’s good grace - I spoke personally to the group and told them that the ocean unites us, its waters unite us, the resources it contains belong to us all and that it is up to us to conserve them. A number of joint schemes and programmes are due to be prepared on the best ways of conserving and exploiting these resources.
‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’
‘Expect VAT in 2017 to shore up economy’
REJIMON [email protected]
MUSCAT: Value Added Tax (VAT) will be introduced in Oman by the middle of next year, or even earlier, a member of the Majlis Al Shura’s economic committee has told the Times of Oman.
“Implementation of VAT is in the fi nal stages. Oman is work-ing out a mechanism on how to collect the tax. So, by the mid-2017, we can expect VAT being introduced in Oman,” Tawfi q Al Lawati said.
Struggling economiesWith crude prices touching all-time low, economists in Oman and neighbouring countries have been stressing the need for VAT’s implementation to cushion the struggling economies.
Governments in all the GCC countries have been working on a model which could be im-plemented across the members simultaneously.
According to the Shura mem-ber, once implemented, the VAT amount would be about three to fi ve per cent, with foodstuff and certain other products to be ex-empted from the tax.
“Through the introduction of VAT, we estimate that Oman will
be able to earn between OMR200 million and OMR300 million extra every year,” the Shura mem-ber added.
Nasser Saidi, a GCC-based economist, said VAT is the most notable reform that Oman and its neighbours could adopt to boost
revenue, while Manjot Sing Chug, a business tax advisor in Muscat, said given the current oil prices, the implementation of VAT is likely to be accepted as a posi-tive measure for diversifying and strengthen the governments’ rev-enue base. >A6
To earn additional
revenue, a Majlis
Al Shura member
confi rmed that
the VAT plan is in
the fi nal stages of
implementation
Oman Air to raise frequency, fl ights TARIQ AL HAREMI [email protected]
MUSCAT: As 2016 is set to be a challenging year for everyone, Oman Air announced it will be in-creasing the frequency of fl ights this year and will introduce new destinations.
Chief Operating Offi cer, Abdul
Rahman Al Busaidi, said, “2016 is a challenging year yet exciting”, as he expressed his delight at the in-crease in the number of fl ights to international destinations.
Following a deal signed with Indian aviation authorities, Oman Air has now increased its passen-ger seats per week to more than 5,000, resulting in the doubling of
daily fl ights to both Cochin and Bangalore, as well as increasing frequency to Lucknow. Flights to Jaipur have also been increased from seven fl ights a week to 10.
Flights to London, have also in-creased with a second daily fl ight starting from March 27, where Oman Air will depart from Muscat at 1 am. >A6, See also >A3
N E W Y E A R P L A N S
Graphics
Value AddedTax aroundthe worldStandard rates
VAT-freecountries andterritories
GCC
China
SaudiArabiaQatarUAEKuwaitBahrainOman
US
AlaskaMontanaOregonNewHampshireDelaware
BritishOverseasTerritory
BritishVirginIslands
BermudaCaymanIslandsAnguillaGibraltarTurks andCaicosIslandsGuernsey
Hong KongMacao
15%
NewZealand
5.5%India
15%Bangladesh
13%Nepal
17%China
12%Venezuela
16%Mexico
18%Russia
27%Hungary
25%Sweden
20%UK
21%Argentina
18%Turkey
10%Australia
France was the first to introduce VAT on April 10, 1954. Some critics say that the poor pay more, as a percentage of their income than the rich
Worldhighest
VAT rate
Secondlowest tax rate
in Asia, afterTaiwan (5%)
Nordiccountrieshave highVAT rates
OMAN‘Visa ban on expats to hurt Omani market’
1 Tightening of the two-year visa ban on expatriates in Oman will impact the
market, said a Chamber of Commerce offi cial. >A5
WORLDIsrael plans to grab West Bank farmland
2 Israel plans to appropriate a large tract of agricultural land in the
occupied West Bank. >A15
MARKETSohar freezone master plan in 2016
3Freezone Sohar will fi nalise its master plan to develop a huge area of
4,500 hectares of land by the middle of this year. >B1
T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S
A3 Princess Beatrice to speak at Oman’s .Open Minds conference
Licence for Oman’s fi rst low-cost carrier Times News Service
MUSCAT: An air services opera-tor licence has been awarded to Muscat National Development & Investment Company, Asas, to establish the Sultanate’s fi rst low-cost carrier.
Awarded by the Public Author-ity for Civil Aviation, this new ven-ture is anticipated to fuel economic growth underpinned by strong air traffi c demand which is expected to grow by 40 per cent by 2019.
Eng. Khalid bin Hilal Al Yahma-di, CEO of Asas, said, “At Asas, our aim is to become one of the main development and investment arms for the government and pen-sion funds in the country.
“To that end, we have identifi ed a portfolio of potential develop-ment projects for the next 5 to 10 years across various industries. One of the core sectors is tourism and we are adopting an integrated approach that covers its entire supply chain of which transporta-
tion plays an instrumental role as an enabler for the development of the economy in general and tour-ism in particular.”
He added, “The national budget airline will provide access to eco-nomical and effi cient means of transport and advance the avia-tion sector in Oman. It will natu-rally complement our diverse projects that will soon come on stream, including our real estate and entertainment projects to maximise impact and generate
sustainable returns. The growth of the aviation sector in the region is what drove us to explore the sector and create value for Oman.”
Established in 2014, Asas’s mandate is on identifying new investment opportunities and in-telligent solutions that enrich the quality of life of people in Oman. The company’s business model revolves around collaborating with public and private sectors ef-forts in tourism, logistics, health-care and education.
B O O S T T O T O U R I S M
DAVOS: Assigned by His Maj-esty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Dr. Salim bin Nasser Al Isma’eeli, Chairman of the Public Authori-ty for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ithraa), took part in the 46th edition of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which began in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.
The four-day event discusses the progress in the information and digital technologies, innova-tion and the contribution of this
progress in upgrading the lives of communities and human de-velopment, in addition to high-lighting the global challenges, such as healthcare and food security.
WEF is an annual event in which top international eco-nomic decision makers, as well as a number of politicians and representatives of the non-gov-ernment organisations take part to exchange views on various is-sues. -ONA
A S S I G N E D B Y H I S M A J E S T Y
Oman takes part in Davos meeting
A2 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
OMAN
CHILDREN’S REHABILITATION CENTREA memorandum of understanding was signed on Wednesday at the offi ce of His Highness
Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Honorary chairman of the Association for the Welfare
of Children with Disabilities, between the Association and Al Habib & Co., by which the
latter will fund the construction of a rehabilitation centre in the Wilayat of Al Mesana’ah
for children with disabilities. — ONA
Five arrested for abduction
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Five people have been arrested in South Batinah on the charge of robbery, abduc-tion and beating up their col-league, according to the Royal Oman Police (ROP).
A top ROP offi cial in South Batinah region said a team had been constituted to investigate the case.
The accused have been charged with abducting, beating and stealing the mobile phone and purse of the Asian man.
The victim was driven to Sur, held captive and his fam-ily was asked to pay a ran-som. Subsequently, the ac-cused were arrested, the ROP source said.
R O P C R I M E F I L E
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The accused have been charged with abducting, beating and stealing the mobile phone and purse of the Asian man.
Spokesman, Royal Oman Police
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OMANT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
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Oman Air strong show boosts 2016 prospects
TARIQ AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: Oman Air is becom-ing less dependent on govern-ment support, due to its recent strong performance, which has also helped reduce losses for the airline. According to Oman Air’s fi nancial results for 2015, loss per passenger was reduced by 42 per cent, owing to changes in fuel prices. In 2014, the govern-ment provided OMR130 million in fi nancial support to Oman Air, which was then reduced to OMR54 million in 2015.
“Owing to the hard work of the commercial and operational teams, we were able to reduce that loss to OMR13.8 per passen-ger in 2015,” said Oman Air Chief Executive Offi cer (CEO), Paul Gregorowitsch, where the loss per passenger was OMR24 in 2014.
Looking ahead at 2016, Oman Air is planning to achieve a fur-ther 45 per cent reduction in loss per passenger. Government support will also be reduced to OMR35 million, compared with last year.
Despite the heavy capital cost,
new equipment and buildings being constructed for Oman Air, Gregorowitsch is eyeing an 11.2 per cent in capital growth, includ-ing a 14.1 per cent growth in pas-sengers and a 50 per cent growth in cargo. The Oman Air chief said the loss per passenger will further reduce from OMR13.8 in 2015 to OMR6.83 in 2016.
Passenger traffi cOman Air’s passenger traffi c is expected to surge 142 per cent to touch 22 million passengers by 2034, according to IATA.
The Sultanate’s economy is also set to grow by 6.2 per cent on an average for the next two decades and by 2034 it will see approxi-mately 22 million passengers annually, according to an IATA spokesperson.
The Middle East region as a whole is set to be the joint-fastest growing region, along with the Asia-Pacifi c, at 4.9 per cent a year on average until 2034.
“That will lead to an extra 237 million passengers en-route to, from and within the region for a total market size of 383 million passengers,” Gregorowitsch told
the Times of Oman (TOO). Avia-tion experts said the growth is foreseeable, with more airlines joining the Muscat skyline and Oman Air going on an expansion spree by buying new aircraft and introducing new destinations, such as Goa, Dhaka, besides in-creasing fl ights to several destina-tions in India.
Gregorowitsch also revealed that the government has sup-
ported them with OMR138 mil-lion for fi nancing Oman Air’s ex-pansion plans, which has resulted in an OMR420 million return in contribution to the Sultanate’s economy.
The OMR35 million in fi nan-cial support from the government, which will be given to Oman Air will return OMR440 million to OMR450 million to the economy by the end of 2016.
Owing to the
hard work of the
commercial and
operational teams,
Oman Air was able
to reduce that loss
to OMR13.8 per
passenger in 2015,
the CEO said
TARIQ AL [email protected]
MUSCAT: Oman Air will aim to ramp up its Omanisa-tion percentage in 2016 from 2015, which will see the national carrier recruiting more Omani employees in the company in order to maintain the rate set by the government.
Oman Air’s “Shape and Size” programme will remain eff ective throughout 2016, supporting increased ef-fi ciency and ongoing cost reductions throughout the company.
In addition, Oman Air will increase the percentage of Omani citizens it employs from 62 per cent in 2015 to 63 per cent in 2016, in line with its commitment to the Sultanate’s policy of Omani-sation.
Supporting enhanced employment opportuni-ties in Oman will also be achieved through Oman Air’s continuing investment
in the country’s small and medium-sized enterprises and support for national sustainability programs.
“We launched ‘Shape and Size’ in 2014 and it was an eff ort to see if we were able, on top of our nationalisation programmes and effi ciencies, to save additional money,” said Oman Air Chief, Paul Gregorowitsch, adding that the airline was able to save OMR2.5 million due to the programme.
Last year, Oman Air re-cruited 21 Omanis to join its Cadet Training Program. It involves them undergoing in-itial fl ight training at ENAC in Toulouse, France for 18 months. If they complete the training successfully, they undertake a type rating course, which will qualify them to become members of Oman Air’s fl ight crew. Meanwhile, pilot training and career development will also be enhanced following the opening of Oman Air’s own simulator building later.
Working to boost Omanisation percentage in 2016: CEO
Oman Air Chief Executive Of-
fi cer, Paul Gregorowitsch. — ONA
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Second edition of the .Open Minds forum presented by AVOD (Areej Vegetable Oils & De-rivatives) will be held on February 10 and 11, 2016 at the Ballroom of Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah resort.
The two-day forum will feature some of the topmost thought lead-ers of the world who will provide an intellectual treat with words of wisdom and inspiring tales to all those who wish to have their minds open. The list includes en-trepreneur Chris Gardner, prin-cess Beatrice of York, Dutch foot-ball legend Ruud Gullit and a host of other top names.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Suwaidan Al Balushi, former telecom min-ister and Dr Amer Al Rawas, group CEO, Tasneea Oil and Gas Technology are the two main Omani speakers.
The central theme of the Open Minds forum is that an “open mind will help open doors” and the
forum sets to synergise, motivate and educate (SME) young Omani entrepreneurs,” a spokesperson from the Black & White, organis-ers of the event, said, adding that the event is packed with “experi-ence, knowledge, thoughts, posi-tivity, inspiration, attitude, enter-tainment and presentation”.
For more information and registra-tion: Contact: 99620757, 95122430; email: [email protected]; [email protected]
. O P E N M I N D S F O R U M
Dr Amer Al Rawas Ahmed bin Suwaidan Al Balushi
Princess Beatrice of York Ruud Gullit
Chris Gardner
Muscat to host top thought leaders
Top experts discourage fear of any economic downturn STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT: Don’t fear the eco-nomic downturn; there will be more opportunities, said panel-lists during a discussion on the subject of “Igniting Entrepre-neurship,” an initiative by Global Shapers Muscat.
The Global Shaper’s Muscat hub organised the discussion for its representation at Shaping Da-vos 2016, a platform created by the World Economic Forum An-nual Meeting, to draw light to the existing issues in a region, which would be relayed at the Davos an-nual meet from January 20 to 23.
According to the panel mem-bers, more research and develop-ment institutions are required for bridging the opportunity gaps.
“Institutions, such as Injaz are needed more, because one is not enough for a whole nation,”
the panel suggested. The panel included Abdullah Al Jufaili, general manager of Sharakah, Dr Adham Al Said, partner at the Firm and assistant professor of Economics at the Sultan Qaboos University, Shabib Al Mamamri, executive director of Injaz Oman, Sharifa Al Barami, executive partner at AGSI, Rym Aoudia, president of Knowledge Oman and Mahmood Zeyad, managing director of Startup Oman and Global Shaper.
Under the patronage of the key speakers, issues, such as injecting ambition in youth, the purpose behind being an entrepreneur, starting and sustaining business-es in the current economic condi-tion were discussed.
According to the organisers, “The primary objective of ‘Ig-niting Entrepreneurship’ at the Muscat hub is to place Oman’s
youth under the spotlight, discuss entrepreneurial implications, hurdles and more in a local and global context and to share the in-novative solutions of the Omani youth on a global platform.”
“Igniting Entrepreneurship” also suggested that a more lucra-tive environment should be cre-ated for giving awards.
“With the economic challenges facing the region, entrepreneur-ship could not be more relevant. Creating opportunities could be the next big challenge for our gen-eration,” Global Shaper’s Zeyad said during the event.
“Once we have entrepreneurs by choice and not by need, we will be able to create a solid, healthy ecosystem” said Al Mamari from Injaz Oman, who has also been chosen as the virtual speaker from Oman for the Live Panel Discussion at Davos 2016.
G L O B A L S H A P E R S M U S C A T F O R U M
Committee discusses key issuesMUSCAT: The agreement re-lated to post payment services, which was referred by the Secre-tariat General of the Council of Ministers, was discussed by the Services and Social Development Committee at Majlis Al Shura on Wednesday, at a meeting un-der the chair of Sheikh Hamoud bin Ahmed Al Yahya’ee, Head of the Committee.
This discussion comes within the framework of hosting special-
ists from Oman Post Company and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
The Committee’s members viewed the joint principles ap-plied to the post payment services in terms of the content of the agreement, general principles, services quality and the princi-ples associated with exchang-ing computer data, as well as the rules applied to the post payment services. The members also in-
quired some items of the agree-ment, post price for individuals, old and current companies with clarifying some reasons behind the price hike comparing to the previous periods.
The TRA specialists explained some upcoming amendments to the agreement as the agreement will be permanent. This agree-ment will be declared at the 26th Universal Postal Congress due to be held at Istanbul. — ONA
M A J L I S A L S H U R A
PANEL DISCUSSION: Major issues, such as injecting ambition in youth, the purpose behind being
an entrepreneur, and starting and sustaining businesses in the current economic conditions were
discussed. - Picture by AR Rajumar/Times of Oman
A4 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
For detailed coverage log on to www.timesofoman.com
Omani products prove a big draw
ELHAM [email protected]
MUSCAT: Visitors to the Mus-cat Festival, who are interested in buying Omani products, can now fi nd local small and medium enter-prises (SMEs) in a more organised way at the Amerat Park.
Around 96 SMEs have show-cased a wide range of products on display, including garments, acces-sories, perfume and frankincense, electronics, dates, spices, foodstuff and handicrafts. Some companies are also off ering their technical and professional services.
According to the information provided by the Public Authority for SME Development (Riyada) to the Times of Oman, this is the fi rst time that such a section has been allocated to SMEs.
Omani products were being showcased and promoted during previous editions of the festival as well, but this time they have been accommodated in buildings rather than tents.
Promoting SMEsRiyada had been invited by the Muscat Municipality to take part in the festival like in the previous years as SMEs are registered with the authority.
Given the fact that Riyada was a member of the organising com-mittee, it was decided that this time it would take part only in Am-erat Park for various reasons that would benefi t the SMEs.
Riyada believes that the initia-tive and the festival, supported by the Muscat Municipality, is a very good move which would help pro-mote and support local companies.
According to the authority, the exhibition not only provides an op-portunity for SMEs to introduce, promote and sell their products and services to visitors, but also helps local companies get to know
each other and explore ways for collaboration.
Selling productsThe exhibitors have received a very positive response for their products from the visitors coming to Amerat Park and are pleased with the initiative, especially be-
cause they are allowed to sell their products and generate income.
Generating revenue is obviously important for all SMEs as it helps them continue their activities in the market and grow their busi-ness further, according to Riyada.
Ahmed Al Mashani, a visitor to the SME section, hailed the initia-
tive, saying that since the Muscat Festival is an Omani festival, great emphasis should be placed on pro-moting local products.
“It supports the national econo-my and at the same time gives visi-tors, especially foreign tourists, a chance to buy locally produced items as souvenirs,” he added.
Around 96 small and
medium enterprises
have showcased
a wide range of
products on display,
including garments,
accessories, perfume
and frankincense,
electronics, dates,
spices, foodstuff
and handicrafts
WIDE SELECTION: Riyada had been invited by the Muscat Municipality to take part in the festival like in the previous years as SMEs are registered with the authority. — Pictures by Talib Al Wahaibi/Times of Oman
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‘Two-year visa ban on expats to impact market’
FAHAD AL GHADANI &REJIMON K
[email protected]@timesofoman.com
MUSCAT: Tightening the two-year visa ban imposed on expatri-ates in Oman will impact the mar-ket, said a Chamber of Commerce offi cial on Wednesday.
“The new move will aff ect the market. Already it is struggling due to the oil price dip. Due to the new move, the market will be af-fected. We have tried to resolve the issue with the government and the police. However, nothing has happened,” Mohammed Has-san Al Ansi, senior offi cial at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) said.
Two days ago, Royal Oman Po-lice (ROP) offi cials said possess-ing a No Objection Certifi cate (NOC) will not ensure that an ex-pat can return to Oman after leav-ing his job within two years of exit from a new job.
Many complaints fi ledAnother ROP offi cial said the de-cision was taken as there were many complaints fi led with the public prosecution against the police force itself from previous
employers as many NOC letters that were presented were fake.
A Shura member welcomed the ROP’s move and said it will reduce bad NOC practices in the market.
‘It’s a racket’“A majority of the NOCs have been issued in unskilled workers’ cases. It’s a racket. ROP’s move will put an end to it,” the Shura member
said. “We should understand that a skilled person will not run after the NOC. He can fi nd a job back home or in other countries. So, why should he?” he added.
Visa request deniedMeanwhile, on Wednesday an In-dian expatriate confi rmed from India that his new company of-fi cials’ request to possess a visa for him was denied even though a NOC was presented.
“I have left my car, money in ac-count, and household items in the rented fl at in the hope of return-ing to Oman on a new job. Today (Wednesday), the company is saying that they will not be able to process the visa for me even though there is a NOC. I am total-ly clueless about what I should do. I have lost the job, which I had in my hand, and couldn’t manage to get a new one,” Vinay M, told the Times of Oman (TOO).
Many other expats, who left their jobs in Oman in the hope of returning, are now planning to go to the United Arab Emirates.
Re-consider their moveTonia Gray, general manager at Competence HR, said when the new rule becomes widely known, many expats may well in the fi rst instance focus their search for employment in the other GCC countries, where the regulations are less restrictive.
Mohammed Al Khaldi, board member of the General Federa-tion of Oman Trade Union, told TOO, “It will force workers to toe the employer’s line, which does not fall under the purview of the contract. The rule might have been implemented in a good sense to avoid workers shifting jobs fre-quently, but it seems it’s going to hurt the workers badly.”
The new move will aff ect the market, which
is already struggling due to the oil price fall.
A senior Chamber of Commerce and Industry
offi cial said they have tried to resolve the
issue with the government and the police
A majority of the NOCs
have been issued in
unskilled workers’
cases. It’s a racket.
ROP’s move will put
an end to it
MemberShura Council
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An important pillar of India’s strategic partnership with Oman is the growing mutual investment and trade. Mutual investment between the two countries has been growing and is estimated at around $7.5 billion
Indra Mani Pandey, Indian envoy
SHIMMERING SPECTACLEThe shimmering spectacle at the sunset in Oman and the lengthening of shadows presents a beautiful
sight to the eyes. Photographer O K Mohammad Ali captured this beautiful scene as part of the Times of
Oman’s #OmanPride campaign.
MUSCAT: Omani riyal exchange rate index increased by 5.5 per cent by the end of November 2015 to hit 106.3 points compared to 100.8 points in the corresponding period in 2014 refl ecting the increase in its purchasing power, according to the initial statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI ).
The value of rial in circula-tion rose by 11.1 per cent to hit OMR1,752,700,000 by the end
of November, 2015 compared to OMR1,578,000,000 during the same period in 2014.
Narrow money supply (M1) in the Sultanate stood at OMR5,351,700,000, marking a 12.2 per cent growth over last year’s OMR4,771,200,000.
The local cash fl ow by the end of November jumped by 12.5per cent to hit OMR14,914,100,000 compared to OMR13,253,900,000 during the same period in 2014.-ONA
5 . 5 P E R C E N T
Rial’s exchange rate index rises
It will arrive in London at 5:30 am GMT. Return fl ights from London will be at 8:40 am GMT and will arrive in Muscat at 7:40 pm local time. “The arrival and departure time to London is very important because it allows Oman Air to pro-vide convenient connections,” said Al Busaidi. Paris fl ights have in-creased from fi ve fl ights per week to daily fl ights. Oman Air also com-mended Oman’s relationship with Iran where Al Busaidi said, “We will expand our operation to Iran and as you know, the relationship between Iran and Oman is very in-timate and close.”
Flights to Tehran will increase from 13 fl ights to 21 fl ights per week with one wide-body aircraft to be used daily. Oman Air also announced that direct fl ights to Mashhad will be launched on Au-gust 1 this year. Oman Air’s new destination to China is planned to commence its fl ights on July 1 with 4 fl ights per week to Guang-zhou. Al Busaidi also announced that Oman Air will add 4 new air-craft to their current fl eet which includes two Boeing 787 Dream-liners and two Boeing 737.
O M A N A I R
< FROM
A1 < FROM
A1Flights increased
‘Need for recurrent
property tax’
“While VAT is likely to be imple-mented at a uniform rate across the GCC, Oman should also plan to introduce selected excise tax-es (e.g. on recreational vehicles, such as cars, boats, tobacco, al-coholic beverages, telecom ser-vices, hotels, energy products etc.),” Saidi stated.
Last December, there were media reports that countries in the GCC had agreed on key is-sues regarding the implemen-tation of VAT in the region, but were still in talks about fi nalis-ing and unifying the process.
“VAT cannot be implemented unilaterally, but has to be part of a Gulf-wide decision and if all GCC states agree on a deadline, then some could implement it ahead of the others,” Anchan CK, an investment advisor in Muscat, noted.
During the fi rst week of Janu-ary and while unveiling the details of the OMR3.3 billion defi cit general budget, the gov-ernment had focused heavily on austerity measures, such as
increasing the contribution of non-oil revenues to total rev-enues, reducing dependence on oil revenues and the introduc-tion of tax reforms.
Last year in December, Maj-lis Al Shura had voted yes for a 3 per cent increase in corporate income tax.
Corporate income taxThe current corporate income tax for companies, which is 12 per cent, was raised to 15 after approved by the State Council this month.
According to Saidi, in addi-tion to VAT, a recurrent prop-erty tax could also be levied, given the diffi culty in evasion and potentially large base; plus, the tax could be extended to va-cant land, as was implemented recently in Saudi Arabia.
“Furthermore, the govern-ment could move towards a more effi cient, equitable pricing of public services and utilities, as was done in Abu Dhabi last year,” he added.
V A T
S U P P O R T I N G E C O N O M Y
MUSCAT: Ways to boost the Om-ani economy and help the govern-ment reduce the budget defi cit, rationale expenditure and encour-age the private sector to play a big-ger role in supporting the national economy, were discussed by Maj-lis Al Shura and heads of perma-nent committees with experts in economy, planning, banking, oil, tourism and logistics fi elds.
They highlighted the need to reduce the burden on expenditure on unproductive manpower in the public sector and provide more ways for retirement for those at advanced ages or transfer employ-ees from Ministries that have ex-cess manpower to ministries that have shortage of manpower.
It also discussed with them a number of other aspects and in-dicators that augment the balance of payment, reduce defi cit and ra-tionalize expenditure.
The session reviewed the mechanisms to improve the eco-nomic performance of the Sul-tanate and listened to their views on the current economic perfor-
mances, the challenges facing the Omani economy and the solutions that may help in containing the implications of sharp decline in oil prices.
The experts provided a number of options, including long term economic solutions rather than short term fi nancial solutions, in addition to proposals related to preventing the exhaustion of for-eign currency reserves, providing more incentives to local investors to enhance the added value of the Omani economy and introducing strict legislations and controls that prevent corporate tax eva-sion. These solutions hopefully can enhance the growth of the na-tional economy.
The experts affi rmed that the banking sector should play a big-ger role in supporting the develop-ment plans and establishing a spe-cialised investment bank that may contribute to diversifying sources of income.
They added that the private sector has an ideal opportunity to start economically feasible
projects. Some experts called for subsiding the added value com-modities. They also hailed the government decision to increase the tax on the net profi ts in some sectors and lifting the subsidy on fuels and tourism activities.
They also proposed to consider providing private sector with staff working for the public sec-tor alongside with some incen-tives to reduce the burden on the current budgets.
The offi ce hosted Abdul Qadir Asqalan from the banking sector, Murtadha Hassan Ali from the economic planning sector, Eng. Said Al Maamari from oil sector, Eng. Mohammed bin Hassan Al Dheeb from the logistics sector, Loay B. Batainah from the invest-ment sector, Eng. Ali bin Ahmed Al Barwani, from oil sector, Eng. Abdul Rahman Burham from tourism and economic develop-ment sector , Abdullah Al Shizawi an economy writer and His High-ness Sayyid Adham bin Turki Al Said, economy academician.
Majlis on Wednesday held its
7th regular meeting of its fi rst an-nual session (2015-2016) of its 8th term (2015/2019) under the chair of Khalid bin Hilal Al Ma’awali, Chairman of Majlis Al Shura.
On the other hand, the Offi ce re-viewed the reply of the Chairman of Oman Environmental Services Holding Company S.A.O.C “be’ah” to the question about award-ing a contract for consultancy services for one of the private sector companies.
OmanisationMajlis Al Shura’s Youth and Hu-man Resources Committee dis-cussed the Omanisation in senior positions in the private sector, highlight the major challenges and obstacles that stand in front of Omanising those positions in the private sector.
The meeting reviewed some statistics and fi gures on Omani-sation rates in senior positions in some sectors, pointing to the need for a clear and accurate data on Omanisation and accurate job ti-tles in all sectors in Oman.-ONA
Shura discusses ways to rationalise expenditure
India-Oman investment, trade rising, says envoy
Staff Reporter
MUSCAT: No destination is bet-ter than India for investment pur-poses, said Indian ambassador to the Oman, Indra Mani Pandey at a seminar recently.
“India is the best place for in-vestment as it can provide you
the returns on whatever you have invested,” said the ambassador on the sidelines of the ‘Invest in In-dia’ seminar.
According to the ambassador, investment between India and the Sultanate is on the rise.
“An important pillar of India’s strategic partnership with Oman is the growing mutual investment and trade. Mutual investment between the two countries has been growing and is estimated at around $7.5 billion,” said the ambassador.
According to the Indian em-bassy in Oman, the fi rst tranche of India-Oman Joint Investment Fund of $100 million has already been invested and discussions are underway to fi nalise the second tranche of $300 million. There is a huge untapped potential, said the offi cial.
The fundamentals of India’s economy remain strong and it is poised to grow at a fast pace in the future. The fast-growing economy off ers immense opportunities for foreign direct and portfolio in-vestments from Oman.
The embassy has accorded high priority to explore and uti-
lise every available opportunity to enhance interactions with the Omani business community as well as the Indian business com-munity in Oman.
Attractive for businessEven though the Omani busi-ness community is familiar with the investment opportunities in India, it has been felt that there is a need to highlight the new ini-tiatives taken by the present In-dian government, aimed at mak-ing India an attractive place to do business.
With a view to reaching out to the Omani and Indian business communities in Oman, the Indian embassy in Muscat, organised the ‘Invest in India’ seminar.
Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy was the chief guest of the seminar which was held on the embassy premises.
The mutual
investment
between Oman and
India is growing
and is estimated at
around $7.5 billion
Indra Mani Pandey
A7
REGIONT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
‘Dubai hotel fire caused by short-circuit’
DUBAI: The fi re which engulfed one of Dubai’s most prominent hotel skyscrapers ahead of New Year fi reworks was caused by an electrical short-circuit, Dubai’s police chief said on Wednesday.
In a presentation to media, po-lice offi cials said there had been no trace of any fl ammable liq-uids such as petrol at the site of the blaze at the 63-storey hotel and residential block, close to the world’s tallest building.
“The direct cause was an elec-trical short-circuit,” police com-mander Khamis Mattar Al Mazei-na told reporters.
He declined to say whether the cladding - layers fi xed to the out-side of buildings for decoration, insulation or protection - had af-fected the development of the fi re, and directed queries about build-ing materials to the Dubai Civil Defence authority.
Flames shot skywards from one
side of the luxury Address Down-town Dubai, owned by developer Emaar Properties which stands across a plaza from the Burj Khal-ifa tower where people had gath-ered for the fi reworks show.
In a statement, Dubai police said the short-circuit which caused the fi re occurred in an area between the 14th and 15th fl oors of the hotel at around 21.25 local time.
On the night, television pic-tures showed pieces of blazing
debris raining down from The Address as evacuated occupants hurried away from the building, some running.
Emaar said on January 3 the fi re should have “no material im-pact” on the company because the building and risk of fi re were cov-ered by its insurance.
The company also said it had hired a local contractor, Dubai-based DUTCO Group, as a con-tractor to clear and restore the building. — Reuters
In a presentation
to media, police
offi cials said there
had been no trace
of any fl ammable
liquids such as
petrol at the site
of the blaze, which
occurred before a
New Year’s event
TOWERING INFERNO: People run away as a fi re engulfs The Ad-
dress Hotel in downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on
December 31, 2015. — Reuters
The Address Downtown Dubai building was quickly
evacuated with only minor injuries reported, and
authorities went ahead with a New Year’s fireworks
display at the 160-storey Burj Khalifa tower
a few hundred metres away
A8
INDIAT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
With this satellite in place, within our country we will be able to get 24/7 provisional a good positional accuracy
A. S. Kiran Kumar, ISRO chairman
India puts fi fth navigation satellite into earth’s orbit
SRIHARIKOTA: India on Wednesday successfully launched its fi fth navigation satellite IRNSS-1E on-board the work-horse PSLV-C31 here, taking an-other step to join a group of na-tions equipped with own satellite navigation systems like the United States-based Global Positioning System (GPS).
In a precise textbook launch, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehi-cle (PSLV) C 31 blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) here, about 110km from Chennai at 9.31am and released the satellite into the orbit 19 min-utes and 20 seconds later.
Team congratulatedPresident Pranab Mukherjee congratulated the ISRO team on the launch. “Heartiest congratu-lations to ISRO team on the suc-cessful launch,” he said.
Lauding the “dynamism and de-termination” of ISRO scientists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said they have made the country
proud. “Congratulating the dy-namism & determination of @isro & our scientists on success-ful launch of PSLV C31 & putting IRNSS-1E in orbit precisely”, he said on twitter.
“Spoke to the scientists at @isro & congratulated them on their accomplishment today. Our scientists keep making us proud”, Modi said.
IRNSS-1E is the fi fth naviga-tion satellite in the IRNSS space system, comprising seven satel-lites, which would be on par with US-based GPS once the full com-plement of spacecraft is launched.
As the rocket soared into the clear blue sky at the end of the 48 hour countdown, all the four stag-es of PSLV executed their func-tions as programmed, to the joy
of ISRO scientists at the mission control centre.
After the satellite’s injection into geo synchronous transfer or-bit (GTO), the two solar panels of IRNSS-1E will be automatically deployed in quick succession.
The Master Control Facility in Hassan (Karnataka) would then take control of the satellite to per-form orbit raising operations.
Though the earlier four satel-lites would be suffi cient to start operations of the IRNSS system, the remaining three would make it more “accurate and effi cient”, he said.
Congratulating the ISRO team for the success of the launch, a beaming ISRO Chairman A. S. Kiran Kumar said, “Today with this new year we are starting the
Indian Regional Navigation Satel-lite fi fth launch, fi fth of the seven satellite constellation.
“With this satellite in place, within our country we will be able to get 24/7 provisional a good po-sitional accuracy”.
PlanOn the future launches, Kiran Kumar said, “We have a long way to go. This year we are planning to launch the earth observation satellites. Let me congratulate the entire ISRO team for the work they have done and we are having a long way to go.
“We have got two more satel-lites to be launched in this con-stellation, which would happen in next couple of months”, he said from the Mission Control Centre.
He said the ISRO scientists in-tended to complete this year the launch of GSLV-Mark III which will carry heavier satellites into geo-stationary transfer orbits.
“And, we have a long way to go. And I would like to remind all my colleagues, while we have started the new year with success, we need to dedicate ourselves for complet-ing the task on hand”, he said.
Mission Director B. Jayakumar said, “ISRO starts the New Year with a grand success. IRNSS-1E has been injected very precisely into the intended orbit. We have employed the most powerful ve-hicle for this launch with that able to carry the satellites. We have three variants in PSLV and with this launch we have completed 33 launches in PSLV.”
“With this, the uniqueness is 11,11,11. The core alone version 11xL variant is 11 and generic variant is 11. It is fi rst Mission for ISRO in new year”, Jayakumar said. IRNSS-1E has confi gura-tion similar to its predecessors IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C and 1D and car-ries two types of payloads — navi-gation and ranging payloads.
The navigation payload will transmit navigation service sig-nals to the users and operating in L5-band and S-band, while the other comprises a C-band tran-sponder that facilitates accurate determination of the satellite range.IRNSS-1E has a lift-off mass of 1,425 kg and carries Cor-ner Cube Retro Refl ectors for la-ser ranging and a highly accurate rubidium atomic clock (also part of the navigation payload of the satellite).
The four satellites already launched include IRNSS-1A on July 1, 2013, IRNSS-1B on April 4, 2014, IRNSS-1C on October 16, 2014, IRNSS-1D on March 28, 2015. ISRO scientists plan to put all the seven navigation satellites in to the orbit by March 2016.
The mission life of IRNSS-1E is 12 years. - PTI
IRNSS-1E is the fi fth
navigation satellite
in the IRNSS space
system, comprising
seven satellites,
which would be on
par with US-based
GPS once the full
complement of
spacecraft
is launched
BLAST OFF: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s PSLV-C31 carrying IRNSS-1E takes off dur-
ing its launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Wednesday. - PTI
Four ‘terror suspects’ arrested in Haridwar
NEW DELHI: With the arrest of four persons with suspected IS links from Manglour in Uttara-khand, Delhi Police on Wednes-day claimed to have unearthed a terror plot to target the ongoing Ardh Kumbh Mela at Haridwar, particularly trains heading there and some strategic locations in the national capital.
The suspects, identifi ed as Akhlaq ur-Rehman, Mohammed Osama, Mohammed Azim Shah and Mehroz were arrested from Manglour town in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district on Tuesday and produced in a court here on Wednesday which sent them to 15 days’ police custody, Special Com-missioner of Police (Special Cell) Arvind Deep said.
“The four suspects were tracked down with inputs from a central intelligence agency. They had planned to carry out terror attacks at the Ardh Kumbh mela, trains heading towards Haridwar passing through Roorkie and some strate-gic locations in Delhi,” Deep said.
QuestionedAccording to sources, the suspects were allegedly in contact of a for-mer Indian Mujahideen operative, who later went for training in Syria and is presently believed to be a key member of Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT) which has pledged allegiance to the IS. One of the suspects, Akhlaq, is also being questioned in connection with the attacks at Pathankot.
Meanwhile, their involvement in all possible networks, including the AuT-IS, is being verifi ed, the source said.
The suspects have been booked under provisions of Unlawful Ac-tivities (Prevention) Act.
Special Commissioner Arvind Deep refused to comment on the outfi t which the suspects belong to but said, “The national capital fac-es threat until the entire module is busted.” - PTI
A L L E G E D P L O T
A9
INDIAT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
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Irani: Do not instigate students on caste lines
HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI: Under attack over the suicide of a dalit student, HRD Minister Sm-riti Irani on Wednesday launched a counter off ensive accusing ri-vals of instigating students across the country on caste lines even as political leaders made a bee line to Hyderabad University.
Claiming that an attempt was being made to project the issue as dalit versus non-dalit confronta-tion, she also dismissed the de-mand for her resignation.
The other minister under the scanner, Bandaru Dattatreya, whose letter to her is blamed as one of the reasons for the suicide of dalit student Rohith Vemula, said that as a local MP he had only forwarded a letter of complaint.
Demanding legal actionBSP chief Mayawati demanded legal action against the two union ministers and Vice Chancellor Appa Rao over the suicide as a host
of leaders including CPI(M)’s Sita-ram Yechury, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’ Brien and YSR Con-gress President Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy visited the university and met the agitating students.
“The Human Resource Develop-ment minister has to go,” Yechury said. Students belonging to pro-CPI All India Students Federation tried to hold a demonstration near the residence of Dattatreya.
A delegation of NDA ally Lok Janshati Party led by party MPs Ramchandra Paswan and Chirag Paswan also met the protesting students and demanded a com-pensation of Rs5 million to the next kin of the deceased Vemula and strict punishment for those responsible.
After keeping a low profi le for two days, Irani sought to do dam-age control by addressing a press conference in the capital when she accused political rivals of trying to ignite passion on caste lines and asserted that Vemula’s suicide was not a dalit versus non dalit issue.
Flanked by three Union Minis-ters (Thaawar Chand Gahlot, Nir-mala Sitharaman and Vijay Sam-pla), the HRD minister said
“An eff ort is on to instigate stu-dents all over the country. My appeal is, please do not instigate students and communities delib-erately. Claiming that “there has been a malicious attempt to ignite passion and present this as a caste battle which it is not.”
Advocating restraint, she said, “it is very easy to ignite passions and then regret.”
Attacking Congress, Irani said “Congress wants to shoot politi-cally on the issue, which is expect-ed but unfortunate.”
Asked about the demand for her resignation, she said “they (rivals) need to look at these reports (pro-tocol on VIP communications). I want to reply to Rahul Gandhi’s statement only through these reports.”
As opposition parties targeted the government over the suicide, the minister reminded that the
ABVP student, who was attacked in student rivalry earlier, also be-longed to the OBC community as was Dattatreya, who had written a letter to her about the attack.
Seeking to turn the table on Congress, Irani also cited a letter written to her by Congress MP V Hanumantha Rao in November 2014 and said he has also men-tioned about suicides of students of marginalised sections that had been happening in the University during the past four years.
“Why did the Congress not de-bate and fi x the issue then? Why it is debating it now?, she asked add-ing “the Congress MP says it’s not a new problem but one that per-sisted for four years.
If they (Congress) had fi xed the problem four years ago, perhaps Rohith would have been alive,” the minister said.
Irani also produced a certifi ed copy of the suicide note of Rohith to say that it did not mention any university offi cial, political organi-sation or any MP. - PTI
The minister sought
to do damage control
by addressing a
press conference
when she accused
political rivals of
trying to ignite
passion on caste
lines and asserted
that Vemula’s suicide
was not a Dalit versus
non-Dalit issue
HITTING BACK: Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani along with her cabinet colleagues Vijay Sanpla, Tha-
warchand Gehlot and Nirmla Sitaraman address a press conference on the suicide of young research
scholar Rohith Vemula in the University of Hyderabad, in New Delhi on Wednesday. - PTI
India can grow at8-9% in friendlier global market: FMDAVOS: With global headwinds hitting emerging markets as well, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday said volatility has be-come a global norm, but India can certainly grow at 8-9 per cent in a friendlier global climate.
The view was echoed by busi-ness leaders from India and other countries here at the World Eco-nomic Forum Annual Meeting even as they felt that not “all per-fect storms” in the world today would hit the Indian economy.
“Certainly, the world is fac-ing a diffi cult and challenging situation. I don’t think we are going into extreme conditions because there is predictability but volatility today is the norm and no country is immune to it,” Jaitley said.
Admitting that exports have shrunk, currencies and stock markets are impacted, Jaitley said at a panel discussion here on the India growth story that the government is always try-ing to prepare itself to meet such challenges.
“The fact is we are (the) fast-est growing economy, but we can do much better. Given a better climate and global situation, we can do much better. In a friendly global environment, we can do it (8-9 per cent).
“We had two bad monsoons while domestic and global issues impacted several sectors and that in turn has impacted banks.
“We are growing at 7-7.5 per cent. In a more favourable envi-ronment, getting an extra 1-1.5 per cent is not diffi cult,” he said.
The fi nance minister said “oil prices have helped us replan the government expenditure.
One of the biggest reforms that have happened today is rationali-sation of subsidies”.Speaking in the same session, noted econo-mist Nouriel Roubini, widely known as Dr Doom because of his earlier predictions, said he
does not see a global fi nancial crisis like that of 2008 immi-nent, but there are risks on sev-eral fronts and there are “many perfect storms”.
“There are proxy wars in vari-ous parts of the world.Fall in oil prices should be a positive for the global economy, but the reality is it is leading to sharp negative reactions in various markets, in-cluding in India,” he added.
He said falling commodity prices are a net positive for India, but low oil prices also present a risk to its growth. - PTI
W O R L D E C O N O M I C F O R U M A N N U A L M E E T I N G
We are growing at
7-7.5 per cent. In a
more favourable
environment, getting
an extra 1-1.5 per cent
is not difficult
Arun JaitleyFinance minister
A10
PAKISTAN T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
19 killed as Taliban rebels attack varsity in northwestern Pakistan
CHARSADDA/ISLAMABAD: Armed militants stormed a uni-versity in volatile northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 19 people and wounding doz-ens a little more than a year after the massacre of 134 students at a school in the area, offi cials said.
A senior Pakistani Taliban commander claimed responsi-bility for the assault in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but an offi cial spokesman later denied involvement.
The violence nevertheless shows that militants retain the ability to launch attacks, despite a country-wide anti-terrorism crackdown and a military cam-paign against their strongholds along the lawless border with Afghanistan.
A security offi cial said the death toll could rise to as high as 40 at Bacha Khan University in the city of Charsadda.
The army said it had concluded operations to clear the campus six hours after the attack began and that four gunmen were dead.
A spokesman for rescue work-
ers, Bilal Ahmad Faizi, said 19 bod-ies had been recovered including students, guards, policemen and at least one teacher, named by media as chemistry professor Syed Ha-mid Husain.
Many of the dead were appar-ently shot in the head execution-style, TV footage showed.
The militants, using the cover of thick, wintry fog, scaled the walls of the university on Wednesday morning before entering buildings and opening fi re on students and
teachers in classrooms and hos-tels, police said.
Students told media they saw several young men wielding AK-47 guns storming the university housing where many students were sleeping.
“They came from behind and there was a big commotion,” an unnamed male student told a news channel from a hospital bed in Charsadda’s District Hospital. “We were told by teachers to leave immediately.
Some people hid in bathrooms.”
Poetry recitalThe gunmen attacked as the uni-versity prepared to host a poetry recital on Wednesday afternoon to commemorate the death anniver-
sary of Khan Abdul Ghaff ar Khan, a popular ethnic Pakhtun inde-pendence activist after whom the university is named.
Vice Chancellor Fazal Rahim told reporters that the university teaches over 3,000 students and was hosting an additional 600 visi-tors for the poetry recital.
Umar Mansoor, a senior Pa-kistani Taliban commander in-volved in the December 2014 attack on the army school in Pe-shawar, claimed responsibility for
the Charsadda assault and said it involved four of his men.
He told Reuters by telephone the university was targeted because it was a government institution that supported the army.
However, later in the day, offi cial Taliban spokesman Muhammad Khorasani issued a written state-ment disassociating the militants from attack.
“Youth who are studying in non-military institutions, we consider them as builders of the future na-tion and we consider their safety and protection our duty,” the state-ment said.
The reason for the confl icting claims was not immediately clear.
While the Taliban leadership is fractured, Mansoor is believed to remain loyal to central leader Mul-lah Fazlullah.
The Pakistani Taliban are fi ght-ing to topple the government. They are loosely allied with the Afghan Taliban who ruled most of Afghanistan until they were toppled by a US-backed military action in 2001.
By afternoon on Wednesday, the military said all four gunmen had been killed.
“The operation is over and the university has been cleared,” Pa-kistan army spokesman General Asim Bajwa said.
A security offi cial close to the operation said he had seen the four gunmen’s bodies riddled with bullets.
He said none of the gunmen was wearing a suicide vest but carried guns and grenades.
Television footage showed military vehicles packed with sol-diers driving into the campus as helicopters buzzed overhead and ambulances lined up outside the main gate while anxious parents consoled each other.
Shabir Khan, a lecturer in the English department, said he was about to leave his university hous-ing for the department when fi ring began. — Reuters
A security offi cial
said the death toll
could rise to as high
as 40 at the Bacha
Khan University
while the army said
it had concluded
operations to clear
the campus six hours
after the attack began
CARNAGE: Pakistani rescuers shift an injured victim in an army ambulance from a hospital following an attack by militants in the Bacha
Khan University in Charsadda, about 50 kilometres from Peshawar, on Wednesday. — AFP
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Parliament should make decisions, not all-party conferences: OppositionISLAMABAD: The opposition in the upper house of parliament on Tuesday advised the government to avoid making decisions out of the legislative assembly and, in-stead, make them on the fl oor.
Opposition leader Aitzaz Ah-san, a leader of the Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party made his remarks after he was asked for his opinion on holding a discussion on concerns regarding the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) after Raja Za-farul Haq of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz opposed the move, saying the issue had been settled in a recent all-party conference (APC).
“Decisions are made, but it is im-perative to bring them in the house for discussion,” said Ahsan, adding that decisions were being made by two men — in an obvious reference to PM Nawaz and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif.
“Decisions should be made on the fl oor of the house and not by individuals.”
He supported the call for hold-ing a discussion on an admitted adjournment motion on the CPEC, saying that it would help the gov-ernment clear misunderstandings.
Senator Mohsin Leghari, who presided over the proceedings in the absence of Chairman Raza Rabbani, also advised the govern-ment against ignoring parliament. “Parliament is rendered insig-nifi cant when decisions are taken in APCs.”
During the discussion, senators expressed a range of concerns and shared proposals, but they were unanimous in demanding that the premier be in the driving seat on CPEC-related projects.
PPP Senator Osman Saiful-
lah said the trade corridor was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “We should ensure that the entire country benefi ts from it, instead of any particular region.”
New designs, mapsNational Party’s Mir Kabeer Mu-hammad Shahi complained that the lawmakers were kept in the dark and were shown new designs and maps every time they made in-quiries about the CPEC.
He asked the government to ensure there are no demographic
changes in Gwadar and to inform the house about the estimated in-come of the province once the port becomes operational.
Usman Kakar of the Pash-tunkhwa Milli Awami Party said: “We respect the decisions of the APC, but issues should be dis-cussed in parliament. Lack of con-fi dence is the biggest issue.”
PPP’s Sassui Palijo pointed out that the discussion on the trade corridor should have taken place at the Council of Common Inter-ests. — Express Tribune
D E B A T E I N S E N A T E
Decisions are made, but it is imperative to bring them
in the house for discussion. Decisions should be made
on the floor of the house and not by individuals
Aitzaz AhsanPakistan People’s Party leader
Sindh to hire veterans to secure projectKARACHI: The Sindh apex com-mittee decided on Tuesday to hire 2,000 retired army men for the security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor projects in the province.
Chaired by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, the meeting decided that the trained personnel would provide security to the Chinese engineers and other staff working on around 13 projects across the province.
The committee also resolved to establish more than 10 safe houses and appoint 200 police offi cials for the protection of eyewitnesses in heinous crimes.
Participants decided to send 25 terrorism cases to the military courts — including the Sabeen Mahmud murder case, eight Abbas Town cases, Manghopir bomb fac-tory case and the case of the attack on a mosque in Federal B Area that had left fi ve people dead.
Attendees at Tuesday’s meeting included Governor Ishratul Ebad, Karachi Corps Commander Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar, Rangers DG Maj Gen Bilal Akbar, Home Minis-ter Sohail Anwar Siyal, Chief Sec-retary Siddique Memon, Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah and Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali.
The apex body reviewed its past
decision to implement the Nation-al Action Plan and stressed on con-trolling street crimes in Karachi.
“Special attention is required towards street crimes, and we can get help from CCTV cameras in-stalled in various parts of the city,” a source quoted the corps com-mander as saying.
“The committee also ordered checking the status of CCTV cam-eras installed across the city and solving street crimes with the help of a command and control centre. A detailed report on street crimes will be submitted to the body.”
IGP Jamali told the meeting that the security situation in Ka-
rachi and other parts of Sindh had improved.
“Five terrorist incidents had oc-curred in 2015 as opposed to over 22 the year before. Similarly, one kidnapping for ransom case was reported last year as opposed to 59 in 2014.”
A representative of the Federal Investigation Agency was also in-vited to the huddle, in connection with the AKD Securities raid.
Chief Minister Shah and the fi -nance minister told the meeting that the raid had caused resent-ment among the business commu-nity and aff ected business at the stock exchange. — Express Tribune
C H I N A C O R R I D O R
Steel mill losses mount because of China importsKARACHI: Pakistan’s largest industrial unit, the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), continues to ride heavily in the red, bleeding bil-lions in one form or another.
While bail-outs have contin-ued to inject some life into the sick unit, stiff competition in the form of Chinese steel has dented whatever hope it had of resurrecting.
On average, Pakistan’s imports of hot-rolled coils (HRC) from China amounted to 150,000 to 175,000 tons per month since January 2015, which is more than three times the 50,000-ton monthly average in calendar year 2014.
In January last year, the gov-ernment imposed 15 per cent im-port duty on diff erent steel prod-ucts to protect the local industry. The list of products included billets, bars, and wire rods while 5per cent duty was also imposed on imported cold rolled coils (CRCs) and galvanised platted sheets. But the move did not help PSM because the list of products did not include HRC – the main product of PSM.
The imposition of 15 per cent duty helped reduce Chinese im-ports in 2015 but the industry continues to demand more pro-tection. It wants the government to slap at least 40 per cent duty on imports.
On the other hand, the govern-ment imposed 12.5 per cent duty on HRC products on March 19, 2015. PSM offi cials say the delay in imposing duty on HRC prod-ucts helped importers in import-ing cheap Chinese steel in 2015. The competition forced PSM to reduce its prices of HRC prod-ucts and hence it faced losses on its inventory.
Slow economic growth and low consumption of steel in China produced a glut of steel which forced Chinese exporters to massively reduce prices of HRC products for international buyers in 2015.
PSM is at standstill since mid
last year because of the non-availability of required gas pres-sure to run its plants. Meanwhile, its semi-fi nished products of ap-proximately Rs6 billion which include slabs, metallurgical coke and iron ore also stand idle.
The Sindh government on Monday asked for more time to decide whether the provincial government is going to acquire PSM or not. The federal govern-ment gave a deadline of January 21 to the provincial government to decide about the acquisition.
After facing various setbacks and opposition from the Sindh government in privatising PSM, the federal government in Octo-ber 2015 said the provincial gov-ernment should acquire the mill if it is against its privatisation.
The federal government is under pressure from the IMF as both the troublesome cases of privatisation – Pakistan Inter-national Airlines (PIA) and PSM – are still unresolved mainly be-cause of political diff erences.
The current management of PSM says that the mill is in a crisis because it can neither sell its fi nished nor semi-fi nished products.
The ongoing gas supply and payment of dues problem be-tween Sui Southern Gas Com-pany and PSM is still unresolved making the matter more compli-cated for PSM. — Express Tribune
T R O U B L E D F I N A N C E S
Despite reducing its
prices by 29 per cent
since January 2015, the
Pakistan Steel Mills has
failed to compete with
rampant import of Chinese
steel that has grabbed a
chunk of the market share
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27 Bangladeshi nationals held in Singapore, repatriated for terror links
SINGAPORE: Singapore, a wealthy multi-ethnic city state, arrested 27 Bangladeshi construc-tion workers who supported ex-tremist groups including Al Qaeda and IS and deported 26 of them, the government said on Wednesday.
The 27 were arrested in Novem-ber and December, the home min-istry said.
Twenty-six were deported, while the last one was jailed for attempting to leave Singapore il-legally after hearing of the arrest of the others, the home ministry said.
Twelve of the 26 have since been jailed in Bangladesh on “terror charges”, Bangladeshi police said.
The Singapore investigation re-vealed that several members of the group had considered carrying out armed violence overseas, but did not plan any attack in Singapore.
Some of them had contemplated taking part in armed extremism in the Middle East, the ministry said.
“I appeal that we be more vigi-lant, whether against radical teachings and ideologies, or of any suspicious activities around us,” Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Af-fairs Yaacob Ibrahim said on his Facebook page.
“At the same time, I hope we will remain united and not resort to discriminating (against) foreign workers here.” Singapore broke up plots for militant attacks after the September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda at-tacks on the US.
Maruf Hossain Sardar, a deputy commissioner of Bangladesh po-lice, said 14 of the 26 had been jailed on “terror charges”. - Reuters
C O N S T R U C T I O N W O R K E R S Thailand draft constitution aims to curb abuse of power
BANGKOK: A draft constitution for army-run Thailand to be un-veiled this month will be “strong medicine”, the constitution panel head said on Wednesday, add-ing that there was no guaran-tee it would pass a referendum, meaning a further extension of military rule.
The May 2014 coup ended months of political protests in Bangkok aimed at ousting a civil-ian government, since when the junta has curbed basic freedoms and pushed back the timetable for elections to 2017.
Meechai Ruchupan, 77, chair-man of the Constitution Drafting Committee, said the constitu-tion aimed to solve long-running problems such as abuse of power by lawmakers, but might not solve decades-long political divisions.
“If we are to reform the coun-try, we have to use strong medi-cine, even if political parties do not agree,” Meechai said in an interview.
“I can’t promise it will be Thai-land’s last constitution.”
A previous draft was rejected in September by a now-defunct National Reform Council. Some critics called the draft “unconsti-tutional” and fear a repeat.
A second failed draft would give the army additional room to pro-long its stay in power, say analysts.
“The diff erence between this
time and last time, however, is there might be more restlessness on the parts of political parties, especially if the army fails to show them how they fi t into their long-term governance plans,” said Am-bika Ahuja, Southeast Asia ana-lyst at Eurasia Group.
“The army’s main goal is still to prolong its stay in power for as long as possible.”
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who led the 2014 coup, has publicly said he does not want to hold on to power and that the military is working
towards restoring democracy quickly. Getting a new constitu-tion approved in a referendum is a key part of the junta’s “road-map to democracy” and a 2017 general election.
It’s also one of the biggest hur-dles for the junta, known as the National Council of Peace and Order, because if the draft doesn’t pass, it would add to pressure at home and abroad for a quick re-turn to elections.
The interim constitution does not say what will happen if the draft is voted down, leading to
more uncertainty. “I don’t know what is going to happen if the charter does not pass,” said Mee-chai Ruchupan.
Turbulent democracy The constitution would be Thai-land’s 20th in 84 years of often turbulent democracy.
“Continuous making and re-making of constitutions takes up a lot of political energy, can cause instability and does not allow po-litical arrangements to settle,” said Sumit Bisarya, Constitution Building Head of Mission at Inter-national IDEA.
For the past decade, Thailand has been locked in a bitter con-fl ict between the Bangkok-based royalist-military establishment and supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his sister, former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and their Puea Thai Party.
Meechai said the current draft, running at 261 pages, was not aimed at limiting the infl uence of the Shinawatra family, which has won every election since 2001, nor that of any political party.
“If people want to vote for Puea Thai, then they will get the vote,” he said.”This charter is not de-signed to be an obstacle to any po-litical party.” The referendum on the draft constitution is expected in July. - Reuters
Getting a new
constitution
approved in a
referendum is a
key part of the
junta’s ‘roadmap
to democracy’
and a general
election in 2017
Continuous making
and remaking of
constitutions takes up
a lot of political energy,
can cause instability
and does not allow
political arrangements
to settle
Sumit BisaryaConstitution Building Head of Mission at International IDEA
SPELLING OUT: Meechai Ruchupan, head of Thailand’s Constitution
Drafting Committee, gestures during an interview at the parliament
in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday. - Reuters
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Transparent China relationsa priority, says DPP offi cialWASHINGTON: A senior of-fi cial of Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party said on Tuesday it would propose legislation to have great-er transparency in relations with mainland China, which he said will be a priority for the recently victorious party.
“We will, in a new session of the legislature, put forward the Cross-Strait Agreement Over-sight legislation as a priority to highlight our interest in peaceful and stable relations with China,” Joseph Wu, the DPP’s secre-tary general, said in a speech at a Washington think tank.
Tsai Ing-wen and her Demo-cratic Progressive Party won a victory in both presidential and parliamentary elections last week, in what could usher in a new round of instability with China, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own.
She risks antagonizing China if she attempts to forcefully assert Taiwan’s sovereignty and revers-es eight years of warming China ties under incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalists.
Wu said in order for people in Taiwan to understand any en-gagement with mainland China, “we need to handle it in a more transparent way and we also need to have some guiding principles or rules and norms.”
China has deployed more than 1,000 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles as well as cruise missiles in coastal areas facing the Taiwan Strait, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry.
Wu added that building trust between mainland China and Tai-wan would be a “step by step” pro-cess. In an interview with Reuters later, Wu said the DPP would “fi nd a mechanism” to work with Taiwan’s Nationalists “on some pressing issues” but did not plan to create a shadow cabinet before Tsai is sworn in on May 20.
“We want to ensure that the transition is a smooth one, we want to work with the outgoing government so that the political
conditions can be stable in Tai-wan,” Wu said.
Wu said the party was keen on expanding relations with the United States, including poten-tially joining the Trans-Pacifi c Partnership trade agreement. It looks for Washington to encour-age Beijing to work with Taiwan.
“That kind of encouragement is going to be very helpful. It helped before and I think it should help (again),” he said.
The United States has ex-pressed concerns about the dan-ger of worsening China-Taiwan ties at a time when China’s navy is increasingly fl exing its muscles in the South China and East China seas. - Reuters
S O V E R E I G N T Y I S S U E
ELATED: Democratic Progressive Party chairperson and presiden-
tial candidate Tsai Ing-wen waves as she arrives at the head-
quarters of DPP, following the DPP’s victory in presidential and
parliamentary elections, in Taipei, on Monday. - Reuters
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Refugee problem in economic terms Robert J. Shiller
Today’s global refugee crisis recalls the pe-riod immediately after World War II. By one contemporary estimate, there were
more than 40 million refugees in Europe alone. These “displaced persons,” as they were called at the time, were forced to fl ee their homes because of violence, forced relocation, persecution, and de-struction of property and infrastructure.
The dire postwar situation led to the creation in 1950 of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which was expected to serve only a temporary mandate, protecting displaced people for three years. But the problem never went away. On the contrary, the UNHCR is not only still with us; it is sounding an alarm.
In its 2015 mid-year report, the agency put the number of “forcibly displaced” people worldwide at 59.5 million at the end of 2014, including 19.5 mil-lion internationally displaced, which they defi ne as true refugees. Some countries – Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Ukraine – each accounted for more than a half-million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2014. The report noted that the total number had certainly grown substantially since.
Unfortunately, the report underscores the in-completeness of our understanding of the refugee problem. In fact, throughout history, the fate of ref-ugees seeking asylum in another land has largely been unstudied. Historians record wars, and they mention diasporas, but they rarely show much in-terest in how refugee crises arose or were resolved.
To the extent that history is written by the vic-tors, that is not surprising. The knowledge that one’s country terrorised a minority to the point that its members had to fl ee, or that a substantial share of one’s forebears arrived in defeat and panic, is not exactly an inspiring source of national iden-tity. So the stories, unheard and untold, are lost. That is why we need more research on what can and should be done for refugees in the long term. The UNHCR has been doing an important job in protecting refugees, but it cannot possibly address their needs alone. Its budget of $7 billion in 2015 may seem large, but it amounts to only about $100
per displaced person – not enough to cover even essentials like food and shelter.
As President of the American Economic Asso-ciation for 2016, I felt a moral obligation to use our annual meeting earlier this month as a setting in which to bring attention to serious economic prob-lems. And the refugee crisis, whatever else it may be, is an economic problem. But a dearth of papers addressing it had been submitted to the meeting. So I decided to create a session entitled Sixty Mil-lion Refugees, and invited some of our discipline’s most distinguished scholars on migration. I asked them to describe the dimensions of the refugee problem in economic terms, and to propose some sensible policies to address it.
One of the papers, by Timothy J. Hatton of the University of Essex and Australian National Uni-versity, examined refugee fl ows around the world, to see what drives them. Hatton confronts a popu-lar argument against admitting refugees: that asy-lum-seekers are not really desperate, but are just using a crisis as a pretext for admission to a richer country. He fi nds that, contrary to some expecta-tions, refugee fl ows are driven largely by political terror and human rights abuses, not economic forces. People in fear for their lives run to the near-est safe place, not the richest. There is no escape from the moral imperative to help them.
Semih Tumen of the Central Bank of Turkey presented evidence regarding the impact of the 2.2 million Syrian refugees on the labour market in the border region. Tumen’s paper, too, takes on an argu-ment frequently used to oppose admitting refugees: that the newcomers will take locals’ jobs and drive down wages. He found that in the formal sector, jobs for locals actually increased after the infl ux of refu-gees, apparently because of the stimulative eff ect on the region’s economy. If further research backs up this fi nding, countries might actually welcome the infl ow of labour. Another paper, by Susan F. Martin of Georgetown University, described the arbitrari-ness of our current refugee procedures, calling for “legal frameworks based on the need for protec-tion, rather than the triggering causes of the mi-gration.” But formulating such rules requires some careful economic thought. Economists can help by testing which international rules and institu-tions are needed to reform an ineffi cient and often inhumane system. - Project Syndicate
Obama’s stand on democracy is hypocriticalThis refers to the news report, US top court takes up case on Obama immigration plan (January 19). I am an ardent follower of political developments in the US and normally, on most issues, I side with
the Democrats. However, in my view, Barack Obama during both his tenures has been bypassing the House of Representa-tives and the Senate whenever conten-tious issues arise. Even if the US Constitu-tion grants this authority, I feel if Obama truly practises democracy he should consider such an action as immoral. On the one hand he tells global governments to turn to the American system and on the other hand, he himself limits democracy and calls it executive action. — Mureed Shah, Ruwi
Nadal, Halep losses win for tennisThis refers to the story, Nadal and Halep out on day of shocks in Melbourne, (Janu-ary 19). Most tennis fans will consider their defeats as a bad moment in the tournament. However, I think this will actually lighten
the game up. If top players continue to win every year it means the sport has become devoid of talent. Of course diehard fans of star players will be upset but it’s only those who don’t really care about the game feel that only top four seeds should reach the championship matches. — Ravi Saxena, Ruwi
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Alawi, Khamis hold talks with Austrian ministerMUSCAT: A session of offi cial Omani-Austrian talks was held at the Foreign Ministry yesterday. The Omani side was headed by Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, minister responsible for foreign aff airs, while Benito Ferrero-Waldner, Austria’s foreign minister, who is currently visiting the Sultanate, headed the Austrian side. The talks covered the warm relations between the Sultanate and Austria, in addition to bi-lateral, political and economic cooperation in the interests of the two countries and their peoples. Several other matters of mutual interest were also discussed including the Middle East peace process.
1968: In Vietnam, the Siege of Khe Sanh begins as North Viet-namese units surround U.S. Marines based on the hill-top headquarters.
1976: Leonid Brezhnev and Henry Kissinger meet to discuss Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT).
1977: President Carter urges 65 degrees as the maximum heat in homes to ease the energy crisis.
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Like companies in many other sectors, traditional automakers are trying to fi gure out how to respond to technological innovations that
could transform their industry. Advances in driverless cars and ride-sharing are likely to disrupt
many existing businesses.bit.ly/techintruders
MOHAMED A. EL-ERIAN
Today, we live in a much more complex world, where constant
change is the only reality. As Arun Jaitley, the India’s Finance Minister, recently said, “Earlier,
global shocks used to happen once in a decade, now we hear of them
every day.”bit.ly/oilcrisisopp
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A new iron curtain in Europe, this time between liberal and illiberal democracies – is a grim prospect. Although Poland is not a regional
leader, it does wield infl uence, owing to its large and healthy
economy and its strategic role as a buff er between Russia and Western
Europe. bit.ly/polishthreateu
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Airlines operating across the Gulf slash prices.
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SourceNational Centre for Statistics & Information
EXPAT WORKERS INHOTELS AND RESTAURANTS
Oman. From Novemberto December, 2015
Total
November2015
98,767
December2015
99,711
Female+9
2,497 2,506
Male+935
96,270 97,205
0
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Lavrov expects Syria talks to go ahead amid differences
ZURICH/RIYADH: Interna-tionally-brokered talks between Syria’s government and oppo-sition groups should start this month as planned, Russian For-eign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday after talks with USSecretary of State John Kerry.
Speaking after his meeting with Kerry in the Swiss city of Zurich, Lavrov told reporters neither he nor his US counterpart had thought about seeking a post-ponement of the talks, which are scheduled to start in Geneva on January 25.
Lavrov also said that a meet-ing this month between Kremlin aide Vladislav Surkov and US As-sistant Secretary of State Victo-ria Nuland to talk about Ukraine had been an initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US leader Barack Obama.
Lavrov said contacts in this format were needed to help en-sure a long-term solution for the confl ict between Kiev’s forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, at a news confer-ence during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that the opposition delegation at the cen-tre of fi erce diplomatic dispute
should not include members of three internationally recognised “terrorist groups”.
Those were IS, Al Qaeda and the Nusra Front.
But Zarif said it was not up to Iran to decide who attended the talks.”That is for Mr de Mistura to decide who will participate and I’m sure he’ll apply those criteria,” he said.
Asked about Western demands that Assad should leave power as part of any settlement in Syria, the Iranian minister said it made no
sense to set preconditions before the talks even began.
Syria’s civil war had dragged on for nearly fi ve years because many countries were entrenched in the position that Assad must go before there could be a political process.
“You cannot determine the outcome of this political process before it starts. You do not enter a negotiating room with the out-come already decided,” Zarif said.
He repeated Tehran’s insist-ence that it was up to Syrians to
decide Assad’s fate through elec-tions after a new constitution is negotiated in peace talks.
Russia blamedFurthermore, Riad Hijab, who heads the Syrian opposition coun-cil accused Russia of impeding negotiations, and also told a news conference in Riyadh that the op-position could not negotiate while Syrians were dying from block-ades and bombardment.
He also announced the names of opposition fi gures that would
negotiate on behalf of the council in any talks.
They included Mohamed Al-loush, a political fi gure in the Jaysh Al Islamrebel group that is deemed a terrorist group by Da-mascus and Moscow.
“The opposition delegation is now ready,” George Sabra, an op-position politician also named as a negotiator, told opposition chan-nel Orient TV. Asaad Al Zoubi, another opposition fi gure, was named as the head of the negotiat-ing team. — Reuters
Negotiations are
scheduled to start in
Geneva on January
25 but there is a
dispute over which
groups will represent
the opposition
leaders of the country
RETURNING HOME: Displaced Syrians sit in a bus in Damascus as they return to their homes in the rebel stronghold of Qadam, on the
southern outskirts of the capital, on Wednesday, after a truce deal was reached between the government and opposition fi ghters. The
deal called for an end to fi ghting and the return of a total of 2,000 families, Damascus governor Bushr Al Sabban said. — AFP/STRINGER
Thousands demand jobs in Tunisia as police fi re tear gas on protestersKASSERINE (TUNISIA): Police fi red tear gas and clashed with pro-testers demanding jobs in the im-poverished Tunisian city of Kas-serine on Wednesday, as smaller demonstrations broke out in the capital and at least eight other towns, residents said.
Large crowds burned tyres and chanted “Work, freedom, dignity” during a second day of demonstra-tions that erupted in the central city after an unemployed man killed himself, apparently after he was rejected for a job.
The death and protests evoked memories of Tunisia’s 2011 “Arab Spring” uprising that broke out when a struggling young mar-ket vendor committed suicide, unleashing a wave of anger that forced longtime leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to fl ee and in-spired mass protests across the Arab world.
Police fi red clouds of tear gas af-ter protesters tried to storm a po-
lice station in Kasserine, a Reuters witness said.
Burning tyres blocked streets as police chased down groups of protesters.
“It’s been seven years of no work for me.
“We’re sick of just promises. We won’t go back to our homes until we get something concrete this
time.... We just want to live with dignity,” said Samir, 30.
Protesters had stayed out on the streets overnight, defying a curfew imposed on Tuesday.
“We don’t have a magic wand to fi x the situation in Kasserine straight away, but we are work-ing on public investments that will start soon there,” government spokesman Khaled Chaouket said.
Protests across countryResidents said young people also took to the streets in Seliana, Ta-hala, Feriana and Sbiba, El Fahs, Kairouan, and Sousse, as well as the capital Tunis, where several hundred marched on the city’s central Habib Bourguiba Avenue.
Despite a shift to democracy since the toppling of Ben Ali, many Tunisians worry more about un-employment, high living costs and the ongoing marginalisation of ru-ral towns - all factors that helped fuel the 2011 uprising. — Reuters
F R E S H C R I S I S
STREET BATTLE: Protesters throwing rocks are seen amid tear gas fi red by police in Kasserine, Tunisia on Wednesday. — Reuters
FURIOUS: An unemployed graduate shouts slogans during a dem-
onstration to demand the government provide job opportunities
near the Interior Ministry in Tunis, Tunisia on Wednesday. — Reuters
Possible ninth planet beyond Neptune, say researchers
CAPE CANAVERAL (US): The solar system may host a ninth planet that is about 10 times bigger than Earth and orbiting far beyond Neptune, according to research published on Wednesday.
Computer simulations show that the mystery planet, if it ex-ists, would orbit about 20 times farther away from the sun than Earth, said astronomers with the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
So far, the planet has not been observed directly.
“It’s a pretty substantial chunk of our solar system that’s still out there to be found, which is pretty exciting,” astronomer Mike Brown said in a statement.
The research is published in this week’s Astronomical Journal. — Reuters
S P A C E
‘Ukrainians in Poland not refugees’
WARSAW: Ukraine’s ambas-sador to Poland on Wednesday rejected the Polish prime minis-ter’s claim that her country hosts a million Ukrainian refugees, say-ing they were not refugees and could at most be called “economic migrants”.
Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party has repeatedly said it should not be forced to accept refugees from Syria and North Africa as it al-ready faces infl ux of refugees from Ukraine. Ukraine’s ambassador to Po-land, Andriy Deshchytsia, said on Wednesday that while it was pos-sible a million Ukrainians entered Poland in any given year, they were not refugees. — Reuters
W A R O F W O R D S
Iranian body rejects Rouhani-supported candidates ahead of upcoming electionsDUBAI: Supreme Leader Aya-tollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday those opposed to Iran’s religious values should not be allowed to run for parliament, signalling a rift between him and its president over the Febru-ary elections.
President Hassan Rouhani en-gineered the implementation of Iran’s nuclear accord with world powers this month, including the lifting of sanctions on Tehran, hoping to parlay that success into a majority for his supporters in parliament and the Assembly of Experts, the body that will pick the next Supreme Leader.
Almost 12,000 candidates have registered for the February 26 elections in the Islamic Republic, where the 290-seat parliament and 88-member assembly have long been dominated by mem-bers close to Khamenei.
But Iranian media reports in-dicate the Guardian Council, a vetting body made up of clerics and jurists, has disqualifi ed the majority of candidates close to Rouhani and reformists.
“The primary reports I’ve re-ceived did not make me happy at all,” Rouhani told a news confer-ence on Monday.”I will use all my power to protect the rights of candidates.”
Rouhani said he was obliged as president to hold a free and fair electione.
But in a meeting on Wednes-day with offi cials involved in or-ganising the elections, Khamenei made clear he did not agree with Rouhani on who should be able to take seats in parliament.
Not aff ected by pressure Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Guardian Council, assured Khamenei at the same meeting that its consideration of candi-dates’ qualifi cations would be done “carefully and will not be af-
fected by any pressure”.Hossein Marashi, a reform-
ist politician, told ILNA news agency 3,000 reformists had reg-istered for the election so far but only 30 had seen their candida-cies certifi ed.”On this basis only one percent of reformists were approved,” he said.
Lifting of sanctions“The Guardian Council has ru-ined the joy that arose from the lifting of sanctions,” Shahrbanoo Amani, a former reformist MP and now disqualifi ed candidate told Fars news agency.
Disqualifi ed candidates can appeal against the decision with the Guardian Council reviewing their cases within a week.
Iran’s success in winning an end to international sanctions in exchange for curbing its dis-puted nuclear programme is expected to intensify a power struggle within an elite split into conservative and moderate-re-formist factions.
T U S S L E
Iranian media reports
indicate the Guardian
Council, a vetting
body made up of
clerics and jurists,
has disqualified the
majority of candidates
close to President
Hassan Rouhani
and reformists
A14
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Serbia sets conditions for migrants
BELGRADE: Serbia will deny migrants access to its territory unless they plan to seek asylum in Austria or Germany, a government minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
The ban follows action by Aus-tria, which announced last week it would bar all migrants intending to pass through its northern neigh-bour Germany to other western European countries.
On Wednesday it said it would cap the number of people it al-lowed to claim asylum this year at less than half last year’s fi gure.
Expressing intentionLabour Minister Aleksandar Vu-lin - the Serbian government’s pointman for the migrant cri-sis - said Serbia would respond in kind.
“From today... migrants will not be able to continue their travel (through Serbia) if they have not expressed intention to seek asy-lum on the territory of Austria or Germany,” state news agency Tan-jug quoted him as saying.
In Zagreb, outgoing Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said neighbouring Croatia would also ask migrants if they intended to seek asylum in Austria or Germa-ny, state news agency Hina quoted him as saying. — Reuters
C R I S I S M E A S U R E SAustria to cap number of migrants, tighten borders
VIENNA: Austria declared on Wednesday it would cap the num-ber of people allowed to claim asy-lum this year at less than half last year’s total, and its chancellor said border controls would have to be stepped up “massively”; but how that would be done was unclear.
Hundreds of thousands of peo-ple have streamed into this coun-try of 8.5 million since Septem-ber, when it and Germany threw open their borders to a wave of
people fl eeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Crossing the countryThe vast majority of arrivals sim-ply crossed the country on their way to Germany, but a fraction have stayed.
Roughly 90,000 people, or more than 1 per cent of Austria’s popula-tion, applied for asylum last year.
Public fears about immigra-tion have fuelled support for the far right, and calls for a cap on the
number of migrants by members of the centre-right People’s Party within the coalition government have grown.
“We cannot take in all asylum seekers in Austria, or in Germany or in Sweden,” Werner Faymann, a Social Democrat who has resisted calls to cap immigration, told a joint news conference, referring to the countries that have taken in the most migrants.
The government plan an-nounced on Wednesday provides for the number of asylum claims
to be restricted to 1.5 per cent of Austria’s population, spread over the next four years.
Breaking down the four-year cap, the statement said the num-ber of asylum claims would be limited to 37,500 this year, falling annually to 25,000 in 2019.
Asked what would happen if the number of people who want-ed to apply for asylum exceeded that fi gure, Faymann said only that experts were due to examine the issue.
“We must also step up controls at our borders massively,” Fay-mann told the joint news confer-
ence with Vice Chancellor Re-inhold Mitterlehner and other offi cials, without explaining what that would involve.
The Slovenian police said lat-er on Wednesday that Slovenia planned “the same action” as Aus-tria on its southern border with Croatia if Austria, which lies north of Slovenia, took further steps to limit the infl ow of migrants.
As Germany has tightened its border controls in recent months, Austria has often followed.
Turning away peopleAustria’s interior minister said last week it would start turning away people who were no longer being let into Germany, prompting a knock-on eff ect further down the main route into Europe.
Faymann said he had discussed his government’s plans in princi-ple with German Chancellor An-gela Merkel and their Slovenian counterpart.
Merkel’s spokesman Steff en Seibert, however, declined to com-ment on the Austrian plan.
“The German government still favours a joint European solution that tackles the causes of migra-tion in order to reduce the number of refugees signifi cantly and no-ticeably,” he said. — Reuters
The government
plan announced on
Wednesday provides
for the number of
asylum claims to
be restricted to 1.5
per cent of Austria’s
population, spread
over next four years
BUILDING WALLS: Austrian Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner,
left, and Chancellor Werner Faymann address a news conference
after a meeting on limiting the number of people allowed to apply
for asylum in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday. - Reuters
Calls for a cap on the
number of migrants
by members of the
centre-right People’s
Party within the
coalition government
have grown
Kazakh leader calls for snap poll amid fi scal woesALMATY: Veteran Kazakh lead-er Nursultan Nazarbayev called a snap parliamentary election on Wednesday in an attempt to strengthen his grip on power amid mounting economic hard-ships caused by the crash in glob-al oil prices.
Nazarbayev, who has led the large, energy-rich Central Asian state since 1989, brooks little dis-sent and has no opponents in the 107-seat lower house of parlia-ment, but the president sees risks of greater public discontent as the economy slows sharply.
Unite, rebuff “Our people, as always, need to unite and rebuff , by means of law-making if needed, any potential provocations at this hard time.
And (also rebuff ) those who try to politicise and seek culprits for the situation worsening,” Naz-arbayev’s offi ce quoted him as saying in a statement.
“The most important thing in this complicated situation is for all of us to realise that we must live within our means, preserve resources and save jobs,” he said, adding that Kazakhs had to learn to live with lower commod-ity prices.
Parliament, which is domi-nated by Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party and routinely approves gov-ernment legislation, had origi-nally been expected to work until late 2016 or early 2017.
The election will now be held on March 20, according to a Twitter message posted by Naz-arbayev’s press service.
Kazakhstan has never held an
election that Western observers judged to be free and fair.
Nazarbayev himself, who is 75, was re-elected for another fi ve-year term last April.
The former Soviet republic is particularly vulnerable to ruc-tions in the energy sector, which accounted for 70 per cent of its exports before the deep slide in world crude prices.
This month the World Bank estimated Kazakh growth had slowed to 0.9 per cent in 2015 from 4.4 per cent a year earlier.
This year the bank sees just a slight acceleration to 1.1 per cent.
Currency devaluationThe former Soviet republic’s tenge currency has lost half of its value against the dollar since the authorities abandoned their pegged exchange rate policy last August.
This has hurt the incomes of ordinary Kazakhs, many of whom - as in neighbouring Russia - have come to see over the past decade their limited political freedoms as a fair trade-off for the coun-try’s relative prosperity. — Reuters
P A R L I A M E N T D I S S O LV E D
The election will now
be held on March 20,
according to a Twitter
message posted by
Nursultan Nazarbayev’s
press service
Seven die in Kabul suicide bomb blastKABUL: A suicide car bomber targeted a van carrying journal-ists working for a private Afghan television channel on Wednes-day, killing seven people during evening rush hour close to the national parliament in Kabul, of-fi cials said.
It was the latest in a series of suicide attacks in the Afghan capital that coincide with re-newed eff orts to revive a peace process with Taliban insurgents that broke down in July.
The bomber targeted a vehicle owned by a company that works with Tolo News, Afghanistan’s fi rst 24-hour news channel, Ka-bul Police Chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi told reporters.
He did not say how many of those in the van were killed or wounded.
Battle for KunduzThe Taliban openly threatened to target the television channel last year after it reported allegations of summary executions, rape, kidnappings and other abuses by its fi ghters during the battle for Kunduz.
The insurgents briefl y cap-tured the northern city last year, their biggest success in the 15-year insurgency, before being ousted by government forces.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s attack. — Reuters
J O U R N A L I S T S T A R G E T E D
A15
WORLDT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
Israel plans to grab farmland in West Bank
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Is-rael plans to appropriate a large tract of agricultural land in the oc-cupied West Bank, Israel’s Army Radio said on Wednesday, a move that has angered Palestinians and is almost certain to draw interna-tional criticism.
The report said the land, cov-ering 154 hectares (380 acres), was in the fertile Jordan Valley close to Jericho, an area where Is-rael already has many settlement farms built on land Palestinians seek for their own state.
CondemnationThe appropriation, which Army Radio said would be announced shortly but was not immediately confi rmed by the Israeli Defence Ministry which administers the occupied West Bank, comes at a time of increased international condemnation of settlement policy.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior of-fi cial in the Palestine Liberation Organisation, described Israel’s reported move as a violation of
international law. She challenged the international community to hold Israel to account.
“Israel is stealing land spe-cially in the Jordan Valley under the pretext it wants to annex it,” she told Reuters.”This should be a reason for a real and eff ective intervention by the international community to end such a fl agrant and grave aggression which kills all chances of peace.”
The report said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon had already signed off on the appropriation and that tech-nical details were being fi nalised ahead of a declaration expected soon. The Defence Ministry de-clined to comment.
The land, already partly farmed by Jewish settlers in an area under Israeli civilian and military control, is situated near the northern tip of the Dead Sea.
For years, Israel has drawn in-tense criticism for its settlement activities.
Most countries regard the pol-
icy as illegal under international law and a major obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian state. Palestinians want to form an independent state in the oc-cupied regions of West Bank and Gaza Strip, with occupied East Jerusalem as the capital.
The last talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a so-called “two-state solution” broke down in April 2014.
On Tuesday, US State Depart-ment spokesman John Kirby reiterated the United States’ op-position to Israel’s settlement building, which usually begins with land seizures.
“We remain deeply concerned about Israel’s current policy on settlements, including construc-tion, planning, and retroactive legalisations,” he said.
Hagit Ofran, a member of the anti-settlement group Peace Now, said that unlike previous Israeli governments that largely avoided land seizures, Netan-yahu has carried out several approprations. — Reuters
The land, already
partly farmed by
Jewish settlers in
an area under Israeli
civilian and military
control, is situated
near the northern
tip of the Dead Sea TARGET: A view shows Jordan Valley near the West Bank city of
Jericho on Wednesday. — Reuters
MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6B
Muscat
4,890.65 - 90.93
- 2.83%
Dubai
2,638.76- 127.21
- 4.60%
Abu Dhabi
3,767.64- 121.60
- 3.13%
Saudi Arabia
5,459.84- 286.56
- 4.90%
Kuwait
4,985.27- 98.94
- 0.37%
Bahrain
1,168.59 - 7.17
- 0.61%
Qatar
8,689.37- 297.13
- 3.31%
CURRENCY RATES* DRAFT RATES (OMR1)* GOLD PRICES*Forex rates vs OMR1*
US Dollar ................................. 2.58
Euro ............................................2.34
Pound ...........................................1.82
Indian Rs ............................. 175.44
Pak Rs .................................... 267.81
Bangla Taka.......................201.25* Rates are as of Jan. 20
Source: Bank Muscat
Indian Rs ...................................176.40
Pakistan Rs .............................272.20
Sri Lanka Rs ............................371.75
Bangla Taka........................... 203.20
Phil Peso ................................... 123.60
* Rates as of Jan. 20 Source: Oman UAE Exchange
Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......14.05
Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......13.06
Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............ 130.75
Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ............. 123.75
* Rates as of Jan. 20
Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds
Type ............................Delivery...........Price
Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$23.44
Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$22.94
Murban Crude ........ (Spot) .........$26.10
Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ......... $21.79
N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........ $27.90
West Texas Int ....... (Spot) .........$27.47
CRUDE OIL PRICE
DIGEST VIDEO
S CA N T H I S Q R CO D E TO I N STA N T LY L AU N C H T H E V I D EO
Top stories in one minute with our new daily Digest
Freezone Sohar master plan by mid-2016: CEO
A. E. [email protected]
MUSCAT: Freezone Sohar will fi nalise its master plan to develop a huge area of 4,500 hectares of land by the middle of this year, said a top-level offi cial of Fre-ezone Sohar.
“We will be fi nishing the master plan for 2040 for our area by the middle of this year, which will show what type of industries and what sort of growth we expect to see in the years to come,” said Eng. Jamal T. Aziz, chief executive offi cer of Freezone Sohar, while addressing the annual gathering of Sohar port and free zone here on Tuesday.
Freezone Sohar is preparing the major plan to take advantage of the port’s planned railway and
air connectivity to the rest of the region to become a major logis-tics hub for the region. Eng. Aziz said the free zone has attracted OMR300 million worth invest-ments so far in various sectors, which include logistics.
In the last four months, the free zone has signed agreements with four new tenants, which include a Chinese fi rm that plans to set up a manufacturing facility for prod-ucts used in oil and gas industry. “We have started to focus more on logistics, because we are well con-nected. The road to connect Saudi Arabia will be ready this year. The fi rst segment of the national rail-way will connect Sohar with other GCC states,” elaborated the chief of Freezone Sohar. The logistics fi rms coming up with in the free
zone include those supporting oil and gas and automobile sectors.
The strategic location, energy availability and a deep-water port make it a major attraction for in-vestors to set up their base in So-har. Several investments in Sohar free zone are from India, either as 100 per cent investment or as joint venture partners.
Freezone Sohar has complet-ed the fi rst phase development, which has around 500 hectares of land. The fi rst phase of the fre-ezone is more or less full and the authorities are embarking on ex-pansion of the second phase.
Eng. Aziz also noted that two ferrochrome projects – Al Tam-manIndsil Ferrochrome and Gulf Mining Materials - have com-menced operations at the free zone and are exporting fi nished products to several countries, which include China.
He also noted that the recent slump in commodity prices may not have an impact on these fi rms, since they can control their pro-duction to suit the market de-mand. Eng. Aziz also said that there is an ample potential for downstream plastic industries with the newly announced Liwa Plastics Industries project.
The plan will fi nalise
development of a
huge area of 4,500
hectares of land
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Book-building process for the Omantel sukuk via private placement is currently being done. A large number of Omani and inter-national investors have expressed strong interest in the debut sukuk is-suance of Oman’s largest telecom op-erator Oman Telecommunications.
The proposed OMR50 million issuance is the country’s fi rst mul-ti-denominated sukuk, off ered in both Omani rials and US dollars. The bankers have been holding one-on-one meetings with key in-vestors, and said that the issuance is gathering pace amongst both Omani and international investors.
“We are excited about the re-sponse that the sukuk is generat-ing in the local and regional mar-kets, and the response as expected has been very positive. We are pos-itive that this will help create a fa-vourable investment climate, and enhance liquidity in the domestic market by attracting fresh foreign capital,” said Talal bin Said Al Mamari, CEO of Omantel.
“The sukuk will help investors by providing an instrument to di-versify their portfolio. It is also important to note that the sukuk is denominated in multiple-curren-cies, both in Omani rials and US dollars,” he added.
Five years tenorEarlier, had assigned a provisional A3 (stable) rating to the sukuk. The sukuk will have a tenor of 5 years and mature in 2021. The minimum subscription amount for the sukuk is OMR100,000 or $260,000. The profi t rate on the sukuk will be set through a uniform price auction and will be fi nalised upon closing of the subscription period.
Interested investors can get further information on the sukuk from the Investment Banking Di-vision of National Bank of Oman who are acting as the issue manag-er and collecting bank. Subscrip-tion closes on January 26.
D E B U T S U K U K
Times News Service
MUSCAT: A modern waste reception and management facility for all types of hazard-ous and non-hazardous wastes will come up within Sohar free zone.
“We have already allocated land and the construction work is going to start soon,” Engineer Jamal T Aziz, chief executive offi cer of Freezone Sohar said yesterday.
Waste disposal facility to come up in Sohar
HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]
Eng. Jamal T. Aziz. – Supplied picture
Talal bin Said Al Mamari
Omantel’s sukuk gets good response
B2
MARKETT H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET
SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20
REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT .....................................10,000 ..................500........................ 1 ........... 0.050 ........... 0.050 ...........0.050........... 0.050 .............0.049 ............0.001 ............. 2.041 ................0.050..............0.046...................0.050 .................. 10,357,569 .........0.100
OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 795,430 ......... 109,539..................... 27 ............0.138 ........... 0.144 ...........0.132 ............0.138 ............. 0.137 .............0.001 ............. 0.730 ................0.132 .............. 0.125...................0.136 ................... 17,235,918 .........0.100
OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST .................................................................... 943,130 ........ 424,409......................17 ........... 0.450 ........... 0.450 ...........0.450........... 0.450 .............0.448 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.446 ................0.450 ..............0.450...................0.460 .................248,787,739 ........0.100
OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS .............................................................10,000 .............. 2,940........................5 ........... 0.294 ...........0.294 ...........0.294 .......... 0.294 .............0.294 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.294............. 0.290...................0.302 ..................14,700,000 .........0.100
OM0000001319 ............NATIONAL ALUMINIUM PRODUCTS ............. 100,000 ........... 20,925........................5 ........... 0.209 ........... 0.210 ...........0.209 .......... 0.209 .............0.209 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.209............. 0.204...................0.208 ................... 7,016,433 ..........0.100
OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ............................................................. 920 .................. 876........................ 1 ........... 0.952 ........... 0.952 ...........0.952........... 0.952 .............0.952 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.952 ............. 0.900...................0.952................. 190,400,000 .......0.100
OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ........................................... 800 ...............1,204........................3 ............1.505 ........... 1.505 ...........1.505 ........... 1.600 ............. 1.600 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.505 ..............1.500...................1.505 ..................143,520,000........0.100
OM0000002168 ............AL ANWAR CERAMIC TILES ............................... 100,000 ...........28,800........................2 ........... 0.288 ........... 0.288 ...........0.288........... 0.288 .............0.288 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.288............. 0.280...................0.288 ..................85,309,540 .........0.100
OM0000002200 ...........AHLI BANK ........................................................................2,960 .................. 533........................3 ............0.180 ........... 0.180 ...........0.180 ........... 0.184 ............. 0.184 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.180 .............. 0.166...................0.179 ................. 262,206,650 .......0.100
OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY ........................................................1,605 .................. 633........................8 ............0.412 ........... 0.412 ...........0.384........... 0.420 .............0.420 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.384............. 0.000...................0.384 ..................25,410,000 .........0.100
OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER ......................................................................60 .....................21........................ 1 ........... 0.350 ........... 0.350 ...........0.350........... 0.352 .............0.352 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.350 ............. 0.000...................0.350................... 77,795,520 .........0.100
OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 152,536............ 93,104..................... 10 ............0.612 ........... 0.612 ...........0.608............0.612 ............. 0.612............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.612 ..............0.608...................0.612 ..................398,377,869 ........0.100
OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ...............................................39,422 ...............2,760........................4 ........... 0.070 ........... 0.070 ...........0.070........... 0.070 .............0.070 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.070..............0.068...................0.073...................12,250,000 .........0.100
OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ................................................ 383,621.............71,352..................... 20 ............0.185 ........... 0.186 ...........0.185 ........... 0.186 ............. 0.186............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.186 .............. 0.186...................0.190 ..................125,529,062 ........0.100
OM0000004933 ...........AL SUWADI POWER .................................................. 344,480 ........... 64,073......................18 ............0.186 ........... 0.186 ...........0.186 ........... 0.186 ............. 0.186............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.186 .............. 0.186...................0.190 ..................132,879,579 ........0.100
OM0000004669 ...........SHARQIYAH DESALINATION ................................ 30,166 .......... 140,883......................14 ........... 4.690 ...........4.690 ...........4.650........... 4.670 .............4.690 ...........-0.020 ........... -0.426 ...............4.670............. 4.400...................4.690 ..................45,673,609 .........1.000
OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS .................................................. 11,039 ................3,741........................9 ........... 0.340 ...........0.344 ...........0.334........... 0.338 .............0.340 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.588 ...............0.334..............0.334...................0.340 .................. 17,745,000 .........0.100
OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH ................................................ 19,820 ............ 46,628........................7 ............2.375 ........... 2.375 ...........2.320 .......... 2.355 .............2.375 ...........-0.020 ........... -0.842 ...............2.320 ............ 2.320...................2.375 ..................224,801,694 .......1.000
OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ......................... 671,000 ........... 53,250......................19 ........... 0.080 ...........0.080 ...........0.075 ........... 0.079 ............. 0.081............-0.002 ........... -2.469 ...............0.075 ..............0.075...................0.078.................... 4,648,614 ..........0.100
OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION .........................415,111 .......... 584,134..................... 55 ............1.450 ........... 1.450 ...........1.400 ............1.405 ............. 1.450............-0.045 ........... -3.103................1.400 ..............1.390...................1.400 ................ 1,053,750,000 ......0.100
OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 273,900 ............14,666..................... 35 ........... 0.056 ........... 0.056 ...........0.051 ........... 0.054 .............0.056 ...........-0.002 ............-3.571 ................0.051 ..............0.050...................0.051 ................... 15,658,954 .........0.100
OM0000002374............UNITED FINANCE ...................................................... 20,000 ...............2,210........................2 ............0.111 ............0.111 ............0.110 ............0.110 ............. 0.115 ............-0.005 ........... -4.348 ...............0.110 ..............0.108................... 0.113 ...................34,184,144 .........0.100
OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 1,567,532.......252,573..................... 82 ............0.166 ........... 0.166 ...........0.160 ............0.161 ............. 0.170............-0.009 ........... -5.294 ...............0.160 .............. 0.159...................0.160 .................. 32,200,000 ........0.100
OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 799,294 ............97,987..................... 23 ............0.125 ........... 0.125 ...........0.120 ............0.123 ............. 0.130............-0.007 ........... -5.385 ...............0.120 .............. 0.118...................0.120 .................. 177,297,120 ........0.100
OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 2,544,560 .....969,467...................109 ........... 0.390 ...........0.390 ...........0.378 ........... 0.380 .............0.404 ...........-0.024 ........... -5.941................0.388 ..............0.376...................0.384 .................870,892,587 .......0.100
OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 1,786,510 ....... 251,830..................... 58 ............0.144 ........... 0.144 ...........0.138 ............0.141 ............. 0.150............-0.009 ........... -6.000 ...............0.139 .............. 0.138...................0.139 ................... 21,160,575 .........0.100
OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 997,978...........161,170..................... 36 ............0.176 ........... 0.176 ...........0.159 ............0.161 ............. 0.176 ............-0.015 ........... -8.523 ...............0.159 ............. 0.000................... 0.161 ...................16,100,000 .........0.100
OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES ...............................................8,174 ...............1,880........................6 ........... 0.230 ...........0.230 ...........0.230........... 0.230 .............0.252 ...........-0.022 ........... -8.730 ...............0.230............. 0.000...................0.230 ..................14,076,983 .........0.100
OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 725,662 ........... 79,826......................16 ............0.110 ............0.111 ............0.110 ............0.110 ............. 0.122 ...........-0.012 ........... -9.836 ...............0.110 .............. 0.110................... 0.114 ................... 31,971,612 .........0.100
OM0000003125 ............GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ................ 194,951 .............19,500......................11 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.101............0.100 ........... 0.100 ............. 0.111 ............ -0.011 ........... -9.910................0.100 ............. 0.000...................0.100.................. 20,000,000 ........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 12,950,661 ........3,501,412 ............607 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ......30........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000002911 ............THE FINANCIAL CORPORATION ..............................560 .....................63........................ 1 ............0.112 ........... 0.112............ 0.112 ............0.113 ............. 0.113 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.112 ............. 0.000................... 0.112 .................... 7,913,385 ..........0.100
OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 1,091,440 ...... 140,889..................... 68 ............0.130 ........... 0.130 ...........0.127 ........... 0.129 ............. 0.131 ............-0.002 ............-1.527................0.127 .............. 0.127...................0.128 ..................188,675,588 ........0.100
OM0000002580 ...........OMAN EDU. & TRIN. INV. HOLDING....................10,000 ............... 1,550........................ 1 ............0.155 ........... 0.155 ...........0.155 ............0.155 ............. 0.160 ...........-0.005 ............-3.125................0.155 ..............0.144...................0.157 ...................10,850,000 .........0.100
OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. .................... 22,114 ...................619........................3 ........... 0.028 ........... 0.028 ...........0.028........... 0.028 .............0.029 ...........-0.001 ........... -3.448 ...............0.028..............0.028...................0.029 ...................2,380,000 ..........0.100
OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES ...................................................... 68,400 ............... 3,172......................13 ........... 0.047 ...........0.048 ...........0.046........... 0.046 .............0.048 ...........-0.002 ........... -4.167 ...............0.046..............0.045...................0.046 ................... 5,750,000 ..........0.100
OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 1,240,156 ........ 76,092..................... 66 ........... 0.065 ........... 0.065 ...........0.060........... 0.061 .............0.066 ...........-0.005 ............-7.576 ................0.062.............. 0.061...................0.062 ..................91,500,000 .........0.100
OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 477,000 ............27,189..................... 24 ........... 0.057 ........... 0.057 ...........0.057 ........... 0.057 .............0.063 ...........-0.006 ........... -9.524 ...............0.057 ............. 0.000...................0.057...................57,000,000 .........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 2,909,670......249,573................... 176 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 7........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
BONDS AND SUKUK MARKET ...................................................................................................................................................................... OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 .......................................... 60,000 ...............6,240........................ 1 ............0.104 ........... 0.104 ...........0.104 ........... 0.104 ............. 0.101 ............ 0.003 ............. 2.970 ................0.104 ..............0.104...................0.200 ..................33,242,838 .........0.100
OM0000004628 ...........BANK SOHAR BONDS 4.5 ............................................... 540 .....................53........................2 ........... 0.095 ........... 0.100 ...........0.095 ........... 0.109 ............. 0.109 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.100 ..............0.095................... 0.110 .................... 7,793,500 ..........0.100
OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ................... 123,309 .............11,714........................2 ........... 0.095 ........... 0.095 ...........0.095 ........... 0.095 .............0.095 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.095 ..............0.095...................0.099................... 30,795,353 .........0.100
.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 183,849 ............18,007........................5 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 3........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
ISIN ......................................SECURITY NAME .................................................................. VOLUME ..... TURNOVER ............TRADES ......OPEN PRICE ......HIGH ............. LOW ........ CLOSE PR. ...PREV. CLOSE...DIFF (RO).........DIFF % ............. LAST PR .....LAST BID .............LAST OFFER ........MARKET CAP .PAR VALUE
O M A N S T O C K S
INDICESIndex .................................................High .................Low ..................... Value ............... Prev . Value.......... Diff ...............Diff %MSM30 Index ....................................... 4,980.27 .............. 4,889.36 ................... 4,890.65 ...................4,981.58 ................-90.93 .................. -1.83Financial Index .....................................5,927.00 ...............5,784.56 ................... 5,784.56 ....................5,947.15 ..............-162.59 .................. -2.73Industrial Index ....................................6,489.55 ...............6,473.89 ................... 6,473.89 ...................6,488.37 ................-14.48 .................. -0.22Services Index ...................................... 2,845.14 ...............2,810.45 .................... 2,811.13 ...................2,848.33 ................-37.20 ...................-1.31MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................814.09 ..................803.10 ...................... 803.28 ...................... 814.09 ................ -10.81 .................. -1.33
Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded16,044,180 ..................3,768,993 .....................788 ................15,165,329,742 .................. 4 ......................21 .................... 15 .........................40
MSM in red zone again
MUSCAT: After Tuesday’s re-bound, renewed weakness in crude prices and geopolitical factors pressured markets on Wednesday. The MSM30 In-dex shed 1.83 per cent to close at 4,890.65 points. The MSM Sha-ria index ended at 803.28 points, down by 1.33 per cent.
Bank Muscat was the most ac-tive in terms of volume as well as turnover. Al Madina Investment, which was up by 2.04 per cent, was the top gainer while the top loser was Global Financial In-vestment, down by 9.91 per cent.
As many as 788 trades were ex-ecuted on Wednesday, generating a turnover of OMR3.77 million with 16 million shares changing hands. Out of 40 traded securi-ties, four advanced, 21 declined and 15 remained unchanged. Omani investors were net buy-ers for OMR232,000 while foreign investors were net sell-ers for OMR126,000 followed by GCC and Arab investors for OMR106,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index declined heav-ily by 2.73 per cent to close at 5,784.56 points. Al Madina In-vestments and Ominvest gained 2.04 per cent and 0.45 per cent, respectively. Global Financial Investment, Al Izz Bank, Oman United Insurance, Bank Nizwa and Al Anwar Holding declined by 9.91 per cent, 9.52 per cent, 8.52 per cent, 7.58 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index ended the ses-sion at 6,473.89 points, down 0.22 per cent. Al Jazeera Steel, up by 0.73 per cent, was the only gainer. Oman Fisheries, Galfar Engi-neering, Construction Materials and Al Maha Ceramics declined by 4.17 per cent, 3.57 per cent, 3.45 per cent and 0.59 per cent, respectively.
Services Index closed at 2,811.13 points, down 1.31 per cent. Renaissance Services, Al Jazeera Services, OIFC, Oman
Education & Training and Om-antel fell by 9.84 per cent, 8.73 per cent, 5.29 per cent, 3.13 per cent and 3.10 per cent, respectively.
Saudi stocks plunge Saudi Arabian stocks joined a re-treat among Middle East equity markets as Brent crude dropped below $28 per barrel for the sec-ond day this week.
The Tadawul All Share In-dex fell 5 per cent to fi nish at the lowest since March 2011, as Saudi authorities were said to have ordered local banks to stop off ering options contracts that allow speculators to take bets on a devaluation of the ri-yal. Dubai’s DFM General Index tumbled 4.6 per cent to the weak-est close since September 2013. The Bloomberg GCC 200 Index, which tracks the region’s largest companies, ended at the lowest in almost fi ve years.
“Fear’s in the air,” said Ahmed Shehada, the Dubai-based execu-tive director for advisory and in-stitutions at NBAD Securities, the brokerage arm of one of the United Arab Emirates’ biggest bank. “Any chance of a recovery has been quickly clouded by oil dropping again and by the global selloff .”
The declines came as emerg-ing-market equities slid Wednes-day to the lowest level since 2009 as Chinese shares in Hong Kong slumped amid heightened con-cern that global economic growth is faltering. Volatility among stocks of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council is climbing as investors weigh the impact of oil prices at the lowest in 12 years against some of the cheapest share valuations since 2011.
Brent crude, a benchmark for half the world’s oil, fell 2.8 per cent to $27.96 per barrel heading for the lowest close since Novem-ber 2003. Saudi Arabia next week plans to raise 20 billion riyals ($5.3b). - United Securities/Bloomberg News
Al Madina Investment, up by 2.04%, was the
top gainer, while the top loser was Global
Financial Investment, down by 9.91%
UAE’s RakBank to cut expatriate staff DUBAI: National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RakBank) said expatri-ate staff will account for as many as 250 job losses that the United Arab Emirates lender plans as it adjusts to slowing growth.
Headcount had grown by about 600 in the past three years, “on the back of a signifi cant in-crease in new business volume, which has now settled at more sustainable levels,” chief execu-tive offi cer Peter England said in a statement to Abu Dhabi’s stock market on Wednesday.
Banks in the UAE are prepared for deteriorating conditions as oil prices remain lower for longer, leading to a decline in govern-
ment spending, slower economic growth and falling asset quality, Standard & Poor’s said on Janu-ary 11. Loan-loss provisions at Abu Dhabi-based Union National Bank jumped 57 per cent in the third quarter and United Arab Bank PJSC swung to a loss from a year-earlier profi t in the period.
RakBank, as the Ras Al Khaim-ah-based lender is known, said there’s no change to its business strategy. It recently re-entered wholesale banking and “has been signifi cantly increasing its prod-uct off erings and headcount in this segment, which is set to con-tinue throughout 2016.” - Bloomberg News
A U S T E R I T Y M E A S U R E
Rupee plunges toits 28-month lowMUMBAI: Hit by global growth concerns, the Indian rupee on Wednesday crashed below the 68-level after 28 months and closed 23 paise down at 67.95 on fresh demand for the United States currency from importers amid a massive fall in domestic stock markets.
A forex dealer said that persis-tent foreign capital outfl ows also aff ected the market sentiment. The domestic unit resumed low-er at 67.77 per dollar as against Tuesday’s closing level of 67.65 at the interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
Later, it depreciated further to cross 68-level after 28 months
at 68.17 per dollar before end-ing at 67.95, showing a loss of 30 paise or 0.44 per cent. It had last touched 68.62 a dollar on Sep-tember 4, 2013. The domestic unit hovered in a range of 67.77 and 68.17 during the day.
The dollar index was down by 0.15 per cent against a bas-ket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade. Overseas, the US dollar traded mostly higher against its main rivals in early Asian trade, but retreated against Japanese yen as crude oil prices descended to near 13-year lows, hitting risk asset markets and putting safe-haven currencies back in favour. - PTI
F O R E I G N C U R R E N C Y
B3T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
MARKET
Sohar Port handled 1m tonnes of cargo a week in 2015Times News Service
MUSCAT: Total cargo volume at Sohar Port and Freezone touched 50 million tonnes in 2015, a rise of 12 per cent compared to 2014 — an impressive average of almost one million tonnes a week.
Following the fi rst full year of additional traffi c from Port Sultan Qaboos, container traffi c was up by
a massive 62 per cent from 2014. Break bulk also grew at Sohar Port, with a rise of 46 per cent from 2014, to over 1.9 million tonnes. RoRo fi gures saw one of the big-gest increases and were up by more than 90 per cent, with over 230,000 vehicles handled in 2015.
Sultan Al Habsi, chairman of So-har Port and Freezone, as well as Sohar CEOs Andre Toet and Jamal
Aziz, attended Sohar business event.
Gateway to Gulf “An average cargo throughput of close to a million tonnes a week in 2015 is testament to the success of our operations at Sohar. Our rapid growth further strengthens our po-sition as the new gateway to the Gulf region and our continued develop-ment as a very signifi cant regional
logistics hub,” said Andre Toet. In 2015, Sohar added a number
of new direct lines to its already impressive roster, announcing the addition of global players Hanjin, Evergreen and Simatech, adding more direct links to the Far East which in turn will sink costs all the way along the supply chain.
“As the port grows so does our Freezone and we are seeing more
and more companies coming in to leverage our excellent logistics in-frastructure. Not just the proxim-ity of a world-class port, but also new and uncongested highways to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, a new cargo airport, and this year work will start on our fi rst rail connec-tion from Sohar to the Emirates border at Buraimi,” Jamal Aziz, CEO of Sohar Freezone, said.
P E R F O R M A N C E
Omani exporters to get support from Kuwait
ELHAM POURMOHAMMADI [email protected]
MUSCAT: Various incentives will be off ered to Omani produc-ers who are willing to export their products to Kuwait through Ku-wait’s Union of Consumer Coop-erative Societies (UCCS), said an Omani offi cial.
The potential for cooperation between Omani companies and UCCS was discussed during a business-to-business meeting organised by the Public Estab-lishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) at Grand Hyatt Hotel on Wednesday.
The fi rst-of-its-kind event was attended by Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, chief executive offi cer of the PEIE, Omani industrialists and a high-profi le delegation from UCCS. It explored the prospects of signing deals to supply Omani products to the Consumer Coop-erative Societies in Kuwait.
Al Hasani said that the meet-ing was organised as part of the PEIE’s initiatives to support local companies and help them pro-mote and sell their products lo-cally and internationally. Around 50 per cent of Omani products are exported to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market, so en-hancing trade with Kuwait is im-portant, he noted.
Supply of products Speaking to Times of Oman, Eng. Basim bin Ali Al Nassri, director general of marketing and media at the PEIE, said that UCCS is inter-ested in supplying Omani products
to Kuwait’s market through the union and off ers a number of in-centives to Omani companies. The union has proposed that the Oma-ni products be supplied to Kuwait under the name of UCCS and with their special packaging, he said, adding that the name and logo of the Omani manufacturer will also be printed on the packaging.
It will be regarded as an Omani product in Kuwait and it would be
mentioned that it has been made in the Sultanate, Al Nassri said.
Several benefi tsAccording to him, cooperation with UCCS will benefi t Omani producers in several ways as they will not have to pay the shelf rate or registration in the union and also they will not have to repay for the sale of their products later from the profi t that they will make.
There is a possibility for the direct export of Omani products to Kuwait but then they have to enter a competition in the market, the offi cial explained.
Potential products Asked about the potential prod-ucts that can be supplied to Ku-wait through UCCS, Al Nassri noted that they include tea, ketch-up, mayonnaise, hygiene-related products and pharmaceutical products among others.
He said that in general, Oman is currently exporting many prod-ucts to Kuwait such as vegetable oil, dairy products, chicken and other meat supplies as well as some petrochemical products. The director general of marketing and media at the PEIE added that more than 120 Omani companies, including around 20 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), par-ticipated in the business to busi-ness meeting.
Opex 2016 Commenting on the next Omani Products Exhibition (Opex), Al Nassri said that it will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from April 11 to 14. So far over 60 companies have registered to take part in the event and the target is to take around 100 to 120 companies to the African country, he added.
Various sectors and products will be represented in the exhibi-tion, including building material, pharmaceutical products, food-stuff , metal and plastic.
Union’s objectives According to the PEIE, Saad Mubarak Al Shabo, chairperson of UCCS, said that the union per-forms several duties such as repre-senting all members before offi cial and non-offi cial local, Arab and in-ternational agencies, raising con-sumer cooperative awareness in Kuwait, harmonising the work of all of its members and performing local and external purchases.
It is also endeavouring to reduce costs and improve the service lev-el, control price rises of consumer commodities, protect consumers, unify prices in all cooperative so-cieties and fund the construction of productive units. Al Shabo ex-pressed hope that trade relations between the Sultanate and Kuwait would be enhanced.
Omani producers,
who are willing to
export their products
to Kuwait, have been
off ered incentives
through Kuwait’s
Union of Consumer
Cooperative Societies
Shell’s profi t dips on sluggish oil
LONDON: Royal Dutch Shell, which is buying BG Group in the industry’s largest deal in a decade, expects fourth-quarter profi t to drop at least 42 per cent after the rout in crude prices deepened.
Profi t adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes probably shrank to $1.6 bil-lion to $1.9 billion, Shell said on Wednesday in a preliminary earnings statement. That com-pares with the $1.8 billion aver-age estimate of nine analysts sur-
veyed, and profi t of $3.3 billion a year earlier. BG also published a provisional results statement that showed its 2015 oil and nat-ural-gas production will probably beat forecasts.
Crude’s collapse below $30 a barrel has driven down Shell’s market value to the lowest in al-most seven years and prompted concern it may be overpaying for BG’s production and cash fl ow. Shell has prepared for a pro-longed market fall. - Bloomberg News
F O U R T H Q U A R T E R
Oil extends fall as US supplies riseHONG KONG: Oil extended its de-cline from the lowest close in more than 12 years before weekly United States government data forecast to show crude stockpiles expanded, exacerbating a global glut.
Futures lost as much as 3.2 per cent in New York after falling 3.3 per cent on Tuesday to the lowest since September 2003. Invento-ries probably increased by 2.75 million barrels last week, accord-ing to a survey before a report from the Energy Information Admin-istration on Thursday. Markets could “drown in oversupply,” send-ing prices even lower as demand growth slows and Iran boosts exports, according to the Interna-tional Energy Agency (IEA).
“The outlook for the oil market is pretty negative at the moment,” Angus Nicholson, an analyst at IG Ltd. in Melbourne, said by phone. “Iran is adding to the concerns. Once the market does get a gauge on Iran’s potential, there will prob-ably be less uncertainty aff ecting the market.”
Crude is down 25 per cent this year amid volatility in Chinese markets and speculation the re-moval of restrictions that capped Iran’s oil sales will help to prolong a worldwide oversupply. Bank of America said on Tuesday it set aside $500 million to cover poten-tial losses as its energy borrowers struggle to stay afl oat with crude below $30 a barrel.
West Texas Intermediate for February delivery, which expires Wednesday, fell as much as 91 cents to $27.55 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $27.65. Monday’s transac-tions were booked with Tuesday’s
because of the Martin Luther King Jr holiday. The more-active March future slid 78 cents to $28.79.
Oil suppliesBrent for March settlement lost as much as 63 cents, or 2.2 per cent, to $28.13 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe ex-change. The contract rose 21 cents to $28.76 on Tuesday.
The European benchmark crude traded at a discount of 56 cents to WTI for March.
US crude stockpiles were about 100 million barrels above the fi ve-year seasonal average at the end of 2015, according to EIA data. Sup-plies at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for WTI and the big-gest US oil-storage hub, increased for a tenth week through January 8 to a record 64 million barrels.
The IEA trimmed 2016 esti-mates for global oil demand as Chi-na’s economic expansion weakens and raised forecasts for supplies outside of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec). While non-Opec supply is set to drop 600,000 barrels a day in 2016, Iran’s comeback could fi ll that gap by the middle of the year. As a result, world markets may be left with a surplus of 1.5 million barrels a day. - Bloomberg News
C R U D E O I L M A R K E T
Andre Toet. – Supplied picture
PROMOTING LOCAL PRODUCTS: The Kuwaiti union has proposed
that Omani products be supplied to Kuwait under the name of
UCCS and with their special packaging. - SHABIN E./Times of Oman
ELHAM POURMOHAMMADI [email protected]
MUSCAT: Oman’s Public Establishment for Indus-trial Estate (PEIE) aims to develop the three newly introduced industrial estates in around fi ve years, accord-ing to a senior offi cial.
It was recently announced that Oman plans to build three new industrial estates in Thumrait, Al Mudhaibi and Shinas, in a move to diversify the country’s economy and create employ-ment opportunities for young Omanis. Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, chief executive offi cer of the PEIE, told Times of Oman
that the decision was made as the occupancy of other industrial estates is increas-ing and there is a need for new estates.
The development of these new estates falls within the Ninth Five-Year Plan and the land plots are available, he said on the sidelines of an Oman-Kuwait meet held at Grand Hyatt Hotel on Wednesday.
Asked if all the three es-tates will be developed in fi ve years, Al Hasani said, “That is what we are aiming for.” The demand is going up, the offi cial said, adding that the new estates will be dedicated to certain sectors which will be announced later.
Three new industrial estates to be developed in fi ve years
B4
FEATURET H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
Saudi Arabia and Russia are on opposing sides in the Syr-ian war, and fi erce competi-
tors in the global oil market. Both suff er from an overreliance on oil for fi scal revenue and a lack of in-terest in political and economic change. Now, the governments of both countries have come up with similar ideas for boosting their lagging economies.
Saudi Aramco, the government-owned oil company that claims to produce “roughly one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil sup-ply,” has announced that it would seek to go public, either by list-ing its own shares on the stock exchange or by selling stock in a “bundle of its downstream subsid-iaries.” Russia, for its part, is con-sidering the privatisation of 19.5 per cent of Rosneft, the country’s biggest oil company that is now 69.5 percent state-owned.
It’s clear why offi cials in both oil countries have turned to pri-vatisation. Last year, Saudi Arabia overshot its spending target by 13 per cent and revenue came in 15 per cent lower than planned. It paid for the defi cit by dipping into its international reserves, which declined 13 per cent. Rus-sia has hung on to a bigger share of its reserves — they only dropped by about 5 per cent in 2015 — but was only able to do so by means of a steep devaluation, which the Saudis avoided. Russia’s budget defi cit approached 3 per cent of gross domestic product by the end of the year.
Since both countries may have missed the chance to make their economies less oil-dependent while oil prices were high (oil rent accounts for 43.6 per cent of Saudi GDP and 13.7 per cent of Russia’s economic output, according to the
World Bank), asset sell-off s could be the most readily available re-sponse. I doubt, however, that Russia will sell the Rosneft stake this year. And if Saudi Arabia does take Saudi Aramco public, the kingdom’s rulers and potential investors should remember Ros-neft’s history.
Russia fi rst sold off part of the oil giant in July 2006, in a ‘peo-ple’s IPO’: The public was invited to subscribe for shares. About 150,000 Russians did, at $7.55 per share. Until the middle of 2008, investors were ahead. Then the global fi nancial crisis erupted, and their luck ran out. Rosneft shares topped the IPO price for brief pe-riods, but never rose above $9.44.
The oil collapse of 2014 did them in. Rosneft now trades at $3.16 per share, and its market capitaliza-tion, $33.4 billion, is about one-ninth of Exxon Mobil’s, though its
revenue is about one-third of the United States company’s.
Investors view Rosneft’s for-tunes as tied to those of Putin and his regime, which is known for using big state companies as po-litical tools and milking them for money for side projects that can’t be fi nanced from the government budget. These companies oper-ate more like corruption-ridden slush funds than like businesses. No wonder the markets don’t see Rosneft as a particularly safe in-vestment. The stock price of Sau-di Aramco, too, may suff er from the perception that the company is too close to an unpredictable government. Saudi Arabia is fi ght-ing a war in Yemen, it’s involved in Syria and tensions are rising with its main regional rival, Iran. Investors might have trouble pric-ing in these conditions.
The Saudi equity market has
deeper problems than the Russian one, though. Foreign investors have only limited access to it since June 2015 — and these only are big institutional investors. The Saudi government wanted their help in reducing volatility. Even if Saudi Aramco is listed outside of Saudi Arabia, it would be weighed down by the government’s iron grip on its management.
Buying stock in such companies essentially means placing bets on the revival of the oil market, which both Rosneft and Saudi Aramco keep fl ooding with crude because their governments need the revenue regardless of global prices. It also means betting on the geopolitical success of Pu-tin and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman of Saudi Arabia. That is a proposition even insiders might fi nd scary in 2016. - Bloomberg View
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil fi rm, has said it
would seek to go for initial public off ering. Russia,
for its part, is considering the privatisation of 19.5%
of Rosneft, the country’s biggest oil company that is
now 69.5% state-owned
RUSSIA, SAUDI BET ON SLIPPERY PATH
B5T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
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Proton cars off er absolute comfort, driving pleasure
MUSCAT: With the Roaring Ti-ger as its emblem, Proton cars con-tinue to ride tall on the sleek high-ways of Oman.
Proton cars refl ect the quality standards of Lotus — a class-lead-ing manufacturer of sports cars and a globally respected automotive en-gineering consultancy — enriching the Proton ownership experience is the caring support of Al Hashar. To-day Proton is the vehicle of choice for Omani customers who value its sturdy performance, comfort and safety, says a press release.
The global cars from Malaysia are truly an exceptional piece of machinery. Just hear the engine to feel the exhilaration. Feel the door to see the body strength. Proton cars are renowned for off ering val-ue for money without compromis-ing on quality.
Proton off ers two world-class models in Oman — Persona a fam-ily saloon car equipped with a 1.6 L CamPro Engine. Tuned with Lotus Ride and Handling for Grip Stabil-ity Response, a technology no oth-er car can boast of in its category. All because Proton believes that their customers deserve better.
The new generation Gen-2 is a
semi hatchback car. Sporty aerody-namic design equipped with a pow-erful 1.6 L Campro Engine. Match-ing the personality and demands of the youth of today. Sporty steer-ing wheel and seats, a classy dash-board, power options, dual airbags, CD player and other safety features are part of standard accessory.
Established in 1983, Proton is one of Malaysia’s largest manufac-turers of automobiles producing cars to suit a range of consumer demands and preferences in the Middle East, across South-East Asia and Australasia, UK and Western Europe. The off erings include versatile and reliable four-
door family vehicles, two-door hatchbacks, luxurious and stylish executive sedans, as well as the world-renowned sports cars from Lotus. Proton believes in building cars with passion; cars that are a delight to drive and a pleasure to own. Every Proton car in Oman is backed by the complete service network of Al Hashar — one of Oman’s premier trading compa-nies with experience of over 40 years in the auto industry. “Don’t hesitate! Have the drive of your life in a brand new, feature-packed Proton. After all, a successful per-son deserves a befi tting statement — Proton,” said a spokesman.
Today Proton is the
vehicle of choice for
Omani customers
who value its sturdy
performance, comfort
and safety
Khimji’s Watches brings Golf GameBook to Muscat Hills Country Club
MUSCAT: Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club, the fi rst grass golf course in Oman, brings another fi rst to the Oman golf community thanks to the foresight of Khimji’s Watches, main sponsor and life-style partner, and Omantel, offi cial data partner.
Golf GameBook is a digital scorecard, an online golf com-munity and the world’s leading live-scoring golf technology for golf clubs; all delivered through its award winning application, says a press release.
For over 150 years golf clubs and golfers have used paper scorecards and pencils to record rounds of golf. Golf GameBook is revolu-tionising golf administration and player enjoyment in the region, while helping the environment by cutting down on the amount of pa-per used by golf clubs.
Onside Sports, the offi cial rep-resentative of Golf GameBook in the GCC, has created a package for golf clubs, which will enable the clubs to provide a hole-by-hole live scoring environment for all of their events, whether members competitions, open tournaments,
corporate golf days or golf socie-ties. Hole-by-hole live scoring will enable golfers to see exactly where they are in the competi-tion after every hole played, which completely alters the dynamic of competitive golf, as well as im-proves the overall experience for the golfer.
Aside from improving the on
course experience for golfers, Golf GameBook’s in-built social media platform enables golfers to stay connected with their golfi ng friends wherever they are in the world. By downloading the Golf GameBook App from the App Store, creating an account and becoming a Golf GameBook User, golfers can now connect with their golfi ng friends
and communicate with them in real time while on the golf course; through messages, photos and vid-eo content. Whether a social round or a competitive round, Golf Game-Book provides every golfer with an audience and also connects directly to main-stream social media chan-nels including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Nailesh Khimji, director, Khimji Ramdas, said: “We’re truly delight-ed to be the main sponsor and life-style partner of Golf GameBook live-scoring technology at Muscat Hills Golf & Country Club. Khim-ji’s Watches has always embraced the use of technology, which shows in some of world’s best brands we represent, such as Rolex, Cartier and Chopard to name but a few. These brands are in consonance with the elite game of golf and therefore our becoming a lifestyle partner was a perfect fi t.
Ray Stopforth, director of Golf at Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club, commented: “When intro-duced to Golf GameBook, it be-came apparent that the product represents the future of golf club operations and player experience, therefore a necessity for our club. Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club are proud to deliver fi rsts – we were the fi rst grass golf course in Oman and the fi rst fully inte-grated residential golf community, and through the introduction of Golf GameBook we have secured another, innovative fi rst, one we intend to embrace and build on.
Todd Dick, vice president Cor-porate Business Unit of Omantel stated: “Omantel, as a leader in digital technology, quickly recog-nised the value that Golf Game-Book brings to the game of golf and how it creates and connects communities through various on-line channels and mediums. We are very excited to be partnering with Golf GameBook as the offi cial data partner to enhance the Oman golf community’s enjoyment of the game of golf.
Julian Danby, partner of Onside Sports commented: “Golf Game-Book is re-writing the future of golf entertainment for regular golfers. The philosophy of the team in Finland is to continue to make golf more enjoyable and this what drives their development process. This product is the fu-ture for clubs, but also for brands as GameBook provides a platform to directly reach out to golfers to impact positively on their round of golf whilst they’re playing. We’re very excited to be working with them as well as our partners in Oman to enhance the lives of our fellow golfers.”
L I V E - S C O R I N G T E C H N O L O G Y
ahlibank celebrates 8 successful years
MUSCAT: To commemorate ahli-bank’s completion of eight years of successful operation in Oman, an annual gathering was held for em-ployees and their families. The day was celebrated with much festiv-ity and fun activities at the Millen-nium Resort in Musannah.
The annual staff gathering in-cluded team building activities, stage shows, activities for children and giveaways, a photo-booth and
sports activities. The highlight of the day however, was the raffl e draws where employees won ex-citing gifts, says a press release.
Lloyd Maddock, CEO, ahlibank, commented: “The success of ahli-bank has always been rooted in our service to society at large. As we celebrate and refl ect on the past eight years, our success has a cor-relation to the success of our cus-tomers. Whether it’s purchasing a
new home, sending kids to college or helping local businesses and community organisations, we are privileged to have played a part in them all. My colleagues deserve special mention, for their inspired team spirit, which is fundamental to the continuous progress and de-velopment of the bank.”
He continued: “In celebrating our 8th year of operation, we look to the future of ahlibank with even greater
optimism. The bank will continue to align its future plans with nation-al goals and while seeking to avail of the opportunities presented.”
ahlibank has always been an or-ganisation which banks on its em-ployees’ satisfaction and believes that events that bring employees and their families together out-side the work environment go a long way in fostering team spirit and cooperation.
A N N U A L G A T H E R I N G
ISD organises 23rd
annual athletics meet
MUSCAT: The 23rd Annual Ath-letics Meet of Indian School Dar-sait was held at the outer stadium of Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bausher recently.
The chief guest Abdul Rahim Kasim, president, SMC declared the meet open in the presence of guest of honour Murad Ali You-suf Al Houti, representative of Wilayat Muttrah, Dr Sridevi P. Thashnath, principal, members of SMC, vice principals, staff , a huge gathering of parents, stu-dents and well wishers, says a press release.
The chief guest received the guard of honour from the march past contingents belonging to four houses namely, Vivekanan-da, Bapu, C.V Raman and Tagore and their agility of movement, timing and coordination mes-merised the spectators. It was followed by mass drill formations by the students of Classes IV and V and VI and VII and yoga dem-
onstration by students of Classes VII and VIII.
The highlights of the day were the scintillating inter-house fi nals of the track events. The budding athletes put up a breathtaking show which gave the audience moments of great joy and cheer. The winners were honoured with medals and certifi cates by the chief guest, guest of honour and other dignitaries. While Vive-kananda House won the Champi-onship trophy, Bapu House lifted the Runners-up trophy. Moreo-ver, the coveted trophy for march past was lifted by Tagore House whereas Bapu House grabbed the second slot. Earlier Priya Kumari, head girl, extended a cordial wel-come to everyone and later Ab-hishek George, deputy head boy, proposed the vote of thanks to one and all for making the meet a great success. The support and partici-pation of the parents also helped the event to be a memorable one.
S P O R T S D A Y
Mega winning opportunities at Panasonic showrooms
MUSCAT: Omasco along with Panasonic Marketing Middle East and Africa (PMMAF) has launched ‘Be Amazed’ promotion with mega winning opportunities at the all Omasco Panasonic showrooms.
Customers who shop for OMR30 and above during promotion are eli-gible to participate in a raffl e draw to win a mega prize of a trip for two to Kyoto, Japan, for three nights and four days. ‘Be Amazed’ pro-
motion also off ers each and every customer anamazing opportunity to win Panasonic products and souvenirs through scratch and win coupons, says a press release.
The ‘Be Amazed’ campaign will run till March 2 across all Omasco Panasonic showrooms in Qurum, Ruwi, Sohar, Sur, Salalah and Ni-zwa. The promotion off er is avail-able at all Panasonic shop-in shops at Jalan, Ibri, Ibra and Amerat.
“We constantly aim to provide delightful shopping experiences to our loyal customers and this time around we have a mega prize for one lucky winner - a trip for two to the historical city of Kyoto, Japan. ‘Be Amazed’ campaign is an exten-sion of the bond we share with our customers as each purchase enti-tles a prize. An exciting experience awaits all at our exclusive brand showroom,” said Anthony Peter, di-
rector Corporate Communications & Operations Division, PMMAF.
“We believe in providing innova-tive and high performance prod-ucts to be the No. 1 preferred brand for consumer electronics in Oman. Panasonic ‘Be Amazed’ off er with a chance to win trip to Japan is a way of saying thank you to our custom-ers in Oman for their loyalty and support,” said George Alexander, GM, (RED) Omasco.
‘ B E A M A Z E D ’ P R O M O T I O N
Scouts camp held at
Indian School Muladha
MULADHA: A three-day an-nual scouts camp was organised on the premises of Indian School Muladha recently. Sixty one scouts attended the camp under the trained scout masters Harish and Manoj.
The camp was inaugurated by Felix Vincent Gabriel, member of the School Management Com-mittee. He enlightened the stu-dents on the values of scouting and guiding and stressed its im-portance in building a better soci-ety. Siddique Hassan, SMC treas-urer, V. S. Suresh, vice principal and Dr Lekha O. C., coordinator, co-curricular and extracurricu-lar activities, attended the func-tion, says a press release.
Informative sessions on hand signals, whistle signals, fi rst aid, patrol system, woodcraft signs, skit inspection, commands and fl ag hoisting were conducted during the camp. The scouts prepared dinner themselves at the campsite.
A trekking trip to Al Wadi Al Hoqain was organised on the closing day. The treasure hunt competition, conducted to sharpen their observation skills, added to the charm of the camp. Various tests such as Pravesh, Pradham and Dwitiya Sopan were also conducted as part of training.
The campfi re was formally lighted by Dr M. Madhusudhanan, convenor and Academic Sub Com-
mittee chairman. Sundaram Mil-lar, SMC member, attended the occasion with his presence. The scouts enjoyed the campfi re by performing various programmes such that focused on the Scouts and Guides values. Skit and group dance were also performed
Siddique Hassan, SMC treas-urer, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony. Certifi cates and prizes to the participants were given away by the digni-taries.
Harish, Manoj, Niyas Ahamed, Muhammed Sul Ameen, Na-vas M. Bavakkutty and Resmal Sunny supervised the camp pro-ceedings.
Principal Shareef appreciated the meticulous planning and team work of the teaching staff and non teaching staff that made the camp a grand success. The camp concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Harish.
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Huawei unveils Mate 8 and M2 Tablet in ME
DUBAI: Huawei Consumer Busi-ness Group (CBG) revealed their latest fl agship devices — the Mate 8 and the M2 tablet to the Middle East region at the Madinat Jumei-rah Dubai, UAE.
Dubai became the second city globally for the Huawei Consumer Group to launch the new fl agship devices, post the global launch last week at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The spec-tacular event saw over 400 attend-ees including media from across the region, VIP guests and partners who were all there to witness the unveiling of Huawei’s latest inno-vations, says a press release.
The evening’s stellar entertain-ment was presented by renowned comedian Tony Abou Joude who kept the crowd entertained, by in-troducing the spectacular launch of the two devices. The night was then rounded off with a beautiful recital by violinist Hanine El Alam.
Featuring the most powerful chipset, a high-capacity battery and stylish design – including a unique mocha brown colour option – the Huawei Mate 8 is the ideal smart-phone for today’s on-the-go profes-
sional. The Mate 8 is designed from the ground up for productivity and its hardware and software have been fi ne-tuned to provide an el-egant, effi cient experience.
Commenting on the launch of the devices, Sandeep Saihgal, vice president of Huawei Consumer Business Group said, “2015 was a successful year for the Huawei Consumer Business Group here in the Middle East and we anticipate 2016 to be an even bigger one with immense growth in the region fol-lowing the launch of these two fl agship devices.
“The Mate 8 is the ultimate high-end smartphone designed for the professional, striking the perfect balance between high per-formance and long battery life. And when designing the M2, we equipped it with an impeccable sound system to take the user’s experience to the next level. Both of these devices refl ect Huawei’s continued dedication to bringing the latest innovation and style to our consumers.”
Huawei Mate 8 Featuring groundbreaking hard-ware, the Mate 8 is the fi rst smart-phone to run the Kirin 950 chipset, with CPU boosting power up 100 percent, GPU performance up 125 percent, and power effi ciency up 70 percent vs. the Kirin 925.
Equipped with a 4000mAh high-density battery, the Mate 8 delivers industry-leading power effi ciency off ering over two days of normal usage. And with rapid charging technology, the phone is able to charge a day’s worth of power in just 30 minutes.
In fact, regular users can go without charging their phone for 2.36 days, and heavy users can go without charging for 1.65 days.
The Mate 8 also features an advanced six-layer thermal me-chanics, which allows higher heat dissipation leading to an excel-lent holding experience and lower
power consumption.
Built for productivityRunning on Huawei’s EMUI 4.0, based on Android Marshmallow 6.0, the Huawei Mate 8 off ers hun-dreds of user experience tweaks and improvements, including a built-in automatic defragmenta-tion service that continues opti-mising system performance. Ad-ditionally, the Mate 8 features a split-screen mode that enables en-hanced multitasking between apps.
Smart and secure The Huawei Mate 8 introduces a new generation of fi ngerprint se-curity with enhanced protection technology. The circular fi nger-print sensor improves the eff ective identifi cation area by 10 percent. In addition, the fi ngerprint friction ridge matching has three levels of security, providing higher protec-tion for users. The new sensor design also increases the unlock speed by 100%.
The Mate 8 maintains two sets of fi ngerprint interface standards to improve smartphone payment experiences — the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) and Android M standards. The strong CPU also supports real-time encryption of full storage for better data pro-tection. The Mate 8 provides a microSD card lock, preventing anyone from accessing content in the card without a password. If a phone is stolen, user data cannot be obtained.
Stunning photographyHuawei invested $98 million over three years to develop the fi rst pro-prietary image sensor processor for faster focusing, higher clarity, and more accurate colour shading. A leading team of 300 engineers was assembled in France to in-crease the processing speed of the camera, resulting in increasing the process bandwidth by four times with 14-bit precision.
In addition, the Mate 8 adopts the revolutionary, all-new Sony 16MP IMX298, increasing the sensor size by 23 percent for breathtaking images. The Mate 8 also features an 8 MP front camera with a new beauty algorithm for taking the perfect selfi e. Addition-ally, the Mate 8 provides document readjustment camera mode, which automatically straightens images that are captured at an angle for better viewing.
The Huawei M2 partnership Those using the Huawei M2 Tablet will have an opportunity to enjoy the rich sonic experience of Har-man/Kardon, as the result of a new partnership that integrates that company’s leading audio technol-ogy into the 10-inch tablet. Harman International, with its core brand Harman/Kardon, is the world lead-er for personal audio solutions at home, in the car and on the go and is known for its innovative design and enterprising spirit. In the M2 Tab-let, Harman/Kardon will provide its cutting-edge Clari-Fi audio res-toration technology designed to re-cover the lost details of compressed digital music. The resulting audio is clearer, crisper, wider and more dy-namic - resulting in improved real-ism and fi delity.
#FindThe8To join in with the celebration of the Mate 8 launch, Huawei is in-viting people to share any 8s they fi nd around the city and to share their pictures using the hashtag #FindThe8. The pictures will then be automatically added to the Mate 8 gallery hub on Huawei’s on-line community and a winner will be selected to win the latest Flag-ship device.
Award winningDuring the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2016 in Las Vegas, the Huawei Consumer Business Group was awarded 16 awards.
The new fl agship
devices feature
the world’s most
advanced smartphone
and tablet
technology ever; a
new benchmark of
amazing performance
and long battery life
KR holds annual cricket tournamentMUSCAT: The Khimiji Ramdas Group recently conducted its an-nual cricket tournament bring-ing together employees from all departments in a day of fun and sportsmanship.
Over 3,000 staff , their families and friends represented the entire KR family for the inter-division softball cricket tournament that was held at Barka farms, says a press release.
Commenting on the event, Anil Khimji said, “From the time of its inception the KR Group has em-braced a strong people-centric policy, which facilitates frequent inter-department interaction across all levels of management through social gatherings. Events
such as our annual cricket tourna-ment reward our employees with well-earned leisure time apart from giving them an opportunity to build stronger relationships with their peers.”
Directors, CEOs, division heads and management staff along with
their families formed 72 teams that pitched a great game to cheer-ing onlookers and supporters. Each team fi elded stiff competi-tion to the other till KR Crusad-ers were declared the day’s cham-pions. Runners up was team KR Commodity Division.
S P I R I T O F S P O R T S M A N S H I P
alizz Islamic trains new staff MUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank con-ducted a two-day orientation train-ing course for its new employees.
The course involved an intro-duction into Islamic banking principles and the bank’s prod-ucts and services. The training group comprised 25 new Omani recruits, says a press releae.
The training was delivered by a number of prominent Islamic banking practitioners and special-ists at alizz Islamic bank. The pro-gramme aimed to equip the new staff with various skills as well as knowledge in Islamic banking with a view to ensure highest level of performance effi ciency and ef-fectiveness in off ering the Sharia compliant banking products to re-
tail and corporate customers. Manar Abbas, Products Man-
ager at alizz Islamic bank said, “Implementing such training pro-grammes is in line with the bank’s dedication to develop and improve its employees’ knowledge and un-derstanding of both the principles of Islamic banking as well as the bank’s products. The training pro-gramme also provided the train-ees with soft skills techniques on how to deal with customers and enhance their experience with al-izz Islamic bank.” She also stated, “alizz is keen on providing training and development programmes for all its employees whether exist-ing ones or who will be hired for branches that the bank is planning
to open in diff erent areas of the Sultanate.”
Ibrahim Saad, Senior Manager at alizz Islamic bank, said. “In al-izz Islamic bank Sharia training is one of the essential require-ments for new staff to understand the principles of Islamic banking. This training aims to ensure our Sharia compliant products and services are off ered to customers with unwavering commitment to the Sharia guidelines.”
The bank strives to attract and develop Omani youth to lead customer service in the banking sector. These youth would be se-lected based on their exceptional academic qualifi cations as well as personal traits.
O R I E N T A T I O N P R O G R A M M E
New Plaza Premium Lounge at Salalah Airport raises comfort bar for travellers
SALALAH: Business travellers and holidaymakers departing from Salalah Airport are discov-ering that the newly inaugurated gateway is more than just an architectural masterwork with state-of-the-art fi xtures.
Tucked away in a discreet sec-tion of the departures hall is an airport lounge replete with amenities that take away a lot of the hassles and stressors synony-mous with modern-day air travel. The recently inaugurated Plaza Premium Lounge is a sanctuary for airport passengers to unwind in the face of fl ight delays, lengthy layovers or simply for an oppor-tunity to relax before boarding, says a press release.
The new Plaza Premium Lounge is equipped with two VIP rooms, two shower rooms with ameni-ties and a smoking room. It off ers music and television entertain-ment and has counters supplying ample food and beverage, racks of international newspapers and magazine, not to mention com-plimentary Wi-Fi, tempting trav-ellers to chill in upscale settings ahead of the fl ight.
Covering an area of over 500 square metres, the impeccably appointed facility is spacious enough to accommodate as many as 100 guests at any given time. Available round the clock is a delectable spread of hot food, salads, sandwiches, snacks and fruit, complemented by an equal-ly diverse selection of hot and cold beverages. Together with its upscale ambience and cosy ap-peal, the Lounge makes for an in-viting pre-boarding hub.
Like the popular Plaza Premi-um Lounge in Muscat Interna-tional Airport, the Plaza Premi-um Lounge in Salalah is operated by a joint venture of Plaza Pre-mium Group and Zahara Travel & Service Bureau, the Sultanate’s leading destination and leisure management specialists.
“Sharing with Salalah Airport the passion and value of deliver-ing excellent quality of services which exceed travellers’ expecta-tion brought us here and I’m sure Plaza Premium’s best-in-class lounge facilities and services
could create exceptional and seamless airport experience for all those travelling to this city,” said Song Hoi-see, founder and CEO of Plaza Premium Group. “Salalah is one of the most im-portant gateways of the Sultanate of Oman, connecting travellers from diff erent continents to the Middle-East. With the expansion of Salalah Airport and the contin-uous growth of passenger traffi c through Oman, the launch of new Plaza Premium Lounge in Sala-lah will complement our existing lounge facilities in Muscat to bet-ter serve the surging number of travellers in the Middle East.”
Given the importance to this key facility, the lounge was opened by a senior management team of Oman Airports Management Company headed by its CEO Aimen Ahmed Al Hosni who was also the chief guest. Accompa-nying him were Samer Ahmed Al Nabhani, GM - Commercial Operations; Abdul Wahab Abdul Karim Al Balushi, GM – Security; and Salim Awadh Al Yafaei - GM Salalah Airport. Representing Zahara Airport Services was its director, Gautam Broota.
Al Hosni stated, “We are proud to operate and manage the new Salalah Airport. Hence, we are working determinedly to develop a world-class airport with high standard of facilities and servic-es. As one of Oman’s gateway, the new Plaza Premium Lounge is one of the premium facilities for passengers to get a rich travel ex-perience. With the expansion of Salalah Airport and the continu-ous growth of passenger traffi c through Oman, I believe the new terminal at Salalah Airport will leave a memorable experience as part of the passengers’ journey.”
“The high-level presence un-derscored the Lounge’s impor-tance to Salalah Airport’s overall off ering as an aviation hub in the region,” said Broota.
“Premium lounges are an in-tegral part of an airport such as Salalah that has been designed and built to serve as a gateway for tourist as well as business traffi c into this fast-developing region of Oman,” he stated.
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‘Live It!’ with Ooredoo
MUSCAT: Ooredoo is inviting Muscat Festival visitors across the capital to ‘Live It!’ with the launch of very special off ers on Home and Fibre Home Broadband as well as great deals on the latest smart-phones with Shahry Plans.
Starting from January 14 and for the next 90 days, new and exist-ing customers visiting the Oore-doo store at the festival grounds can get these fantastic value added promotions, says a press release.
“We are confi dent the off ers we have put together for Muscat Fes-tival will get everybody talking,’
said Feras Al Shaikh, Ooredoo Di-rector of Consumer Sales. “With unbeatable deals on data and un-paralleled high speeds, Ooredoo customers can live life to the full through the power of the Internet, whether they are at home or on the go, and to make sure they can take full advantage of being con-nected. We have some really great promotions on the most popular mobile devices.”
Talking more about what Oore-doo has in store, Feras explained that everyone signing up for Home Broadband with a new Shahry plan
during Muscat Festival, will re-ceive extra 33 per cent data for the fi rst three months.
“That’s an extra 25GB with the 75GB package and an extra 50GB with the 150GB package,” he re-vealed, adding: “What’s more, new Shahry customers can enjoy
further discounts on the latest smartphones of between OMR40 and OMR120, depending on their choice of plan.”
Also part of the festival promo-tions is Ooredoo’s inspiring intro-ductory plan for its new Unlimited Superfast Fibre Home Broadband where customers who like to live life in the fast lane can get ’24 for 24’; the highest Internet speeds in the Sultanate for an incredible OMR24 per month for their fi rst 24-month contract.
And that’s not all. There’s a great off er for all customers on devices with Ooredoo’s new Shahry plans, for any customer buying a device from an Ooredoo store.
With up to OMR120 discount on the device price along with a 12 month Shahry contract, it’s a chance for customers to get the device they’ve been waiting for, in some cases, for free.
For customers who are just in-terested in a device alone, there are also some attractive deals on the latest smartphones.
Everyone signing up for Home Broadband
with a new Shahry plan during Muscat
Festival, will receive extra 33 per cent data
for the fi rst three months
omanoil awarded four new versions of ISO certifi cations
MUSCAT: Oman Oil Marketing Company (omanoil) successfully became the fi rst Omani compa-ny to be awarded the integrated new versions of ISO standards (2015) for 9001:2015 Quality Management, ISO14001:2015 Environmental Management, ISO27001:2013 Information Se-curity Management as well as OHSAS18001:2007 Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems.
The accolades are a result of the
company’s compliance and op-erational upgrades in line with the newly revamped ISO certifi cation standards, says a press release.
Mohammed Al Mujaini, senior manager of Health, Safety, Secu-rity and Environment and Quality Assurance, said: “Our journey to achieve this benchmark began in 2013, when we started conducting a detailed analysis of our opera-tions to fi nd ways to improve upon the ISO and global qualifi cations we already had.
“The systematic approach we adopted led in the implementation of highly progressive measures, in-cluding the latest health policies, a thorough risk assessment for all employees, and the development of a dedicated internal auditing team. Those changes, as well as the strong support from our top management and hard work of our employees, have allowed us to be-come the fi rst Omani company to earn this milestone and will help us continue exceeding the expec-
tations of customers nationwide.”
AccomplishmentHe added: “Our environmental footprint, product quality, and customer satisfaction have always been a central component of our operations. These global certifi ca-tions illustrate the long-term value we wish to bring to Oman and its people. Today’s accomplishment is a translation of our eff orts to raise industry standards across the Sultanate.”
F I R S T O M A N I C O M P A N Y
Mercedes launches new off er
MUSCAT: Making the pinnacle of driving excellence more attrac-tive than ever, Mercedes-Benz Oman gets the New Year in gear with the launch of a fi nely-tuned special off er on three of its most popular vehicles.
The astounding off er is headed by one of Mercedes-Benz’s most popular new SUVs, the GLE400 4MATIC which took the market by storm when it was launched in November 2015. Accompany-ing the strong and sophisticated GLE in the specially selected line-up are two of Oman’s favourite Mercedes-Benz luxury sedans, the confi dently stylish C200 AMG and the Avantgarde E300 AMG Sport with its sporty styling and superior ride comfort, says a press release.
“Mercedes-Benz fans will be driving their dream thanks to this precision-engineered package,” commented Clive Hammond, CEO of Zawawi Trading Company-Au-tomotive. “While the three vehicles have distinct personalities, what they have in common is Mercedes-Benz’s unrivalled engineering, lux-ury and power. The Mercedes-Benz philosophy of ‘The Best or Nothing’ applies to our deals as much to our
vehicles, and with these fantastic packages we are confi dent that we achieved that.”
Available for OMR29,995 while stocks last, the GLE400 4MATIC off er includes a 3-year or 45,000 kilometre integrated service pack-
age. A true multi-talent, the GLE is a premium SUV that drives per-formance and supreme comfort on any terrain, blending tradition and modernity with a luxurious interior ambience and a sporty exterior design.
Priced at just OMR24,995 with a 3-year or 45,000 kilometre ser-vice package, the E300 Avant-garde AMG Sport is permanently perfect, impressing from the fi rst second. The desirable and dy-namic sedan combines outstand-ing comfort and a serene driving experience with exceptional agil-ity and power.
It is no longer necessary to im-agine yourself behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz with the C200 AMG included in the New Year package for just OMR22,495. The embodiment of sophisticated sportiness, the C200 provides an intense driving experience, a new style of leadership, and a true sense of direction. This off er also includes a 3 year or 45,000 kilo-metre integrated service package.
This off er to drive your dream vehicle and live the unsurpass-able Mercedes-Benz lifestyle is available until March 31 or till stocks last.
P R O M O T I O N
Mercedes-Benz Oman
offers packages on
the GLE400 4MATIC,
the C200 AMG, and
the E300 AMG Sport.
This offer to drive your
dream vehicle and live
the unsurpassable
Mercedes-Benz lifestyle
is available until March
31 or till stocks last
B8
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‘Gruhapravesh’ property expo starts tomorrow
MUSCAT: Having redefi ned prop-erty shows in India and top inter-national destinations like Dubai, Singapore and USA, IndiaProp-erty.com is all set for its 1st edition of ‘Gruhapravesh’ tomorrow and the day after, following growing demand for real estate investment in India by the NRI community in Muscat, at Hotel Al Falaj, Ruwi, says a press release.
India Property Online Pvt. Ltd., is one of India’s leading portal in the online real estate space. Founded on the core promise of ‘We get you Home’, they constantly strive to simplify and add value to the property buying experience by providing an end-to-end purchase experience for the buyer.
Gruhapravesh which is the property pavilion conducted by In-diaProperty.com is the most trusted and longest running realty expo in India and abroad. It brings togeth-er the best selection of builders and projects under one roof and helps you make the right property buying decision while being far away from the country. For NRIs who are looking to invest in India, Gruhapravesh becomes the crucial link to the best of the realty indus-try in India. With a lot of positivity surrounding 2016, it might be the right year to make your dream of buying a home in India a reality.
Over 45 top builders from India will showcase their projects this year from all the major cities in In-dia like Kerala, Hyderabad, Banga-lore, Mangalore, Mysuru, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi-NCR, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Kol-kata. The reputed developers ex-hibiting their projects are Godrej Properties, Mahindra, Aparna Construction Group, Vatika Group,
Optima Homes, Radiance, Montag Infrastucture, Greentech Builders, Provident, Purvankara, MCB Aas-setz, Ansal Housing, Sowparnika, Square Yards and more.
There would be something for everyone who wants to buy a house in India – from apartments, plots, villas and gated communities to projects ranging from INR300,000 to 50 million.
A recent report by IndiaProper-ty.com, features the top investment destinations in India. Highlighting the nifty investment zones in the top cities, the report elaborates that, a healthy trend is observed in Mumbai; “The satellite township of Navi Mumbai has emerged as the newest investment destination for home buyers and builders alike. With projects like the Navi Mum-bai International Airport and the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, this region has witnessed a surge in investments with an overall price appreciation of nearly 3 per cent to 5 per cent each quarter.”
Pune’s real estate market has been performing well over the past fi ve years and is regarded as one of the best real estate investment hubs in India.
The manufacturing and services sectors present here are generat-ing tremendous job opportuni-ties and this is impacting the re-alty market of the city. For the fi rst time in the past fi ve years, there is more supply than demand in the city. Hence property prices are ex-pected to be stagnant until there is situation changes.
Nagpur is one of the more af-fordable real estate destinations in India and is also one of the fastest growing cities in the country. The major infrastructure develop-ments such as Mihan and the SEZ
are the major attractions here. Measures are being taken to trans-form the city into a major IT hub and this is going to transform the realty market of the city. The exist-ing MIDC corridor along with the proposed and upcoming IT parks have raised expectations among buyers and investors.
Ahmedabad is one of the best examples of a well-organised city in the country. If you are looking to invest anywhere between INR 30 to 50 lakhs in this city then ar-eas such as Gota, Bopal, Satellite and those along the SG Highway will be your best bets. Infrastruc-ture developments such as bul-let trains, GIFT, and Smart City project are driving the growth of the city in a planned manner. The property prices of the market are expected to remain healthy in coming quarters.
Moving to southern cities, Kochi which is an important city in Kerala is now witnessing good demand for aff ordable and mid segment properties. Over 60 per cent of the projects here fall into these two categories. Infrastruc-tural projects in and around Kochi have boosted real estate activity with many developers investing in the city. Kannur, another area in Kerala, is set to have a functional international airport by next year. This development along with im-provements in infrastructure in areas around Kannur is boosting the real estate market here.
Bangalore has emerged as one of the most stable markets in the country. The report suggests that, “North Bengaluru has seen a rise in real estate activity and capital appreciation of about 20 per cent in the last two years as the IT/BT Corridor (Information Technol-
ogy & Biotechnology) takes shape near the international airport. Localities like Hebbal, Yelahanka and Devanahalli are likely to see an increase in demand and growth of residential real estate. South-East Bengaluru which includes locali-ties like Sarjapur Road, amounts to nearly 40 per cent of the total demand for residential properties in Bengaluru.”
“Upcoming localities in East Hyderabad like Uppal and LB Na-gar will benefi t from the improved connectivity and see a capital ap-preciation of 15 per cent to 20 per cent annually. Extension of the Hyderabad Metro to areas like Trimulgherry, Nagole, Ghatkesar, Hayatnagar and Patancheru will create an increased demand for residential properties here.”
Coimbatore is one of the Tier 2 cities which provides real estate investment opportunities at af-fordable prices. Well known areas such as Race Course, R.S. Puram and Avinashi Road are quite popu-lar with buyers. If you are look-ing for aff ordable properties then head to micro markets off Avi-nashi Road, Saravanampatti, Met-tupalayam Road and Trichy Road. With developments related to in-frastructure and demand for com-mercial offi ce spaces, the realty market of Coimbatore is expected to remain active.
As far as Chennai is concerned, the real estate market here is slug-gish post the fl oods. But this is ex-pected to change in the next two quarters.
Micro markets which were not aff ected by the fl oods are wit-nessing demand. Areas along the Poonamalle High Road and cen-tral Chennai are seeing increasing buyer interest.
According to Ganesh Vasude-van, CEO IndiaProperty.com, “The residential market in India is re-viving and this is evident from the increasing number of enquiries we have received in the past two quar-ters. With the incentives like an increase in home loan exemption, decrease in the home loan rate – the market sentiments are posi-tive and there are more number of end-users looking for their dream home in India.”
“Moreover, experts at In-diaProperty will guide you in your home search journey. So if you are looking to invest or even explore your options, this is an excellent platform,” he added.
The fl agship
property pavilion by
IndiaProperty.com
will showcase around
200 new projects by
45 top builders
from India
Meethaq hosts key CIBAFI seminar on risk managementMUSCAT: Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, hosted the interna-tional seminar on Risk Manage-ment and Compliance in Islamic Financial Institutions organised by the General Council for Islam-ic Banks and Financial Institu-tions (CIBAFI).
The 2-day event at Al Bustan Palace Ritz Carlton Hotel was at-tended by senior CIBAFI offi cials and risk management executives from Islamic fi nancial institu-tions across the world, says a press release.
The seminar noted that Is-lamic fi nancial institutions need to enhance their compliance and risk management capacities to sustain business growth. The key priorities within risk man-agement include macro-risks; IT risks and risk-technologies; credit tools and capacities; al-ternative liquidity management; compliance; equity fi nance; and risk governance.
Addressing the seminar, Su-laiman Al Harthy, deputy chief executive offi cer – Islamic Bank-ing, said: “As the pioneer of Is-lamic banking services in Oman, the initiative to host the semi-nar stems from the bank’s com-mitment to identifying the best practices and tackling the chal-lenges faced by Islamic banking and fi nance industry. At a time when the role of Islamic fi nance is increasingly seen in support-ing economic development, the seminar is a great opportunity for adopting successful strategies on risk management and com-pliance. The seminar addressed by industry experts provides an ideal platform to discuss best practices, new possibilities and
collaborations in Islamic banking and fi nance to create an environ-ment which should make all of us proud of, balanced with the Sha-ria Law, regulatory guidelines, public demands and expectation, and the rule of law, as a whole.”
Meethaq is the leading Islamic fi nancial services provider in the Sultanate with many achieve-ments contributing to the growth and development of the Sultan-ate’s economy.
I S L A M I C F I N A N C E
At a time when the role
of Islamic finance is
increasingly seen in
supporting economic
development, the
seminar is a great
opportunity for
adopting successful
strategies on risk
management and
compliance
Sulaiman Al HarthyDeputy chief executive officer – Islamic Banking
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
SPOR SY O U R G A M E
SECTIONC T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
I WILL TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR FAILED CHASE, SAYS DHONI
>C2
INSIDE LIFESTYLE
Top seeds progress, Djokovic denies match-fixing report
MELBOURNE: World number one Novak Djokovic swept regally into the third round of the Austral-ian Open on Wednesday before be-ing forced to deny any involvement in the tennis match-fi xing scandal that has dogged the fi rst three days of the grand slam.
The Serbian defending cham-pion granted Quentin Halys a 100-minute audience on Rod La-ver Arena before despatching the French teenager 6-1, 6-2, 7-6(3) but he enjoyed a less comfortable ride in the post-match media conference.
Alerted to a story in an Italian newspaper suggesting his loss to now-retired French player Fabrice Santoro in Paris in 2007 was fi xed, the 28-year-old denied it point blank. “It’s not true,” he said when told he had been accused of delib-erately losing. “What it is to say? I’ve lost that match.”
“Anybody can create a story about that match or for that mat-ter any of the matches of the top players losing in the early rounds,
I think it’s just absurd.”Back on court, Djokovic was
joined in the third round by wom-en’s champion Serena Williams, 17-times grand slam champion Federer and Maria Sharapova who all made short work of their sec-ond-round opponents.
Following Tuesday’s defeats for former men’s champion Rafa Nadal and women’s second seed
Simona Halep, the only real shock on day four came in the penulti-mate match of the day when Czech sixth seed Petra Kvitova, twice a Wimbledon winner, was beaten 6-4, 6-4 by naturalised local Daria Gavrilova. Top seed Williams took exactly an hour to dismiss Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei 6-1, 6-2 in the second match of the day after fi fth seed Sharapova had routed
unseeded Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-1.
Third seed Federer was next up on the main showcourt to put down tricky Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 and retain his record of never having failed to reach the third round in 17 visits to Melbourne Park.
Seventh seed Kei Nishikori cruised into the third round with
a 6-3, 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Aus-tin Krajicek and Czech Tomas Berdych also only needed three sets to power past Bosnia’s Mirza Basic 6-4, 6-0, 6-3. Canadian Eug-enie Bouchard’s hopes ere shat-tered when fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska rallied from an early defi cit to win 6-4, 6-2.
There was a minor upset when twice grand slam champion Svetla-
na Kuznetsova, a title winner in Syd-ney last week, was dumped out of the tournament by Kateryna Bond-arenko 6-1, 7-5 but the major ruction in the women’s draw came later.
Kvitova, who suff ered from glandula fever last year paid full credit to Moscow-born Gavrilova — the only one of nine Australian women in the draw to survive the fi rst round. - Reuters
Djokovic granted
Quentin Halys a
100-minute audience
but he enjoyed a less
comfortable ride
in the post-match
media conference
IN CONTROL: Novak djokovic of Serbia makes a forehand return to
Quentin Halys of France during their second round match. – AP/PTI
MELBOURNE: Roger Feder-er is in love with tennis even after nearly two decades but may not be that keen to follow his children if they ever turned professional, the Swiss maes-tro said after storming into the third round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
“It’s been going very well for me, and I hope to keep it up as long as I choose to play tennis,” the 17-times grand slam win-ner told reporters after record-ing his 299th victory at a grand slam with the win against the 27-year-old Ukrainian.
“The least I expect (is) to be in the third round of a slam, so I’m pumped up, playing well, feeling good.”
Federer said while he was still in love with the sport that had earned him hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements, he
may resist the idea of following any of his four children if they turned professional.
“I think it’s 40 years on the tennis tour that doesn’t excite me, you know, straight,” he said while laughing when asked to clarify an on-court statement he made about not wanting to watch his daughters play on
Rod Laver Arena. “As much as I love it now, I’m just not sure what my excitement level will be in 20 years’ time from now.”
Federer, who has six year-old twin daughters Myla Rose and Charlene Riva and twin boys Leo and Lennart, who were born in May 2014, said he had encouraged his daughters to take tennis lessons for reasons other than carving out a poten-tial career. “I think it’s a good thing for them,” he said.
“It’s a great sport to learn how to lose, to win, to fi gure it out, for friendship, discipline, for hand-eye coordination.
“I will support them all the way whatever they want to do. I’d rather support them in another sport. Go see them be a super skier. That would be exciting. To go watch tennis matches, I don’t know,” he laughed again. - Reuters
‘Pumped-up’ Federer is no pushy parent
Roger Federer
Dominant England aim to complete 3-0 triumphPRETORIA: England, with a series win already secured, can complete South Africa’s ignomin-ious fall from the top of the rank-ings when the fi nal Test of the four-match series starts at Cen-turion Park in Pretoria on Friday.
Dominant England went 2-0 up after Stuart Broad’s ven-emous spell set the platform for an emphatic win in the third Test in Johannesburg.
In contrast their hosts, about to lose top place in the International Cricket Council rankings to In-dia, are in a state of disarray, hav-ing switched captains mid-series and extended a winless streak to nine Tests.
The absence of injured key fast bowler Dale Steyn has not helped and he will again not play in the fourth Test, having only contrib-uted for just a single innings at the start of the series in Durban last month.
The likes of Broad, Joe Root and Ben Stokes have all displayed match-winning brilliance for England in this series.
“The future of this team could turn into something special,” said coach Trevor Bayliss in the wake of the seven-wicket win at the Wanderers.
A shell-shocked South Africa are set to hand a debut to 33-year-old opener Stephen Cook as they attempt to solve one of several problems in a side that last won a Test more than a year ago.
New captain AB de Villiers had promised an aggressive and “in your face” approach for his fi rst game in charge after replac-ing Hashim Amla but watched his team meekly fold as they were skittled out for a paltry 83 runs in their second innings in Johannesburg to be beaten in-side three days.
The obvious lack of confi dence is exacerbated by uncertainty over De Villiers’ own future in the Test arena as he seeks to lessen his workload to continue playing all formats of the interna-tional game.
South Africa can only point
to past statistics for a glimmer of sunshine.
Centurion Park has been their most successful home venue since it hosted its fi rst Test 20
years ago. South Africa have won 15 times, drawn three and lost only to England in 2000 and Aus-tralia in 2014 in 20 previous Tests at the ground. - Reuters
T E S T S E R I E S
PRETORIA: Fast bowler Liam Plunkett has suff ered a thigh muscle injury and must pass a fi tness test before joining the England squad for the limited overs series against South Africa next month.
Plunkett, called up on Monday to replace the injured Steven Finn, was due to play for England Lions in two 50-over matches against Pakistan A in the United Arab Emirates before head-ing to Johannesburg but had to pull out of Wednes-
day’s match in Dubai.He will now have a check
on his fi tness on Thursday, ahead of the second match of the Lions series on Friday, after which decision on his departure to South Africa will be made, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said.
Finn was ruled out of the remaining tour of South Africa with a side strain and is now in a race against time to be fi t for the Twenty20 World Cup in India in March. - Reuters
Plunkett suffers injury setback ahead of ODI series
TROUBLE: Liam Plunkett was called to replace Steven
Finn but he himself has suff ered a thigh muscle injury.
CHASING A DREAM
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Australia choke India in Canberra
CANBERRA: Paceman Kane Richardson claimed his maiden fi ve-wicket haul to script India’s spectacular collapse and bowl Australia to a 25-run victory in the high-scoring fourth one day inter-national on Wednesday.
Three batsmen struck centuries in the 671-run match between the world’s top two one-day teams but it was Richardson’s (5-68) incisive bowling that clinched the contest, while also earning him the man-of-the-match award.
Chasing 349 for victory, India were cruising at 277 for one before losing their last nine wickets for 46 runs to succumb to their fourth successive defeat in the fi ve-match series.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan (126) and Virat Kohli (106) featured in a 212-run stand for the visitors before the wheels came off India’s chase at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.
Dhawan registered his ninth ODI century and Kohli scored his second consecutive hundred but India lost three wickets in 11 balls for the addition of one run that de-railed them.
For them, in-form Ajinkya Ra-hane came out to bat despite a split webbing of his fi ngers, but could
score only two as India were all out for 323 in the fi nal over.
Earlier, Aaron Finch struck his seventh hundred in a blistering opening partnership of 187 with David Warner to power Australia to 348 for eight wickets.
Finch smashed a run-a-ball 107 while Warner fell on 93 from
92 deliveries as the hosts contin-ued to make merry against India’s toothless bowling attack after opt-ing to bat fi rst.
Australia had chased down each Indian target to take an unassail-able 3-0 lead in the fi ve-match series and the tourists’ battered bowlers did little better after fi nal-
ly getting the chance to bowl fi rst.Warner, who missed the last two
matches due to the birth of his sec-ond child, started off with a maid-en against Umesh Yadav but soon hit his stride with three fours in an over against seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Yadav also conceded three boundaries in the next over
against the diminutive left-hand-er as Australia raced to 50 in the seventh over.
Finch was equally destructive and a fi erce straight drive from the right-hander off fast bowler Ishant Sharma (4-77) hit umpire Richard Kettleborough on the shin, forcing the offi cial off the fi eld.
Finch mistimed a pull to be dis-missed eight overs after Warner had played Ishant on to his stumps while attempting a slog over mid-wicket.
Australia captain Steven Smith (51) and all-rounders Mitch-ell Marsh (33) and Glenn Max-well (41) chipped in with some quick runs.
Sydney hosts the fi fth and fi nal one-dayer on Saturday. - Reuters
Three batsmen struck
centuries in the 671-
run match between
the world’s top two
one-day teams but it
was Richardson’s (5-
68) incisive bowling
that clinched the
contest, while also
earning him the man-
of-the-match award
AUSTRALIAD. Warner b I. Sharma 93A. Finch c I. Sharma b U. Yadav 107M. Marsh c Kohli b U. Yadav 33S. Smith c Mann b I. Sharma 51G. Maxwell c sub b I. Sharma 41G. Bailey c R. Sharma b I. Sharma 10J. Faulkner b U. Yadav 0M. Wade run out (R. Sharma, U. Yadav) 0J. Hastings not out 0Extras (lb-7, w-6) 13Total (for 8 wickets, 50 overs) 348Fall of wickets: 1-187, 2-221, 3-288, 4-298, 5-319, 6-319, 7-321, 8-348Did not bat: K. Richardson, N. Lyon Bowling: U. Yadav 10-1-67-3 (w-2), B. Kumar 8-0-69-0, I. Sharma 10-0-77-4 (w-2), G. Mann 3-0-24-0, R. Dhawan 9-0-53-0 (w-1), R. Jadeja 10-0-51-0 (w-1)INDIAR. Sharma c Wade b Richardson 41S. Dhawan c Bailey b Hastings 126V. Kohli c Smith b Richardson 106M. Dhoni c Wade b Hastings 0G. Mann c sub b Lyon 5R. Jadeja not out 24A. Rahane c Smith b Richardson 2R. Dhawan c Warner b Richardson 9B. Kumar c Smith b Richardson 2U. Yadav c Bailey b M. Marsh 2I. Sharma c Wade b M. Marsh 0Extras (nb-1, w-5) 6Total (all out, 49.2 overs) 323Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-277, 3-277, 4-278, 5-286, 6-294, 7-308, 8-311, 9-315, 10-323Bowling: N. Lyon 10-0-76-1, K. Richard-son 10-1-68-5, J. Hastings 10-0-50-2 (nb-1, w-1), J. Faulkner 7-0-48-0 (w-1), M. Marsh 9.2-0-55-2 (w-2), G. Maxwell 1-0-10-0 (w-1), S. Smith 2-0-16-0Umpires: Richard Kettleborough and John WardTV umpire: Paul Wilson Match referee: Jeff Crowe Result: Australia won by 25 runs
S C O R E B O A R D
106runs from 92 balls
11 fours, 1 six
VIRATKOHLI
107runs from 107 balls
9 fours, 2 sixes
AARONFINCH
126runs from 113 balls
14 fours, 2 sixes
SHIKHARDHAWAN
I’ll take responsibility for failed chase: DhoniCANBERRA: Taking full re-sponsibility for the inexplicable collapse against Australia in the fourth cricket ODI, Indian cap-tain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Wednesday said he should have steered the team home after fl u-ent centuries from Shikhar Dha-wan and Virat Kohli.
Chasing 349 for a win at the Manuka Oval, the visitors were sailing along at 277 for one be-fore they lost nine wickets for 46 runs to nosedive to 323 all out in 49.2 overs.
Losing the match by 25 runs, India trail the fi ve-match series 0-4 and Dhoni was expectedly disappointed.
“I am not angry, I’m disappoint-ed. This was one game we should have batted much better. I’ll take responsibility, I should have car-
ried on but I got out...There was a bit of pressure on the youngsters. International cricket is all about pressure, you think about the right shot. You realise you have to take a bit more time and take the game slightly to the end,” Dhoni said in the post-match presentation.
Dhawan (126) and Kohli (106) stitched together a 212-run sec-ond-wicket stand to put the hosts on the backfoot before Kane Rich-ardson’s fi ve-wicket haul fl at-tened the Indian chase.
Dhoni not only praised the bat-ting duo, but also defended the inexperienced Indian bowling attack.
“Rohit batted very well with Shikhar. And Dhawan and Kohli batted majestically. In the last fi ve years, we have not had a fi xed bowling line-up other than the
spinners. That pushes us to the extreme to get some extra runs,” said Dhoni.
On a roll, Australia skipper Ste-ven Smith not only praised the ef-fort of Dhawan and Kohli, but also gave full credit to Richardson and his team’s never-say-die attitude.
“It looked like they were cruis-
ing, a couple of wickets swung things. Richardson did very well as well. You have to try everything when Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan were batting, it felt like we needed 15 or 16 fi elders. We had a never say die attitude tonight. When we had a sniff , we made a run for it,” Smith said.
Richardson registered his maiden fi ve-wicket haul in ODIs to earn a well-deserved Man of the Match award and he was over the moon.
“It’s a funny old game, cricket. We always knew it would speed up once we got a wicket but we did not get it. Hastings could be up here as well. You try and bowl good balls but sometimes they go for sixes. It’s our job to try and stop them,” said the 24-year-old medi-um-pacer. - PTI
O D I S E R I E S
M.S. Dhoni
Richardson lauds Manohar’s stance on confl ict of interestCHENNAI: Lauding Shashank Manohar for his stand against confl ict of interest, International Cricket Council CEO Dave Rich-ardson on Wednesday said the ICC Chairman, who also heads the BCCI, is a principled man and is trying to reform the governance structure in both the bodies.
The BCCI, under Manohar’s presidency, has been forced to undertake structural reforms af-ter the Supreme Court-appoint-ed Justice (retd) R.M. Lodha committee suggested wholesale changes in its administration.
“Any improvements on the governance of any country, as far as the ICC is concerned at this stage, is fair enough. I know that our new Chairman Manohar is a very principled man and seems to be interested or trying to at least adhere to the principles of no confl ict of interest when it comes to governance of the game,” Rich-ardson said. I think he is quite keen that the ICC should also look at those aspects of governance. Certainly, the ICC will be encour-
aged to work with countries hav-ing good governance and good administration and good perfor-mances,” he added. The talk also veered towards the contentious Decision Review System, which India has steadfastly opposed.
Richardson harped on the ben-efi ts of technology but conceded that there was guarantee that India could ever be convinced about it.
“DRS has been very useful and obviously we would like to get many umpiring decisions correct. We assess decisions of matches that are telecast or broadcast.
“The assessment has been re-markable that the umpires have awarded about 93 per cent of the decisions correctly. And, what DRS has been able to do is that it improves it from 93 per cent to say 98,” Richardson explained.
“Now India for various reasons had not favoured the use of DRS. Now the DRS system is being as-sessed at the M.I.T (Massachu-setts Institute of Technology) in the USA on accuracy...I do not think we would get to a stage that
there will be 100 per cent clarity on each and every case. Whether we can persuade India in the long run, I cannot be sure,” he added.
India is set to host the World T20 Championship in March-April this year and Richardson brushed aside suggestions on se-curity. “The fact is that the world has become more complicated and security has become more chal-lenging. That is not in India alone and it includes many ICC-recog-nised countries around the world. We are at it and we make sure that every team and its players whether it is Pakistan or Sri Lanka, we pro-vide the best security,” he said.
On the ICC’s bid to make crick-et an Olympic sport, Richardson said, “We held a discussion with the IOC in November last year.
There are lots of pros and cons to consider so we are not in a po-sition yet to say yes that we want cricket to be part of Olympics.
“It is also not that easy to get into the Olympics. Perhaps later, we would be able to give a clearer direction on this matter.” - PTI
C R I C K E T
C3
SPORTST H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
FUTURE CC CLINCH STYLISH CUPFuture Cricket Club (FCC) defeated New Mangaloreans
by six runs to clinch the title at the Stylish Cup cricket
tournament. In the seven-overs-a-side match played at
the Al Maha Municipality Ground in Bausher. FCC batted
fi rst and scored 54 for four in fi ve overs before restricting
New Mangaloreans to 48 for seven. New Mangaloreans
opening batsman Nithin was awarded the best batsman
trophy, while Future CC’s Adnan was awarded the best
bowler trophy. — Supplied photo
No truth in Man City exit talks, says BonyLONDON: Manchester City strik-er Wilfried Bony has dismissed British media reports linking him with a return to former club Swan-sea City during the January trans-fer window, by saying that he is happy at the Etihad Stadium.
Bony had earlier expressed his disappointment at losing his start-ing place to a returning Sergio Aguero after manager Manuel Pel-legrini opted to start the Argentine in the 2-1 Premier League defeat by Arsenal on December 21.
“I’m happy at the club, all this speculation is not true. I have a con-tract so I’m happy and I think I’m at one of the top clubs in the United
Kingdom,” the 27-year-old said.Bony has played second fi ddle
to Aguero for much of his career at City, having made 27 Premier League appearances since he joined the club in January 2015, 16 of which were as a substitute.
“I have no regrets about joining Man City. We play in the Cham-pions League and we’re one of the top clubs in the world. I’m happy here and I can just say I’m blessed,” the Ivory Coast international said.
City, who are third in the table after 22 games, just a point behind leaders Arsenal, travel to take on sixth-placed West Ham United on Saturday. - Reuters
F O O T B A L L
Sports minister meets OOC chiefand chairmen of associations
MUSCAT: Sheikh Saad bin Mo-hammed Al Mardouf Al Saadi, Minister of Sports Aff airs, on Wednesday met Oman Olympic Committee chairman Sheikh Khalid Al Zubair and the heads of various sports associations.
Sheikh Rashid Al Hinai, Under-secretary at the Ministry of Sports Aff airs, also attended the meeting. The meeting comes within the framework of the ministry’s at-tempts to follow-up programmes
and plans being implemented by the Oman Olympic Committee and sports associations at present as well as their future plans, so as to serve the sports and youth sec-tor better.
Periodic meetingsThe meeting also touched upon the need to activate joint coopera-tion with the OOC and sports as-sociations to workd for the devel-opment of Oman sports.
In his remarks, Sheikh Saad Al Saadi stressed the importance of following-up the national teams and to pave the way to achieve success, through proper attention and care by the OOC, sports bod-ies and the ministry.
The minister also stressed the importance of giving attention to individual players to ensure they achieve positive results at region-al and international competitions.
It is worth mentioning that
these periodic meetings come within the framework of the min-istry’s keenness on activating the existing and joint cooperation be-tween the ministry and the Oman Olympic Committee and sports associaions, to learn about the diff erent aspects and challenges for the development of the Omani sport through the exchange of ide-as, vision and common dialogue in the larger interest of Omani sports. - ONA
I M P O R T A N T M E E T I N G
Kohli has same aura as Tendulkar: Lee
CANBERRA: Australian pace legend Brett Lee on Wednesday heaped accolades on Virat Kohli, describing the swashbuckling In-dian batsman as a legend whose aura is comparable to the iconic Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli on Wednesday notched up his second successive hun-dred, a 92-ball 106-run innings studded with 11 fours and a six, in the fourth and penultimate ODI against Australia and Lee doff ed his hat to the Indian Test captain.
“Hats off to Virat Kohli. He is a legend. He has been in terrifi c form. Where do you bowl to the great man, it is almost like Sachin Tendulkar when he used to come out to bat. He had that presence and Kohli too has that aura around him,” Lee told ‘bcci.tv’.
“...once he gets going it is very diffi cult to get him out. He has got aggression and control of course, the guy is in terrifi c form,” said the former pacer on a day when Kohli equalled Tendulkar’s
record of most centuries while chasing — 15 in all.
Need to fi ght backIndia have already lost the fi ve-match series and Lee said Ma-hendra Singh Dhoni’s men need to fi ght back.
“I think India played particu-larly well to score 300, two times then getting close and then get-ting run down by Australia. They are playing good cricket. Unfortu-nately for them, they really didn’t have the attack to bowl Australia out. Australia chased down 300 on three occasion,” he said.
“The most important thing is that they don’t give up on cricket in the dead rubbers. As I said, they came very close in the fi rst three games. It could have gone either well. If (Glenn) Maxwell got out in MCG then Australia would have lost and it would have been 2-1 in Canberra.
“Unfortunately for India, that was not the case and India have to fi ght back, they have to make sure
they get early wickets and expose the middle order of the Australian cricket team pretty early.”
Despite Indian bowlers com-ing a cropper, the 39-year-old Lee had good things to say about them, especially Umesh Yadav and new left-arm seamer Barinder Sran.
“Look, I have always been a fan of Yadav. I think he has got good pace and he has got the aggres-sion. I am really impressed by Sran, particularly in the fi rst game in Perth, during his three wickets, he swung back the ball nicely. He has a beautiful seam position as well. He is really skinny and he will naturally get bigger as he gets older, bowling wise he will be-come a better bowler,” he said.
Last January, Lee had an-nounced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20-year career. He had called time on his international commitments in July 2012, but continued to play Twenty20 in both the Australian Big Bash League and the Indian Premier League. - PTI
Brett Lee said, ‘where do you bowl to the
great man (Kohli), it is almost like Sachin
Tendulkar when he used to come out to
bat. He had that presence and Kohli
too has that aura around him’
Oman tent pegging team in Sudan to take part in ITPF World Cup qualifi ers
MUSCAT: Oman tent pegging team arrived in Sundan’s capital city of Khartoum to take part in the third qualifying tournament of the International Tent Pegging
Federation (ITPF) World Cup.The qualifying competition
runs till Saturday. Besides Oman and hosts
Sundan, the participating teams
are Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Paki-stan, Qatar and USA. The Omani team is accompanied by coach Mansour bin Ali Al Mahrooqi.
It may be mentioned that Oman
hosted the inaugural ITPF World Cup back in April 2014 when South Africa emerged the world champions while Oman settled for second palce.
T E N T P E G G I N G
C4
SPORTST H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
ARCHITH XI DOWN SAILESH XIThe Children’s Sports Forum, Ruwi recently organised a cricket festival at the OTE offi ce in Ruwi to teach the kids the basics
of the game as well as the spirit of sportsmanship. During the day, a match was also organised match in which Archith XI
defeated Sailesh XI. Batting fi rst, Sailesh XI scored 63 for six in 15 overs with Sailesh top scoring with 21. Archith XI success-
fully chased the target in 12.2 overs scoring 64 for seven. Archith hit an unbeaten 17. Neil and Aditya bagged two wickets each.
Sailesh was adjudged the best batsman while Neil took the best bowler award. — Supplied photo
ISC Open junior tennis tourney from February 1MUSCAT: Junior tennis play-ers of all nationalities residing in Oman get the opportunity to take center stage at the much-awaited ISC Open Junior Tennis Tourna-ment organized by the Indian So-cial Club (ISC) Muscat.
In its continued endeavour to promote tennis and give budding players a platform to showcase their talents, the Indian Social Club Muscat is organising the “ISC/Muscat Pharmacy Open Junior Tennis Tournament” from February 1 at the club’s ten-nis court in Darsait.
Seeing the popularity of ten-nis and the successful tourna-ments that the Indian Social Club Muscat has organized over the years, Muscat Pharmacy togeth-er with brands Pocari Sweat and Horlicks have come forward to sponsor this tournament for the fourth year running.
According to the organisers that the tournament is open to players of all nationalities, Oma-nis as well as expatriates residing in Oman.
The tournament will include
singles for boys and girls in the under-10, under-12, under-14 and under-18 years age group as well as a junior doubles event.
The deadline for submission of entries is set for 6.00 p.m. on January 27. For further de-tails contact the Indian Social Club in Darsait (Tel: 24701347 / 24797921) from 11.00 a.m. to 11.00 p.m.
T E N N I S
The tournament, open
to all nationalities,
will include singles
for boys and girls in
the U-10, U-12, U-14
and U-18 and a junior
doubles event
My best cricketing years are ahead of me: Junaid Khan
SAJ SADIQ
KARACHI: Fast bowler Junaid Khan, who has been fi nding it dif-fi cult to break into the Pakistan team after being sidelined by inju-ries, is confi dent of making a suc-cessful comeback with the nation-al team in the near future.
Regarded as one of Pakistan’s most talented left-arm fast-bowlers and a regular member of the nation-al squad until June 2015, Junaid Khan has faced an uphill struggle to re-establish himself in the national team due largely to injuries.
“It’s disappointing as I was one of Pakistan’s leading bowlers for three to four years. Unfortunately though, when you get injured it takes a bit of time for you to regain your rhythm, especially for a bowl-er,” Junaid said.
“The best way to regain that rhythm is to play a lot of cricket and bowl lots of overs, but I’ve not had as much match practice as I would have liked. Having said that I feel that my form and rhythm are both coming back and I’m confi -dent about the future,” he added.
Stating that there are always go-ing to be doubts when a player tries to make a comeback after recover-ing from injuries, he said: “Even I had doubts in my own mind so it’s not unusual or unfair for people to think this way. But I’ve got rid of those thoughts and cleared my mind and I am focussing only on positive thoughts.
“Recently I felt that I bowled well against England Lions in UAE
and also in the domestic Twenty20 tournament.”
“As a bowler, it was the best that I have felt for a long time. I don’t think people should write me off , and I believe my best cricketing years are ahead of me. If your career is positive all the way then you have been fortunate, I feel that if you can come back from adversity like inju-ries then that makes you a stronger person and toughens you up.”
“Now I think I am bowling as quick as I ever have. I’m bowling at about 140kph and sometimes more, the reverse-swing is there, as are the Yorkers so I’m happy with my form,” he added.
Since 2011 when he made his debut in all three formats of the game, the 26-year-old pace bowl-er has played 22 Test matches in which he has taken 71 wickets, 52 ODIs in which he has claimed 78 international scalps and also rep-resented Pakistan in nine T20Is taking eight wickets.
Amir’s returnSpeaking about return of Moham-med Amir, who was banned for fi ve years after being found guilty of spot-fi xing, Junaid said: “I see this as a positive as Amir’s return means competition for places is even tougher which is good news for Pakistan cricket.
“Even Sohail Tanvir, Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan and Wahab Riaz are around and we all are fi ghting for places in the Pa-kistan team.”
“Nobody can take his place for
granted if the bench-strength is good, as the players who are playing know they have to perform other-wise they will get replaced by some-one who is just as good.
“The signs are good for Pakistan cricket as far as fast bowling is concerned because there is strong competition at the moment and the selectors have many choices in front of them.”
CaptaincyJunaid who recently captained Pakistan A against England Lions said he enjoys captaincy.
“I’ve captained in domestic cricket in all formats and I don’t think I am someone who feels any additional pressure when leading the side.”
“I’ve played under and alongside some very experienced cricketers and learnt from them and watched how they lead the team. As a cap-tain I think it’s imperative that you learn from others and watch how they lead the team and then take on board all the good points of vari-ous styles of leadership,” he said.
The Pakistan pacer also reiter-ated his desire to be remembered like legends Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis.
“Yes the goal is still the same. Even Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis had to make comebacks for one reason or another. Nobody has a right to be selected, it’s all about merit and performance.
“It was nice to be compared with Wasim Akram when I was at Lan-cashire when I was bowling York-ers at the end of an innings and hopefully in future there will be more comparisons with Wasim.”
Speaking about the recent fi t-ness camp, he said: “It was a very good opportunity to speak with both Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed about my bowling in terms of technical and generic aspects. There were a few things suggested to me by the coaches particularly in respect of my bouncer, off -stump Yorkers and outswing. The camp gave me the chance to dis-cuss a few things with Waqar You-nis and I found it very useful.”
- For full interview visit www.timesofoman.com
In an exclusive interview with PakPassion.
net, Junaid Khan spoke about his recent
struggles and his plans to re-establish
himself in the national team after injury, his
aspirations to raise his performance levels
to that of the legendary Wasim Akram
CONFIDENT ABOUT THE FUTURE: Junaid Khan
Iraq to back Prince Ali in FIFA election
AMMAN: The Iraq Football Association (IFA) have pledged their support for Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein in next month’s FIFA presidential election, the Jorda-nian royal said on Wednesday.
Ali will stand against Asian Football Confederation (AFC)President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne of France, South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino in the Feb. 26 vote.
“The FA has endorsed Prince Ali in a letter to FIFA,” IFA presi-dent Abdul Khaliq Masood said in a statement published by Ali’s bid team. We have decided that Iraq’s vote will go to Prince Ali because Prince Ali has always supported the development of football in Iraq, Jordan and our region.”
Ali hosted a delegation from Iraq including Masood and Iraq Minister of Sports and Youth Abdul Hussein Abtan on Mon-day as he attempts to drum up support ahead of the election to decide who will succeed Sepp Blatter as president of the scan-dal-hit body.
Blatter, who beat Ali in the most recent FIFA presidential election last May, and UEFA President Michel Platini were both handed eight-year bans from soccer last month for eth-ics violations.
Both deny any wrongdoing but their absence has left the global game leaderless as it tries to dig itself out of a slew of cor-ruption cases, with criminal investigations under way in the United States and Switzerland.
Ali returned to Jordan at the start of the week to meet the Iraqi delegation after cam-paigning in Africa and the Car-ibbean, where his team said he “picked up private commit-ments of support from several other nations”.
Rival Infantino said previous-ly he had major support in the Caribbean region, which has 25 votes in the 209-member elec-tion being held in Zurich. - Reuters
F O O T B A L L
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
CultureSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
Titled simply Royal Opera House Muscat, a grand volume on Oman’s Royal Opera House by HE Mohammad Al Zubair that
is magnifi cently set within the drama of world opera, is not only the fi rst major treatise on one of the nation’s greatest cul-tural treasures, it is the fi rst book on the Sultanate to be nominated for the prestig-ious Book of the Year Award in Germany. Georg Oms, head of the renowned fi rm bearing his name that published the book, announced the nomination at the launch of the book last weekend. He declared Royal Opera House Muscat “a diamond” in the literary cultural realm.
Finest QualityDr Rawya Al Busaidi, Minister of Higher Education and Chair of the Board of the Royal Opera House Muscat under whose auspices the launch was held at the ROHM, informally remarked on the im-portance and historical signifi cance of the book, and its astonishing quality. The book was printed in Verona, Italy, on eight dif-ferent kinds of paper of the fi nest quality, variously used to set off the photographs and the text, and to achieve special eff ects in the use of techniques such as overlaying and embossing.
A DVD presentation, which will be played before the upcoming ROHM per-formances, takes the viewer on a journey through the book, ending with sequences in the printing process that show author, Mohammad Al Zubair, personally over-seeing all aspects, including the exacting process of colour correction. The same is true of the photography which makes the book so magnifi cent. Mohammad Al Zubair spent countless hours perfecting the tone, colours, and details of each of the hundreds of photographs that bring the Royal Opera House to life on paper. The atmosphere at the launch was one of great pride and jubilance. When the book was unveiled and Dr Rawya turned the golden pages at the beginning of the volume, a hush went through the gathering. The mood at that moment was later expressed by onlooker, Neru Sampat, saying, “The book is so beautifully written, illustrated, and produced that I had no words to ex-press my feelings.”
Cultural IntellectThis extraordinarily beautiful book is a tribute to all that has been achieved in the Renaissance – the monumental architec-ture, the masterful engineering, the inno-vations in design and decoration rooted in
tradition, and most of all the bold imagina-tion that takes the country forth into the global world through the arts. As Sayyid Badr Al Busaidi, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Aff airs, eloquently remarked: “This magnifi cent new book is absolutely fascinating, quite timely, and a welcomed addition to the collection of global heritage and cultural intellect. It will remain a masterpiece and jewel in it-self for centuries to come. It is a privilege for us to be part of such splendour and this unique celebration of knowledge and the beauty of civilisation.”
Mohammad Al Zubair explained, “The book had many elements that made it of that calibre – fi rst, the guidance and gener-ous support of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, without which the exceptional quality of the book could not have been achieved. I am grateful to Nasr Al Kindi, Secretary-General of Royal Court Aff airs and his staff for their interest and the ex-cellence of their input, and for facilitating timely access to information and to the fa-cilities. Also the management and staff of the Royal Opera House were very helpful during the photography phase. The book would not have reached a high standard of excellence and artistry without the ex-pertise, talent, and passionate dedication
of those who assisted me in its develop-ment and who are fully recognised in the acknowledgements.”
One of the special things about the book and an aspect of its authenticity is that it contains the voices of those involved in
the creation of the Royal Opera House from the concept stage in the year 2000 to the completion of the building in 2011.
While assisting with the development of the book, I had the privilege of indi-vidually meeting more than 25 offi cials, professionals and artisans — from rep-resentatives of the Supreme Committee appointed by His Majesty to govern the project, to architects and engineers, de-signers, decorators, acoustics and theatre specialists and construction managers.
As we discussed their experience of working on the ROHM Project and how they dealt with the tremendous chal-lenges encountered in engineering an opera house that would also function as a concert hall, while creating a beautiful palace capable of unobtrusively harbour-ing state-of-the-art technologies — it was apparent that all those involved were pas-sionate about the project, inspired by the vision of His Majesty, and determined to make their contribution the very best it could possibly be. The book is a product of the same ideals — and it will represent Oman’s cultural achievements on the in-ternational literary stage.
A work of art in itself, Royal Opera House Muscat is available in a large and smaller size at the ROHM.
Story Dr Patricia Groves
Photography Khalid Al Busaidi/ROHM
HE Mohammad Al Zubair’s book
on Royal Opera House Muscat
is fascinating, quite timely, and
a welcomed addition to the
collection of global heritage and
cultural intellect. It will remain a
masterpiece for centuries to come
Sayyid Badr Al BusaidiSecretary-General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Capturing the Essence of an Icon
FIND-IT-ALLC6 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
Dhuhr 12.23pm
Asr 3.29pm
Maghrib 5.50pm
Isha 7.04pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.32am
PRAYER TIMINGS
CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman
SHATTIThe 5th Wave (2D) (Adventure) (PG12) Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick RobinsonTiming: 2:30, 6:45, 11:30 PMThe Revenant (2D) (Adventure) (12+) Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy8:30PMRide Along 2 (2D) (Action) (15+) CP# Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter4:45, 9:45,11:45PMThe Hateful Eight (2D) (Crime) (12+) Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell2:30PMOur Brand is Crisis (2D) (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton5:45,7:45PMDirty Grandpa (2D) (Comedy) (15+) Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch2:30, 6:45PMThe Boy (2D) (Horror | Thriller) (15+) Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans11:30 PMAirlift (2D) (Drama | History | Thriller) (12+) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur4:15,9:00PM
MUSCAT GRAND MALLDirty Grandpa (Comedy) 15+Cast : Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch12:15PM & 7:30PMAirlift (Drama, History, Thriller) 12+Cast : Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur2:15,9:00&11:30PMGold Class - 6:00PMRide Along 2 (Action | Comedy) 15+Cast : Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter12:00, 7:00&11:30PMGold Class - 3:30&8:30PMThe Fifth Wave (Adventure | Sci-Fi) PG12Cast : Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson
4:45&9:30PMGold Class - 11:00PMNorm of the North (Animation) PG12Cast : Rob Schneider, Heather Graham3:45PMThe Peanut Movie - (Animation) PGVoice Over: (Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez2:00PMThe Good Dinosaur-3D (Animation) U5:30PM
PANORAMA MALLOur Brand is Crisis (2D)(PG)Cast : Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton2:30&6:30PMAirlift (2D)(12+)Cast : Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:30,06:15,8:45,11:15PMAirlift (2D) (12+)-VIP LOUNGE8:30PMRide Along 2 (Action, Comedy)(2D)(15+)Cast : Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter2:30,,4:30,9:30,11:30PMRIDE ALONG 2 (Action)(2D)-VIP LOUNGE6:30,11:00PM The Fifth Wave (ci-fi)(MX4D)(PG12)
Cast : Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson3:45,6:30,,8:45,11:00PM THE FIFTH WAVE (Sci-fi)(2D)(PG12)4:30,11:30PMThe Hate Eight (Comedy)(2D)(12+)Cast : Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell 6:30PMThe Revenant (Adventure, Drama)(2D)(12+)Cast : Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy8:30PMThe Revenant (2D)(12+)-VIP LOUNGE3:30PM
AZAIBA Airlift – 2D (PG12) Drama/ History/ ThrillerCast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:00,5:30,6:30,8:00,10:30,11:30PMRajini Murugan (Tamil) – 2D (PG) ComedyCast: Shivakarthekeyen, Keerthi Suresh8:35PMOur Brand Is Crisis – 2D (PG) ComedyCast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton2:30,6:15PMGethu (Tamil) – 2D (PG) Action/ ComedyCast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Amy Jackson6:15,9:00 PM
2 Countries (Malaylam) – 2D (PG12) ComedyCast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas8:25PMWazir – 2D (PG12) Hindi| Action| ThrillerCast: Amitabh Bacchan, Farhan Akhtar4:30,11:30PMBajirao Mastani – 2D (PG12) Drama, HistoryCast: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone3:15 PMThe Revenant – 2D (12+) Drama | ThrillerCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy3:15,11:45PM
RUWIScreen 1Airlift (Action / Thriller) –12+Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur2.30,5.30,8.30,11.30PMScreen 2Wazir (Action / Thriller) – PG12Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Farhan Akhtar3.45 PMGethu (Action / Thriller) – Tami - PGCast: Udhayanidhi Stalin, Vikranth, Sathyaraj6.45,9.15PMAirlift (Action / Thriller) –12+
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur11.45PMScreen 3Dilwale (Action/Romance) – PG12Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol.3.15 PMWazir (Action / Thriller) – PG12Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Farhan Akhtar6.15,9.15,11.45PM
SURThe Fifth Wave (Sci-Fi) (PG12) CP#2:30, 6:25 PM.Airlift - (Hindi) (Drama |History) (12+) CP#Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur4:25,8:30,11:00PM2 Countties (Malayalam) (PG12) CP #Cast: Dilip, Mamata Mohandas.6:45 PMThe Boy (Horror | Thriller) (15+) CP#Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans2:30,11:45 PM.Ride Along 2 (Adventure) (15+) CP#Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumter.4:30,9:45PM.
SOHARThe Revenant - 2D (12+) Adventure | ThrillerCast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy3:00 PMThe Fifth Wave - 2D (PG12) | Sci-Fi | ThrillerCast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson6:30, 9:30, 11:45 PMThe Hateful Eight - 2D (12+) Comedy Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell3:15 PMRide Along 2 - 2D (15+) Action | ComedyCast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter 5:00 , 11:30 PMAirlift - 2D (12+) Drama | History | ThrillerCast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:45, 7:00, 8:45, 11:15 PMThe Boy - 2D (15+) Horror | ThrillerCast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans3:00, 11:45 PMMin Dahar Ragel - 2D (Arb) (TBC) DramaCast: Asser Yassin, Yasmin Raeis 5:50 PMRajini Murugan - 2D (T) (PG) ComedyCast: Shivakarthekeyen, Keerthi Suresh8:30 PM
Gethu - 2D (T) (PG )Action | ComedyCast: Udayanidhi Stalin, Amy Jackson6:15 PM2 Countries- 2D (M) (PG) ComedyCast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas8:45 PM
BURAIMI
Ride Along 2– 2D (Action, Comedy) (15+)Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter3:15, 5:15, 9:30, 11:30PMThe Boy – 2D (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans5:00, 11:45PMThe Fifth Wave– 2D (Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson3:00, 6:00, 9:45PMRajini Murugan– 2D (Comedy) (PG)Cast: Shivakarthekeyen, Keerthi Suresh8:00PMAirlift – 2D (Drama, History, Thriller) (12+)Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur3:30, 7:00, 11:00PM2 Countries– 2D (Comedy) (PG12)Cast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas6:45PM
SALALAH
Dirty Grandpa (2D) (15+) (Comedy) Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch10:30AM & 3:55PMRide Along 2 (2D) (15+) (Action | Comedy) Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter10:45AM, 2:00,6:50,9:15&11:45PMThe Boy (2D) (15+) (Horror, Thriller) 5:10,11:55PM The Fifth Wave (2D) (PG12) (Adventure)Cast: Chloe Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson12:30,2:40,7:05PM The Hateful Eight (2D) (12+) (Comedy) Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell6:05PMAirlift (2D) (12+) (Drama, History, and Thriller) Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur11:30AM,2:45,9:15&11:15PM 2 Countries (2D) (PG12) (Malayalam) Cast: Dilip, Mamta Mohandas8:50PM Our Brand Is Crisis (2D) (PG12) (Comedy) Cast Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton12:40,4:45PM
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
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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
@RUWI @SOHAR
Screen 1Airlift (Action / Thriller) –12+Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur2.30,5.30,8.30,11.30PM
@SHATTI
Dirty Grandpa (2D) (Comedy) (15+) Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch2:30, 6:45PM
The Boy - 2D (15+) Horror | ThrillerCast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans3:00, 11:45 PM
BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com
Our Brand Is Crisis: (Comedy / Drama)Cast: Sandra Bullock, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie 2.00,4.00,8.00&11.55PMCP No: 122 (PG)The Boy: (Horror / Thriller)Cast: Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell 4.00, 6.00, 10.00&11.55PM CP No: 123 (15+) Dirty Grandpa: (Comedy)Cast: Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoey Deutch2.00,6.00& 0.00PMCO No : 124 (15+) Ride Along 2: (Action / Comedy)Cast: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter 8.00PMCP No: 112 (15+)
STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776Website: www.isurf.co.om
2 Countries (Mal) (Drama\Comedy) Cast: Dileep & Mamta Mohandas3:00, 6:30 & 10:00PM Cinema Main Rajani Murugan (Tamil) ( Com \ Rom) Cast: Sivakarthikcyan & Keertht Suresh 3:30, 6:30 & 9:30PM Cinema - 2 Dictator (Telugu) (Action\ Comedy) Cast: Balakrishna & Anjali 3:45PM Cinema -3 & 6:45PM cinema -4 Airlift (Hindi) (Act\ Thriller) Cast: Akshay Kumar & Nimrat Kaur 6:45 & 9:45PM cinema- 3 Gethu (Tamil) (Com\ Drama) Cast: Udhanidhi & Amy Jackson 3:45 & 9:45PM Cinema -4
Programmes are subject to change
WEATHER
250
Maximum
170
Minimum
TEMPERATURE
45-75%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
MANTHAN MITESH NIMKAR January 22, 2011
MOHSIN ALI SIDDIQUIJanuary 22, 2014
WITH LOVE
JOSEPH JOISONJanuary 21
MOHD TAAIB IMRANJanuary 21,2004
The cast and crew of Dishoom was welcomed in Abu Dhabi as fi lming of the Bollywood block-buster commenced in the Emir-ate. With 40 fi lming days sched-uled, Dishoom will be Abu Dhabi’s longest feature fi lming project to date brought by twofour54, home to Abu Dhabi’s media and enter-tainment industry.In a nod to Abu Dhabi’s unique and varied locations as well as the ease of accessibility from India, the majority of fi lming for Dishoom will take place in the capital.
In excess of 90 cast and crew will be involved in the shoot, as well as a number of Emiratis who are taking up opportunities to in-tern on the production. The Abu Dhabi locations that will serve the fi lm’s storyline include Nurai, Saadiyat and Yas Islands, as well as Emirates Palace, Sheikh Zayed Stadium and Liwa Dessert.
Dishoom’s choice of Abu Dhabi as a fi lming location was an-nounced in Mumbai last May during an event for the Bollywood fi lmmaking community hosted by twofour54 and the Abu Dhabi Film
Commission (ADFC) in conjunc-tion with the Film & Television Producers Guild of India. Dishoom is directed by Rohit Dhawan, while the producer of the fi lm, Sajid Na-diadwala is one of Bollywood’s top producers and has delivered many hits at the box offi ce such as Jeet (1996), Housefull (2010), and Kick
(2014). The action adventure will star John Abraham, Varun Dha-wan, and Jacqueline Fernandez in the lead roles.
Maryam Al Mheiri, Chief Op-erating Offi cer, of twofour54, said: “After a year packed with high-profi le entertainment projects facilitated by twofour54, Dishoom
continues the momentum of Abu Dhabi’s fi lm production industry into 2016. Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment is one of the most reputable production companies in Bollywood and we look forward to working with them on what is sure to be another box offi ce hit.”—[email protected]
LIFESTYLEC7T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
WATCH BUY
Our Brand is Crisis
(In theatres now)
Scan for more information
Scan to buy tickets
LISTENTRY
Popcorn
The delicious between-meal treat
Scan for details
WEEK
END
UPDATE
Visit Muscat Festival
at Amerat Park and Naseem Gardens
Glad you Came
by The Wanted
Scan to watch the video
I N T H E N E W S
Phot
o: S
uppl
ied
Chasing a Dream
When a situation calls for a tough decision, the simple thing to do is opt for the easi-
est way out. Imagine you have a very cushy job that pays well but it isn’t what you want to do and you would rather do something else. That ‘something else’, you realise, might be a plunge into the un-known but you feel, it is what you have always wanted to do.
What do you do? There are only two options here. Continue with your dreaded job and slowly but surely work yourself into chronic depression or take the risk and pursue your dream.
It’s not as easy as it sounds be-cause the decision of leaving a job that provides you with a livelihood may not be a realistic option. We all need a fallback when things turn sour so we can be back on fa-miliar territory. On the other hand, you don’t want to wait until you are old and grey and then start wishing that you had taken the risk. It is not always wise to avoid risks so long as you stand a fair chance of mak-ing it. When you have tiny, hungry mouths to feed and a wife who ex-pects you to hold on to a steady job, it may kind of stand in your way — your security or seeking to achieve a life-long ambition.
Being married, however, is not always the only hindrance when you want to change careers at the drop of a hat. I have a friend, who is a confi rmed bachelor and is still trying to muster enough courage to quit his job and become a business-man. A secure job is not the only thing that holds you back — it is also the disruption of the routine. As they say, ‘The devil you know is better then the devil you don’t’. The opinions of others may well be another factor. Comments like ‘What? You want to quit a good job for a pipe dream?’ Then you go on to discourage yourself by saying, ‘It may not be the greatest job in the world but at least it pays the bills.’ The moment you say those words you know that you are damned in the same job for life.
There are those who would ar-gue that it may be worth quitting when your most prized possession — your health — is in question. The chances of picking up ailments like ulcers, blood pressure or even a heart attack increase every day you make that journey to work un-less you really come to terms with your predicament. That means giving yourself a thorough dress-ing down.
Again, that may not be as easy as I have put it. Especially when you realise that weeks spin into months and before you know it, years of despair have piled up on you. So, when it’s time to look back, you can only see a sorry fi gure waking up every morning to a job that doesn’t live up to expectations. You could, however, then do the only sensible thing left in your control and that is to advise your children to ‘grab the day so you can take hold of your life before it’s too late.’
I know that some readers will be able to identify with these situ-ations. To make a career switch is never easy, but it may be the best thing you could do for yourself or family. This is the situation when you begin to wonder staying a bachelor was the best decision you never took.
Phot
ogra
phy:
MM
G
SO TO SPEAK
SALEHAL-SHAIBANY
What do you think?Scan below to have your say on Facebook/TimesofOman
‘Dishoom’ Comes to Abu Dhabi
GLIMPSES OF OMANI CULTURE
LIFESTYLEC8 T H U R S DAY, JA N UA RY 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
The Muscat Festival Heritage Village throws light on the
rich cultural heritage of the Sultanate. Visit Amerat Park to
see Omani weavers in action, taste authentic Omani Kahwa
and revel in the traditional dance of Oman. The festival will
conclude on February 13.
Photography Talib Al Wahaibi
e
o
a
l
W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O MSECTION
CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E
D
D4 VACANCY CARGO D7
T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
RENT D2
*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.
* Subject to space availability
*Tourist visa arranged
Email: [email protected] classifi [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461
FOR RENT
D2 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDE
1/2/3 BHK Flats & Showrooms at Mutt rah, near Oman fl our mills,
10 min. from corniche. equipped with split/cassett e unit ACs, internet points, free-
to-air dish connecti on, CCTV monitored, basement parking. Rent RO.250/350/450
(Negoti able) per month.
Contact : 99229263; 93221054; 95215289
NEW Flats & Showrooms for Rent
BHK apartment for rent in
Al Khuwair near Ibis Hotel.
Contact: 95124975
Room, toilet and sharing kitchen
for family near Azaiba Bank
Muscat. Contact: 96755127
1&2 BHK fl at in Walja.
Contact: 98218279
Single room attach bath with
kitchen in Muscat 100/- R.O.
Contact: 95094028
New fl ats for rent at Darsait near
to ministry of sports, Mumtaz area
the fl ats include 1 living room, 2
Bedroom, kitchen, 3 toilets every
room with split A/C & high Quality
fi nishing, rent per fl at is R.O 340/-.
Interested candidates please
Contact: 00968- 92225523
2 bed rooms fl at with hall, 2
bathrooms in Darsait near Muscat
Municipality. Contact: 92584715/
24700120
2BHK new bldg for families
Al Khuwair 17/2. Contact: 91403136
1000 sqmtrs industrial land for
rent in Ghala suitable for
warehouse workshop etc.
Contact 24700120 / 92584715
1& 2 BHK fl ats for rent at Hamriya Wadi Adai, Al Khoud,
Mabela & shop at Al Khoud & land
line Contact: 24834644 GSM
93994401/02/03 3 lines
2BHK modern & spacious fl ats
with split AC for rent in Qurum
near PDO Gate No.2.
Contact: 94057023
Flat available in Muttrah Corniche
near Gold Souq (4 rooms, 2 bath-
rooms, 1 kitchen with balcony).
Contact: 24707088 / 91405015
3BHK fl at for rent in Ghubra.
Contac: 99328070
1000 sqm industrial land with
compound well & two rooms at
Misfah. #99342733/ 99795241
Store / warehouse for rent 52 sqm
at Maabela Sinaiya.
Contact: 92454170
02 BHK Commercial / Residential
(with split AC) fl at at Honda road.
Contact: 99342733 / 99795241
Flats shops & store for rent in
Ruwi, MBD area & Honda road.
Contact: 92589235/ 94579531
Flats for rent 2BHK, 1 BHK with
AC new building at Wadi Al Kabir
behind Muscat Bakery.
Contact: 92103604
To let rooms in Qurum.
Contact: 99664703
02 BHK residential fl at opposite to
Al Nadha hospital.
Contact : 99342733 /99795241
Flats shops & store for rent in
Ruwi MBD Honda road. Contact:
92433127 / 97293708
Single bedroom fl at behind
German Embassy near to Al Nah-
dha Hospital and single bedroom
fl at near to Indian School Al Ghub-
rah. Contact: 99203954
2BHK fl ats with split AC available
for rent at Al Khuwair 33.
Contact: 94057023
Flat for rent (Walja) Ruwi 2 rooms,
2 toilets & kitchen for enquiry.
Contact: 95464608 or 95464607
2 bedroom centrally air
conditioned fl at in CBD, Central
Bank area. Contact: 24714625 /
99053493
2 BHK near Khamis shoes Honda
road Junction. Contact: 99737562
Flats for rent in Wadi Kabir.
Contact: 99376454
2BHK fl at for rent Darsait near ISM.
Contact: 95158570 / 99102255
2 bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, car
park R.O 220/- & 1 bedroom,
kitchen, toilet R.O 140 in
Al Khuwair. Contact: 95154331
Flats available for rent at Al
Ghubra. Contact 99876576 &
93656672
Brand new Twin Villas in
Mawaleh South 4BR; 2Halls;
External Kitchen and Maids room.
Contact: 99414106
Commercial / residential fl ats in a
new building for rent near Muttrah
Police Station residential 1BHK /
2BHK more details.
Contact: 99364735 / 95729711
2BHK Sitting room, 3 bathrooms,
split AC big balcony 300/- R.O in
Wadi Kabeer. Contact: 99324402
Flat in Khoud near Mazoon
Mosque with 3 bedrooms, living
room, 3 toilets, RO 250/- with A/C.
Contact 95328147
Flats for rent in Muscat.
Contact: 99262605.
Big offi ce for rent in CBD (Ruwi)
road ready to shifting with AC and
partitions. Contact: 92345250
In a Luxury Buildingin Al Seeb MarketNear Police station
FLATS FOR RENT
Call: 99888007 - 99473500
Luxury flat for rent in Bareeq Al Shatti buildingSpacious 2 BHK with sea view, split A/Cs, fixed wardrobes,
kitchen appliance. Near Opera Gallery.
Rent RO.900/- negotiable. Contact - 94084335 / 96920789
DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 D3
FOR RENT
ACC. AVAILABLE
ACC. AVAILABLE
MV SALE
Ford focus, 2012 model, expatri-
ate driven and fully company
maintained, in good condition.
Contact: 968 97608174
Tucson Automatic 2007 V – 6, net
R.O 1600/-. Contact: 99384640
Hummer H2 model 2006, 178000
km, Full options Number 1 Army
edition.OMR 7200. Contact
-99466773
Chaverlet Epica 2004 model
RO -700, for sale. Contact 92194205
BMW 318/ 2003 for sale.
Contact 96364990
FOR RENT2BHK,
3 washroom Flat with Split Air Conditioners -
Near Lulu Darsait
CONTACT : 93202733
FOR RENT
WANTED
BUILDINGFOR SALE
MUMTAZ AREA(NEAR RUWI HOTEL)
CONTACT - 99353931
Household items & furniture in
excellent condition for sale. Indian
expat leaving for good.
Contact Ravi : 93380408
Beauty Salon for urgent sale in
Azaiba prime location behind
Al Fardan building. With sponsor
and 1 staff and 1 ready visa clear-
ance. Call: 95318629 / 95169411
Villas in Al Khoud. Contact -
95056808-97201688
Luxury Apartments in Bousher
(35). Contact - 95056808-
97201688
Beauty parlor for sale in good
condition at Ghubra.
Contact: 98178135
Excavation contracts worth RO 2
million + Big Volvo Excavators &
2015 Astra 5 tippers for sale. Con-
tact: 99120532 / 98867530
Dental Lab for sale Seeb.
Contact: 99826435
Master Chef restaurant Al Hail for
sale 8 visas clearance available.
Contact: 91205000
3Ton Forklift, Special made for
Oman market, Japanese Isuze
C240 Engine, Cascade side shifter,
High amount exhaust, 3m lifting
height, Solid tyres, One year war-
ranty. Contact: 98883445
FOR HIRE
Bobcat available for rent.
Contact 97623299
Low bed Trailer (PDO – SPC)
available monthly / daily for Rent.
Contact: 96633970
IELTS Coaching (academic)
required nearby wadi Kabir area.
Please call on mobile or msg on
Whats up.
Mobile no: 92927880/99012165
Flat for rent in Wadi Al Kabeer
near the Kuwaiti Mosque, for more
information. Contact: 99425958
Apartment for rent in Muscat
Sidab beside road ground fl oor
3 bedrooms, 2 Bathrooms.
Guestroom, Kitchen & hall.
Contact: 99277377
1& 2 bedroom apartments avail-
able for rent at Ghubra near Grand
mall, 6 bedroom villas available
for rent Al Mouj (Wave) at Al Hail.
Contact: 99833747
FOR SALE
LOST
Single bedroom fl at behind
German Embassy, near Al Nahdha
Hospital. Contact 99203954
Flat for rent in
CBD area - Ruwi
Two rooms and a large hall
•Office spaces for rent in Al Hail on
the main road On the same building
of Al Khamis Shoes at Al Hail
•2 bed room flats in Qurum 29 for
rent next to ABA New building
-split AC - Good location
Contact No: 96177505
New 1BHK fully furnished for
R.O 275/- at Wadi Kabir near
Al Hassan. Contact: 92577929
Hail Independent rooms RO 140/-
& 160/-. Contact 95529970
Furnished room at Hilat Al Saad
with TV, AC, fridge near main road.
Contact : 95714202
Couple or bachelor room in
Wadi Kabir. Contact: 91165580 /
95264549
Single room B/attached Executive
bachelors in wadi kabir. Contact:
99336206
Room available Walja. Contact :
95382651 / 95382650
Semi furnished spacious room
with attached washroom separate
entrance near Indian school
Al Ghobrah for non cooking
Executive Indian bachelor.
Contact: 95146361/92657598
Furnished bedrooms for Indian
Executives / couple at Al Ansab.
Contact: 96366282
Spacious semi furnished room
with separate bathroom for execu-
tive bachelor opposite OC centre
Ruwi. Call: 92273779
Furnished room with a/bathroom
in Al Khuwair33 for Indian Execu-
tive. Call: 95234062
Furnished room & bath Darsait
R.O 140/-. Contact: 93289652
Furnished offi ces in business
center behind Al Burj Hotel Ruwi
with all facilities included.
Contact: 99331181
Fully furnished deluxe villa
behind Khimji Mart Darsait.
Contact: 99331181
2 BHK Flats for rent Muttrah near
Oman house S/ AC.
Contact: 97007934 / 92629232
Profs/ Jack. Contact 93219378
2 Room + hall & kitchen ,3 toilets
in Bareeq Al Shatti 750 RO.
Contact: 99314314
1BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/-.
Contact: 97799175 / 92144045
7 Bedrooms villa in Ghobrah North.
Contact - 96420432
3 BHK fl at near Darsait ID medical.
RO 420/- Contact – 99358589 /
97079146 / 95570288
Flat for Rent 1/2 BHK Flat at
Muttrah, near Oman fl our mills,
10 min. from Corniche.Equipped
with split unit ACs, internet points,
free-to-air dish connection, CCTV
monitored, basement parking.
Rent RO.250/350 per month.
Contact:99229263; 93221054;
95215289
600 SQT commercial fl at for rent
opposite Oman fl ourmill Darsait
more details. Contact:91214849/
99364735
One fl ats for rent 2 bedroom
all with bath al Ghobrah north near
Indian school (hot burger restau-
rant) Tel. 9976610
1 bedroom fl at at Ruwi Mumtaz
area. Contact : 95282986
Restaurant & Coff ee Shop for sale
in Ghala area. For details contact
99072003 / 99299712
Dialysis Machine(DBO7) - Available
10 Units for Sale .
Contact : 94306662 or
Email : [email protected]
Single room for expat Indian
bachelors near Al Aktham restau-
rant Al khuwair for RO 120.
Water and electricity included.
Contact 98803261
Furnished room in new building for
working Muslim lady/
Muslim couple only. Location AINT,
Darsait. Contact - 99008069
Room for rent with furniture.
Al Bustan villeage. # 93687466
Flats in Darsait. Contact - 94051789-97201688
Flats in WadiKabir. Contact - 94051789-97201688
Fully Furnished apartments in
Boucher (35)
Contact - 94051789-97201688
Flats in Muttrah. Contact - 94051789-97201688
Offi ces in Ghala. Contact - 94051789-97201688
Offi ces in Qurum opposite City
Center. Contact - 94051789-
97201688
Brand new villas in Al Ansab.
Contact - 94051789-97201688
Offi ces & Showrooms in Muttrah.
Contact - 94051789-97201688
Mini Furnished Apartment in
Qurum. Contact - 94051789-
97201688
Duplex villa in Qurum 29. Contact
- 94051789-97201688
Offi ces & Showrooms in Al Khoud.
Contact - 94051789-97201688
ASHOK LEYLAND BUS 2 NOS
MODEL 2010 & MODEL 2012SEATING 66,
GOOD CONDITIONTOYOTA INNOVA
MODEL 2011, 7 SEATER, VERY GOOD CONDITION
FOR SALEP
CONTACT: 99413089
Mohammed Hasib Mohammed Towfi q has lost Indian Passport
No. K 0871714. Finder please
handover to ROP or call 24561400.
Mohammed Jahedul Islam has
lost Bangladeshi Passport No. AF
8603822. Finder please handover
to ROP.
Wazkuroni has lost Bangladeshi
Passport No. BC 0508831. Finder
please handover to ROP.
1,2 BHK Ghubra R.O 300/-, 325/- &
350/-. Contact: 97799175
1BHK fl at near Star Cinema 220/-
Contact 99358589 /95570288
Single BHK fl at available
in Honda road Ruwi. Contact:
24833972/ 24833974/ 99367448
DAILY GUIDED4 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT
SITUATION WANT-SIT.WANTED
SITUATION WANT-SIT.WANTED
Email: [email protected] classifi [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
ENGINEER/TECH/MECH
CATERING
SKILLED LABOR
MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS
DRIVER
MEDICAL
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE IT
SECRETARIAL & OFFICE
SALES / MARKETING
SALES / MARKETING
Required female Accountant postgraduate in commerce
email: [email protected]
fax: 24784202
We are looking for Chief Financial Offi cer, Male 40- 45
years old, Bachelor of Science in
Accountancy with 5 - 15 yrs. of ex-
perience. Contact: +968 24702133
Email: [email protected]
Heavy duty driver with valid
Oman Heavy Duty license, with
4 years experience. PDO License
holder preferred. Call: 99221683
Driver available with release.
Contact: 93885404
Wanted Driver. Contact: 91025698
Reputed Construction Company
require experienced light Vehicle Driver. Contact 95526871
Looking for experienced construction laborers as a subcontractor for a villa
construction in Mawaleh.
Contact: 96203333
Immediate Requirements for ex-perienced Tailors (Designer wears,
casual clothing). Please call for
interview 99471085
Well reputed Marble Company looking for
3 SALESMEN Requires minimum 3 years experience
and valid Omani driving license. Interested candidates please
Fax your CV to 24601724 or Email on [email protected]
Contact -91262604Email: [email protected]
Wanted female GP, female Gynecologist, female Staff
Nurse, female X- Ray Technician With MOH license for Al Saadi
Specialized Medical Centre in Musanna.
Sales Ladies wanted for Ladies Boutique. Age: 20-35 yrs. Al
Khoudh. Call -91159905 Send CV
Urgently required a man to work
in the studio shop inside, outdoor
and should know to get business
from outside.
Contact: 95097722
Required lady photographer for
studio. Contact: 99020458 Email:
DOMESTIC HELP
Looking for housemaid urgently clearance available good salary
yearly ticket. TEL 24446920 /
99238121, mail: [email protected]
Urgently required building Tech-nician for inquiries. # 98111363
Urgently Required: Window Aluminum Manager, Window Aluminum Engineer and Window Aluminum Foreman with an expe-
rience in Italian Aluminum Doors
and Windows, MUST have NOC
and immediately join.
Apply, fax 00968–24605955,
emails [email protected],
Urgently Required: Senior Quantity Surveyor
with an experience in building
construction MUST have NOC
and immediately join. Apply, fax
00968–24605955, emails
Civil Site Supervisor for telecom
tower projects across Oman. Send
CV to [email protected] or
call +968 9946 7227
Required Maintenance Techni-cian (male - 1) - should have
knowledge of new devices & 3
years Oman experience.
Contact: 94441111 Send CV to
email: [email protected]
Required male Omani / Filipino, 24 – 35 yrs as IT Coordinator. Fluent in
English, to handle all Web Designing
aspects, Mail Campaigns manage-
ment, Technical Support / Trouble-
shooting. Contact 91371231
Indian male, 28, Post Graduate, 6
years exp. in Oman in Sales and
Credit Control , with valid Oman D/L
looking for suitable placements.
NOC available. Ph: 9206 6523
Required Salesman for Electronic
& mobile devices (male - 2) -
should have 3 years Oman experi-
ence. Contact: 94441111. Send CV
to email: [email protected]
Sales Executive required in
Muttrah, Muscat Oman experience &
driving license is must.
Contact: 91710453 / 24711695
Email: [email protected]
Marketing Executive required for tyres & batteries.
Contact: 99020458 Email:
Urgently required Sales Execu-tive with experience in printing
press line with driving license.
Contact: 00968 95948142
Email: [email protected]
Salesman require for building
material with driving license &
10 years working experience.
Fax your C.V 24833043.
(Mustafa Hardware Store)
An excellent Grade company requires experience Salesman
for indoor and outdoor with Oman
driving license. Mail your CV to
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Urgently required GP, Gynecolo-gist, Dentist, Staff Nurse, Lab Technician, Pharmacist, For a
medical centre in Muscat.
Email : [email protected].
Tel: 92603863
Urgently required Offi ce Staff / Manager for medical equipment
import offi ce in Ruwi.
Email: [email protected],
Tel: 92603863
We require licensed General Practitioner, General dentist and male Asst. Pharmacist. Contact
93129219 or CV to
Wanted Gynecologist, General Practitioner, Assistant Pharmacist for immediate appointment.
Contact 97884856/ mail CV to –
A reputed medical complex in Salalah requires to fi ll the fol-
lowing positions, Staff Nurse & Dental doctor with MOH license,
datafl ow and NOC.
Contact: 92728472
Required experienced Dentist with MOH license to manage
dental clinic in Muscat.
Email: [email protected]
Female marketing for medical
centre in Al Khuwair with driving
license. Contact: 99010755
Email: [email protected]
Wanted urgently lady Doctor GP or DGO for immediate appoint-
ment. Contact : 99310590
Email: [email protected]
Required female Nurse with MOH
license dental clinic in Al Khuwair.
Contact: 99010755
Email: [email protected]
Wanted GP Doctor with MOH
license, job location in Muscat
with good salary and benefi ts.
Drop your cv at
SITUATION VACANTREQUIRED
SALES EXECUTIVE for furniture &
building material, minimum experience 5 yrs.
Send CV at Email :
Wanted a Structural Supervisor
having experience in steel fabricati on and erecti on for a well established
fabricati on company in Barka.
Candidates should have experience in Oman & should BE capable to
handle various jobs independently He should have good experience in
fabricati on fi eld with NOC and driving license.
Please send CV [email protected] / 95412589
URGENTLY REQUIRED A LEADING TRADING AND CONTRACTING COMPANY IS
LOOKING FOR AN EFFICIENT FEMALE SECRETARY
WITH MINIMUM 5 YEARS EXPERIENCE. SHE SHOULD BE FLUENT IN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN
ENGLISH. MUST BE FULLY COVERSANT WITH WORD/EXCEL PROGRAMMES AND BE PLEASANT/PRESENTABLE.
SALARY ETC….GOOD PACKAGE WIL BE NEGOTIATED FOR THE RIGHT PERSON.
FAX CV TO 24619102 OR E MAIL; [email protected]
ASSISTANT RETAIL MANAGER • To support GM in developing Muscat based stores • 5 years past Retail store operations experience • Omani or Expatriate (must have NOC if moving jobs) • Omani /GCC Valid Driving License • Team player & good communicator • Written & spoken English
Email: recruitment@afl aggroup.com
ARCHITECT
Female Accountant Indian with
3 years exp in Oman looking for
suitable job. Contact: 98418533/
99338639
Accounting, B.Com, 2 yrs experi-
ence in India Tally ERP 9, Peach tree
accounting quick books, accounting
SMACC busy advanced Excel power
point E-fi ling of statutory return visa
date 24.12.15, visit exp. 23.01.2015.
Contact 90439594
Chief Accountant looking for full /
part time job.
Contact : 95598477/98803439
Indian female 27 MBA Finance
with 4+ years exp in banking, ac-
counts exp in teaching fi eld also
presently on visit visa.
Contact: 94735164 / 96591950
Sudanese National Bachelor of
Accounting 7 years experience
electronic accounting and audit-
ing. Contact: 94872045 Email:
Part time accountant, up to fi nali-
zation of accounts, looking for job
after 5PM (Location prefers –n MSQ
to AL Hail) Contact: 95694737
Sales Executive for Travels & Tourism:Experience not less than 3 years in one of the travels & Tourism, must have a driving license.
Sales Executive for Car Rental:Experience not less than 4 years in one rent a car company, must have a driving license.Notes: - You must determine which position did you applied for it as email subject- Th e company will not see at any demand without subject.
A leading company in travels & tourism, accredited by IATA requires:
Email: [email protected]
Experienced Secretary required for Ruwi offi ce. Must have high
standard of competence in MS
Offi ce suite and excellent Arabic
/ English communication skills.
Send CV and covering Email to
Tyres company seeking for Sales man, minimum 2-3 years
experience. Send CV to
Looking for Sales Executive for
a fi berglass Company in Oman.
Should have 5 yrs experience in
fi ber glass / construction fi eld.
Should have valid driving license.
Email : [email protected],
Contact: 00968 98634898
fax: 26881211
Candidate must have a minimum 2 to 3 years’ experience in assembly, installation, maintenance and repairs of automotive refrigeration, air-conditioning systems and chiller units. He should be well conversant in repair and troubleshooting of electrical faults and experienced in using computerized diagnostic systems. He should be ITI/DME (Auto) qualifi ed.
Auto Electrician cum A/c Mechanic for Workshop
Interested candidates email cv on [email protected] or contact on 99440518
We have a batch of skilled Omani candidates in Administration, HR, Account & Reception ready to join diff erent companies in a month We will also provide training for Omani candidates as per your need like Cashier, Teller, HR, Admin, Sales, Stores, Customer service etc.,
FOR COMPANIES SEEKING OMANI EMPLOYEES
• Th e Institute will identify the potential candidates, interview them and select the suitable candidates in consultation with your offi cials.• Th e entire cost of training will be borne by the Government. During training the company will not incur any cost like salaries & training.• Th e Institute will train them for a period of 6 to 8 months as per the program. • From the date training starts with us, you are fulfi lling the omanization requirement. Th e candidate will stay at least for a year without leaving the job.
For any queries contact us: 26862210, 93677745 & 93677795 Fax: 26861710 email: [email protected], www.aifas.net
Chinese / Arab/ Grill, cooks. Contact: 95529970
Wanted experienced English
speaking Continental Cook
for reputed house in Qurum.
Contact 99466062
20+ years experience Architect
M.B.A 10 years Muscat experience
(local transfer) looking for job
opportunity. Contact: 91709408 /
92981814
Diploma Architect 3Ds Max
(interior, exterior) AutoCAD seeking
suitable position. Contact 98907341
Email: [email protected]
Architect looking for freelance
work in (design plans and 3dmax).
Contact: 96041201
Architect, Indian Female with 04
years of work experience in Qatar,
Oman & India seeking suitable po-
sition. Email: shaazneen.s@gmail.
com, Contact No: 96635846
Urgent RequirementSALES LADY
For Jewellery Showroom1. Two years experience in sales.2. NOC is must.3. Arabic speaking advantage.
(Send CV with current picture)Email:
Required Sales Executive &
Accounts /Admin Executive
For a FMCG Company based in Muscat.
Head offi ce in Dubai. Omani nationals only with
driving license. Sent C. V. to :
REQUIREDFIBER OPTIC
PROJECTS MANAGER,
should have GCC experience 5-10 years
kindly send your CV to [email protected]
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with
13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman in
manufacturing, trading & contract-
ing Cos, capable of handling all
accounting, fi nance, banking, L/C,
import, export & fi nalization seeks
placement. NOC Available.
Call+968-98932752,
mail:[email protected]
Financial Accounting Manager having working experience 24
years looking job in construction
or manufacturing companies 8
years working in Muscat expecting
family status with good compensa-
tion. Contact: 95919546.
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com
Finance-Indian with 7 years experi-
ence in Finance & Accounts up to
fi nalization. Currently employed
in Oman. Having D/L & NOC. Mob:
94122464, [email protected]
Part time Accountant with 15 yrs
exp. in Accounts Finance, Tax Audit
Management.Contact: 95857199
Indian lady, bachelor degree in
Preparatory Programme (BPP) and
Bachelor of Commerce (BCom),
completed training course in MS
Word, Excel, Power Point and Out-
look from KTI looking for full time /
part time job opportunity in Oman.
Contact 92437568, 96795853,
Email: [email protected]
Part-time accounting, tax report,
auditing & bank loan assistance.
Contact 91720465
28/male/MBA - fi nance/B.Com -
Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/
India experience looking for a
suitable placement.
Contact 90187483
Total 24 yrs exp. 15 years served Oman LLC SAOG, SAOC Con-
tracting, trading manufacturing
company as Finance Commercial
Manager looks after fi nance logis-
tics, procurement, ERP, oracle, tally
focus internal control implementa-
tion B.Com PGDBM, ICWA (Inter).
Contact: 91721545 / 95788723,
mail: [email protected]
Accounts & fi nance: 32 yrsIndian male (B.Com) having 7
years Oman experience Oman D/L
& NOC available, looking for suit-
able placement.Contact: 98093515
/ 97494322 email:
Accounts part time services
available to handle all accounts up
to fi nalization, consulting & audit
works. Contact: 96247295
Female Accountant with 10 years
experience. 93726921
Urgently required a lady to work
in the studio shop and must have
experience. Contact: 95097722
Urgently required for a reputed
company in Oman (Tyre, Battery
& Lubricant division) Sr. Execu-tives/Executive-5 nos (Sohar, Ni-
zwa & Muscat), Techno Commer-cial Professional-5nos, Driver (Omani)-1no. Required minimum
3-5 yrs experience in the same
fi eld with market exposure hold-
ing valid Omani driving license
or GCC. Kindly fwd your CV’s to
Contact: (+968)93891700
DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 D5
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ADMIN
ADMIN
CATERING
DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN
DRIVER
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
DOMESTIC HELP
Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp
looking job. Contact: 99531802
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
Structural buildings marine. Avail-
able NOC release. Contact: 92451323.
Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech)
Indian male, with good knowledge
in HVAC on visit visa looking for
suitable placement.
Contact: 90154793
Email: [email protected]
HSE & Fire Safety Engineer
4 years experience air port opera-
tional safety, power & chemical
industry. Contact: 94374241
Indian male 31, Mechanical Enggr
with 9+ year’s exp in Quality As-
surance / control presently on
visit visa. Contact: 94735164 /
96591950
Electrical Engineer B.Tech with
4 yrs experience in India available
on visit visa looking for suitable
placement. Contact: 94741401
Email: sobinthomask05@gmail.
com
Indian male electrical engineer
having 3 yrs exp in industrial
electrical machine maintenance &
data center facilities management
looking for suitable placement (NOC
available). Contact :99381733
Email : [email protected]
Architect Engineer with 3 years
experience in Muscat looking for
a suitable job Contact: 91262904,
Email: [email protected]
Indian female, BE in EEE having
3yrs exp in Software & 1 yr Experi-
ence in Marketing & Admin in
Muscat, looking for suitable
placement. Tel:93422434
Operating Engineer MBA holder 5
years experience in electroplating
and coating of metals. #94690325
Email: [email protected]
ELV Sr. Presales Engineer +7
years experience in UAE, Qatar &
Oman having valid Oman D/L &
NOC. Contact : 93384285
Indian male 25 years Mechanical
Engineer (2 years experienced)
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 93655805
Indian male Diploma Civil En-
gineer have 1 yr. experience, on
visit visa looking for suitable job
(certifi cate attested).
Contact: 92667406 / 99210411,
Email : [email protected]
Sudanese Telecom Engineer, 5 years experience, 3 years in
Oman PMP certifi cate.
Contact: 93391008 Email:
Sudanese Structure Civil Engi-
neer 2 years experience resident
Omani license. Contact: 94393880
Bangladeshi male Diploma in Civ-
il Engineer with D/L 5 years exp, 4
years in Oman has exp. in building
construction seeking a suitable
placement. Contact: 96732988
Electrical Engineer Indian (29) ,
7 years exp in Oman, 33KV, 11 KV
projects in MZEC & MEDC having
CEP 1 & NOC with D/L.
Contact: 99822373
Need job for experienced mason,
electrician & welder.
Contact: 93015630
Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) with
2 and half years experience Indian
male 24 years in visit visa. Contact:
96620482 / + 91 9605423272
Email: [email protected]
B.Tech (IT) Indian Male 2 years
Oman experience in I.T & Network-
ing, holding Oman Driving License,
presently on employment visa,
seeks for a suitable placement.
Ready to join immediately. NOC
available. Contact: 92462578
Electrical & Instrumentation
Engineer, Gulf Experience, 3 Year,
Immediately available.Contact-
95691800
Email: [email protected]
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: [email protected]
Civil Engineer 11 years experience
in construction having driving
license & NOC. Contact: 94194399
Email: [email protected]
Telecom Engineer and HSE
Advisor with 6 years experience
in Oman with PDO requirement,
fl uent in Arabic and English with
valid driving license searching for
job. Contact: 96355678
16+ yrs of Techno commercial ex-
perience in ELV systems seeking
suitable position in mid manage-
ment level. Local release avail-
able. Contact: 98143907 Email:
Mechanical Engineer 4 years ex-
perience (3 years HVAC 10 months
piping stress) knows more than 10
softwares, Indian Muslim (27) job
visa. Contact: 90486758 Email:
M.Tech in Manufacturing Engi-
neering with 2 years of experi-
ence, on visiting visa looking for
a suitable job. Contact: 91417949
Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer (UK) 28
years, male having 5 years experi-
ence in technical sales and ser-
vice Engineer, looking for suitable
placement and having valid Oman
driving license. NOC available
immediate avail slit.
Contact: 968 97612297
Email: [email protected]
BE Mech specialization welding
technology 11 yrs quality cont
Engineer by Steel Cons EPL
Installation desalination plant
(Gulf). Contact: 96603299
Electrical Engineer: Indian male,
30 yrs having 5 yrs of experience
in industrial automation & utility
maintenance in India (MRF tyres),
holding valid Oman D/L.
Contact 92789995, email :
Instrument Engineer B.Tech
Indian male, 24 yrs, 1 yrs experi-
ence in reputed oil & gas compa-
nies, currently on visit visa, seeks
suitable job. Contact: 92007218
Email: [email protected]
7 Yrs Exp. PM in Mech. Engg in
the fi eld of Building Const. Oil &
Gas Seeking Job.94625598
Civil Engineer (Diploma) having
11 years experience in building
construction, looking for a suitable
placement , having Oman driving
license. Noc available.
Contact: 95075365
Email: [email protected]
Road and Construction Engineer with 5 years exp in Oman.
Contact: 97667113
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
Interior designer Indian male
with 4 years experience / 3Ds
Max, AutoCAD .Now on visit visa
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 94886507
Email: [email protected]
25 years male BA. English , Quali-
fi ed as mast in digital animation
having 5 yrs ex in character
animation specialized Auto Desk
mago and motion building soft-
ware knowledge, seeking suitable
placement. Contact: 97917357
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
commerce, overall 5 yrs exp in ac-
counts/ fi nance fi eld. On visit visa.
Immediately available.
Contact – 92836216 /
DRIVER
Looking full time job.
Contact: 99153378
Experienced Light Duty Driver,
Fluent in English, Arabic Well
knowledge of Oman Areas
Seeking Suitable placement
Contact 97950869
Light driver need job 4 years exp
English & Arabia speaking.
Contact: 94208089
Job for driving. Contact:
98982410
Indian female Graduate over 6
years experience in Admin opera-
tions business support excellent
MS Offi ce skills looking for suitable
job. Contact: 94231020
Indian Female MBA, 3 Year expe-
rience in Admin MIS, Family Visa.
Contact 98234427,
Indian having more than 10
years experience (7 years in UAE)
as project secretary, document
controller, site administrator, site
store keeper on visit seek suitable
placement. Contact 92196001
14 years of Gulf experience in HR/
Admin & logistics fl uent in Arabic
& English with D/L looking for
suitable position, NOC available.
Contact: 95824598
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
Filipino male with 13 years HR and
Administration managerial experi-
ence. MBA & CIPD holder. Currently
looking for job in Oman. Interested
employer pls call 97728418.
Civil Engineer 6 yrs Exp in Oman
with license. Contact: 98975518
Indian female civil engineer B.Tech
having 3 years experience sound
knowledge of software, REVIT STAD
PRO structural detailing currently
on family visa seeks suitable place-
ment. Contact: 95345591
Civil Engineer diploma holder
having 7 years experience of Site
Engineer with valid Omani D/L
looking for suitable placement.
Contact: 93294965 Email:
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 : [email protected]
Diploma in Electronics, 2 years
exp in telecommunication.
Contact: 94519571 Email:
telecommunicationvishnumadhull
@gmail.com
Civil Engineer (BE) having total
5 years experience in building
construction looking for a suitable
placement. D/L available
Contact# 94450270
Sudanese Architectural Engineer
2 years experience in Oman, Revit,
AutoCAD 3Ds max Archicad look-
ing for suitable job.
Contact: 94722356
Email: [email protected]
Diploma in Mechanical Eng piping system in AutoCAD work,
21+ years experience with Driving
license. Contact: 95267113
Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer M.Tech
2 years experience HVAC design
& site Engg revit MEP Auto CAD.
Contact: 90150913 Email:
Bachelor Civil Engineer 6 Years
in Oman experience Valid Driving
License seeks suitable placement
Phone 97619722
Email – [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer with 3 Yrs
experience in international Oil
& Gas company looking for job
Contacts: Tel: 90164236 Email:
Indian Accountant professional
with 3 years experience currently
on visit visa looking for suitable job
openings. Contact: 92390604
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 28 MBA & M.Com
fi nance 5 yrs exp in Accounts &
fi nance. NOC available seeks suit-
able placement.
Contact: 93939421
Email: [email protected]
Accountant / account assistant,
BBA, M.Com, Tally, Peach tree on
valid visa in Oman.
Contact : 98269281
Indian male, MBA (fi nance),
1 year experience in Oman having
Oman D/L and NOC on visit visa
looking for a suitable job.
Contact 94109375
Indian Male Accountant 10yrs
Exp. in OMAN Retail & Furni-
ture Co. (Release Available)
GSM.92564955
Indian male MBA fi nance 12
years experience in Oman as
Accounts / Admin manger, seeks
suitable placement on visit visa.
Can join immediately. Contact:
96055815 Email: shaikhus-
Indian male B.Com, MBA with 10
yrs experience (5 yrs in Oman) in
accountant receivable, account
payable, sales collection, credit
control with valid D/L, looking for
suitable placement. NOC available.
Contact: 93240480
ACCA with more than 1year ex-
perience in an audit fi rm looking
for a suitable position in accounts,
audit section in a company, having
Oman driving license. #98428098
Indian with more than 30 years
experience in construction ac-
counts (Financial and Cost) and
administration seek suitable
placement (part/full time) in
Oman or UAE. Contact.98598099
Available Indian Graduate (B.Com) / CA Final (Appeared)
having 3 years practical Audit-
ing & Accounting Experience.
Currently in Oman on Visit Visa.
Contact 91418637
Accounting B.Com, 2 years
experience in Indian tally ERP9,
Peachtree, accounting, Quick-
Books accounting SMACC , busy
advanced excel PowerPoint E
fi ling of statutory return visit date
24/12/2015 visit exp 23/1/2015
SPECIALIST AVAILABLE FOR EXPLOSIVE GROWTH IN TERM
OF RESTRUCTURING ALL MODULES OF BUSINESS WITH 30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, MANUFACTURING,
TRADING, APPLICATIONS, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT. CONTACT – 93343251 /
profi toman@ gmail.com
EXPERIENCED TEAM TO PROVIDE TECHNO- COMMERCIAL BUSINESS SOLUTIONS, FEASIBILITY, ERP WITH BI TOOLS, ADVISE ON FINANCIAL, HR,
RISK GENERAL MANAGEMENT, GUIDE STARTUPS RESTRUCTURING,
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT. Contact – 96500729
Email: k.profi toman@ gmail.com
General Manager / Operati ons / Commercial / Procurement Manager
Indian male with 18 years of experience in Gulf operati ons,
accounts, purchase, sales, Admin & HR, looking for a
Sr. positi on in a medium size company.
Email: [email protected]
Contact: 99889396
D.M.E, Indian, 12 yrs experience in Oman,
in Project Esti mati on, Executi on, Quality & marketi ng
working as Esti mati on Engineer in acid & water
tanker, semi trailor company, with heavy
driving license & will get NOC, seeks suitable job in Oman.
Contact - 98968495
ACCOUNTANT With 8 years of experience
(working in Oman since Jan 2013) is looking for a change. Experienced in all aspect of
accounting up to fi nalization of accounts. Also experienced in Insurance underwriting and
claim settlement. NOC will be available
Contact: 95503646
EDUCATION
Indian female M.Sc B.Ed Math-
ematics having 2 years experience
in teaching currently on family
visa. Contact: 96007081
Email: [email protected]
Male 29 years (BE) MEP Engineer
8.5 years of experience in building
construction. Seeking a suitable
job. Contact -95119765/ Email id
NOC available
Procurement Engineer (27 years
Single Male with Oman Driving Li-
cense) having 7 years experience
(UAE 2, Oman 3) with expertise in
MEP, Water, Electro-mechanical,
Instrumentation seeking suitable
placements. (Contact 95852033,
Transmission Cable Technician / Cable Splicer: Saudi Aramco &
Saudi Electricity Co License Holder.
Experience 5yrs, Age 29yrs, Nation-
ality Pakistani: KSA Valid Driving
License. Immediately Available.
Contact: 92850409
Email: [email protected]
Mechanical Engineer male 26 yrs,
with 4 yrs of experience in manu-
facturing oil & gas retail, brand pro-
moting, marketing, logistics having
valid Omani D/L seeking for
a suitable placement.
Contact: 97098676
Email: [email protected]
Chemical Engineer MBA holder ITC
certifi ed in supply chain manage-
ment, ERP familiar 5 years experi-
ence. Contact: 94690325 Email:
5 years of experience in Business
Analyst & Product Management with
Engineering in ECE on visit visa
Contact: 91374247
Indian male, Mechanical
Engineer having 1year experi-
ence, on visit visa looking for
suitable job. Contact:97416564,
Email:[email protected]
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: [email protected]
Project Civil Engineer, BSc,
6 years experience in Oman, build-
ing construction Fluent Arabic,
English and good Hindi Release and
NOC Available). Tel: 97858589
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
Diploma in Automobile Engg male
26 yrs, working as Service Advi-
sor for 2.5 yrs seeking suitable po-
sition. Contact: 94744933 Email:
27 years, 1 year experience,
with D/L. Contact: 97369716
Indian young smart driver 5
years Oman exp speaking English
Arabic, Hindi looking for job.
Contact: 94524433
Pakistani male light driver 10 yrs
in UAE & 1 yr in Oman.
Contact: 93709393
Light driver Ruwi. Contact:
95779594
Having Oman D/L seeking
suitable placement of driver.
Contact: 92789805
Light Driver, 4 yrs exp in Oman.
Contact: 94608755
Looking for driver job 3 years
Oman experience. Contact:
98244078 / 93798802
Driver with car available
for part time job.
Contact: 96320385
Driver 2 years job visa Indian
male (31 yrs). Contact: 96525311
Light driver Indian 4 yrs exp in
Oman having own car need job.
NOC available. Contact: 93053917
Light driver looking for job.
Contact: 95219183
Driver (light & heavy duty) valid
gulf /Indian) looking job.
Contact: 95175192
Bangladeshi male light driver
exp 14 years need job and visa
transfer, release paper available.
Contact: 99165961
Driver with new car looking for
job.contact: 95873286
Sri Lankan Engineer (27 Years
old) – B.Sc Engineering (Hon)
Mining / Geotechnical Presently
in Muscat, 1.5 years experience.
Contact 91295802 /
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: [email protected]
Electrical Engineer with 18 years
exp in UAE. Contact: 98148034
Email: [email protected]
HOSPITALITY
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, concepts &
Franchise development with proven
records. Seeking for Challenging
positions in reputed groups as GM/
COO/CEO/Business Head. (NOC
available) Contact: 96059470
Indian male B.E ECE 25 yrs with
2 years experience in Networking
MCITP CISCO certifi ed AutoCAD
searching for suitable placement.
Contact: 90189537
Indian male (29) MCA Post
Graduate 4.6 years experienced
skilled in System and Network
administration seeking job in IT
sector now on visiting visa. Con-
tact: 92805363 Email: anukkut-
Indian male (28) MCA 6 yrs ex-
perienced Oracle 10g, 6I, PL / SQL
forms / reports seeking job in IT
sector now on visit visa.
Contact: 91475059
Email: [email protected]
Software Engineering Graduate,
2 years IT Sales Experience, D/L +
NOC, Contact: 94464786
Sudanese Network Administra-
tor 1 year experience with (MCSA,
CCNA, CCNP) have valid driving
license. Contact: 92394485
Network Engineer degree Com-
puter Science CCNA, MCSA experi-
ence NOC. Content: 92346191
Indian male 26 years BSC IT with
4 years experience currently on
visit visa looking for IT support
job knowledge of networking,
programming languages, windows
/ Linux environment. Contact:
+968 95369856 / 24781651 Email:
Dynamics AX 2009 / 2012 R2/
R3 Microsoft certifi ed professional
MCA & BCA Having 15 yrs of total
exp & 6 yrs of relevant exp seeking
for suitable position. NOC is avail-
able. Contact: 93469493
Email: [email protected]
IT
Indian male seeking offi ce driver
cum admin job having NOC and 5
years experience with valid Oman
driving license. Contact: 97942787
Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+
experience in Administration/HR,
Customer Support, Offi ce Coordina-
tor with good Computer skill, Now
on Visit Visa,looking for suitable
position. Contact: 90196235
Indian female 29 MBA (HR) BSc
Oman & India, 3 years exp in
Admin & HR seeks suitable place-
ment. Contact: 95619537
Indian female 27 yrs with 5 yrs HR
/Admin experience seeking suitable
placement with valid Oman driving
license. Contact: 98236033
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
Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian
male 24 years with 1+years Indian
experience,(Certifi ed 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:
DAILY GUIDED6 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
Email: [email protected] classifi [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
HR Manual, Employee Hand-
book, Recruitment, Training, HR
Consultancy. Are you looking
for freelancer HR professional?
Please contact on 97914669
Indian Female, Master of Tech-
nology (M.Tech) in Electronics
& Communication Engineering,
currently in Muscat with Family
Visa,1+ year experience in Teach-
ing seeks suitable placement in
Muscat. Contact 96209509
27,male,ACCA fi nalist, have pro-
fessional experience up to fi nali-
zation of accounts, statutory and
internal audit, expertise in using
tally, focus and oracle software,
have 3.5 years experience in ac-
counts till fi nalization ,seeking for
permanent replacement in senior
position,GSM-91324962,email id :
B.TECH ( IT) . 24 years, 2 Years of
experience in technical support,
software development, network-
ing, troubleshooting and manag-
ing, seeks suitable placement.
Contact GSM- 98184170
Indian Male 4 years experience
Chef. Indian, Chinese Cuisine seek
suitable placement. # 99883019
MISCELLANEOUS
Plot for sale Shadnagar Munici-
pality, Mahboob Nagar District,
walk able distance to existing
colonies, national highway and ba-
sic amenities at reasonable price.
Contact – 0091 8686631669
3 bedroom fl at for sale Kerala,
EKM, Palarivattom. Contact: 00968
95993089/ 0091 9446845999/
0091 4842422700 Jimmy
For sale 142 cents prime land
7 kms from kozhikodu Medical
College Hospital in full or plots
bus route and electricity available.
Expected price 2.25 lakhs
per cent negotiable. Contact person
: Dr. Robins 0091- 9447322230
Jayadas 0091- 9446848957
Plot, propeties for sale in
prime location in pune Contact
95272138, (+918390982975)
1100 sqft Property for sale op-
posite to SPFort Hospital, Trivan-
drum. Contact 91254791,
91 8893226226
Kollam byepass 5-10 cent
for sale. Contact: 96157394
NRI
AVAILABLE
Party & Wedding equipment rentals.
Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-
ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,
Crockery, Glassware, Chafi ng 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: [email protected]
SITUATION WANTEDEDUCATION/CLASSES/TRAINING/COMPUTER/WEBSITE
Classes for Spoken EnglishTOEFL / GRE / GMAT / SAT
Excellent Guidance and Coaching Satisfaction Guaranteed
IELTS PREPARATION Target Band 8.0
EAGLES INSTITUTE92325542 | 93657915 | 93657917 | Email: [email protected]
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
• Learn in two months• Satisfaction guaranteed
Tel: 95244310
WEB, ERP and Business Intelligence (BI) creation and management at
rock bottom price. Contact: http//webviewoman
SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES
SITUATION WANT-SERVICES
SERVICESWe Provide Cleaners,
Offi ce boys, Cleaning Contracts, General cleaning etc.
Al Mudakhir Nati onal Est. LLC Contact : 94277020
Water proofi ng ABUQABAS-
Contact 99320217/24788722
We provide loading unloading
helper for contracting.
Contact: 94777137
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
Pest Control Treatments. Ocean Center LLC.
Contact: 99344723
MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of
your marble.Contact 24793614/
99314807
House shifting & transporting.
Contact 92490422
GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,
Contact 99314807/24792998
Split & window A/c servicing &
maintenance. Contact: 93769089 /
95323517
Cleaning & Carpet Shampooing, Ocean Center LLC.
Contact: 99344723
Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont
Maintenance services electric,
plumbing and A/C.
Contact: 96524904 / 94285064
A/C maintenance & servicing,
fridge, washing machine & dish
washer repairing, painting &
cleaning services, electrical &
plumbing. Contact: 99447257 /
97014234 / 24504281
SITUATION WANT-
ED
BUSINESS
Canadian Consultancy company
(recruitment & immigration) is look-
ing for a partner company in Oman.
For contact 00973 39990830
*Classifi ed Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon
for next day’s publication. * Subject to space availability
We are providing services like
Accounts, Auditing, Tax Reports,
Feasibility Study, Bank Loan
Assistance & L L C Registration
ASAS AUDIT & CONSULTANCY
Contact at 91720465/94319719
Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles polishing, carpet
shampooing, maintenance.
Contact ABU QABAS- 99320217
/24788722
Indian male 27 yrs Master in
Computer applications currently
in Muscat with Oman driving L/C
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 93191800
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male, IT System Engineer
having 4 yrs of experience in sys-
tem administration.CCNA,MCSE,
Linux. Looking for suitable job.
Contact :91272867
10 years Oman experience ICT
Sector, capable of handling large
accounts, looking for suitable
Senior Executive position.
Contact: 98987654
Indian female MCA Graduate,
holding valid driving license seek-
ing suitable placement.
Contact: 99466062
B.Tech (IT) Indian Male 2 years
Oman experience in I.T & Network-
ing, holding Oman Driving License,
presently on employment visa,
seeks for a suitable placement.
Ready to join immediately. NOC
available. Contact: 92462578
IT
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
LOGISTICS
More than 8 years of gulf experi-
ence & qualifi ed executive in Air
freight & Sea freight, proven work
experience in logistics coordina-
tion, shipment, export and import
Coordination, cross shipments
and client relation etc. Contact:
95149624 / 0097150-3462492
MEDICAL
Male nurse MOH licensed having
NOC completed BLS, ACLS total 6
yrs exp seeking suitable job, join
at anytime . Contact : 91322744
An experienced Sudanese female Dentist with MOH license look-
ing for job. Contact: 96436517
/97396088
Logistics All rounder Indian male
23 years experience administra-
tion material management, supply
chain, warehouse, purchase, mar-
keting, inventory, accounting, Oman
D/L. NOC available.
Contact: 95980115
The Business Development Man-
ager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years
Inside and outside Oman follow-
ing activities: construction(Very
strong and qualifi ed 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
& investments& tenders & real
estate. Contact 92385033
25 years experienced Supervi-
sor in plumbing & fi refi ghting
available, NOC & driving license.
Contact: 95703680
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
MANAGER
MANAGER
Indian male, with experience in
operations management, informa-
tion security, purchase & stores
mgmt, hold UAE driving license,
on visit visa, seeks suitable job.
Contact 91904541
Email: [email protected]
MBA (marketing) with 17 years
experience in freight forwarding/
logistics industry in GCC & Oman.
Presently working as branch
manager in Muscat. Looking for a
suitable position.
Release and NOC available. Con-
tact: 99856331
Indian Female, 24 Years - MSc
Biotechnology. Worked in Inter-
national Crops Research Institute
For The Semi Arid Tropics for pro-
ject work as trainee. Looking for
suitable job. Mobile: 92619048,
Email: [email protected]
Indian male 25, On Visit Visa MBA
(HR & Marketing) experienced in
Sales, Looking for Suitable Position,
Contact 92788018,
Indian female on visit MBA
(International Business- Market-
ing & Logistics), BE (Computers &
Science Engg.) Trained in SAP-BI/
BW with 1 year experience seek-
ing for job Contact: 90228586
Email:[email protected]
Graduate, computer literate, expe-
rienced in sales, credit control, ac-
counts, Omani D/L , seeks suitable
placement. Gsm 98805474
MISCELLANEOUS
SALES / MARKETING
Indian male 29 yrs having 6 years
Oman experience in hotel industry
& sales looking for a suitable
placement. NOC available having
Oman driving license. #91059015
Email: [email protected]
Indian male with more than 15
years experience in construc-
tion, agriculture, industrial tools,
air coolers & personal protective
equipments looking for suitable
position in sales & marketing valid
Oman D/L. Contact: 92406527
Indian male 26, with more than
4 years experience in Sales and
Marketing having valid GCC
license on visit visa seeks suitable
position. Contact: 92423161
PG diploma in Strategic Manage-
ment having two years experience
in Marketing and Management
currently on visit visa seeking for
suitable job. Contact : 93406821
Email: [email protected]
Indian male Sales Engineer 18
years experience (pneumatics,
electric, air compressor, garage
equipments etc) including 5 years
Gulf experience currently employed
in Oman with D/L looking for suit-
able position, NOC available.
Contact 94425942 Email:
BBA graduate /Valid Omani li-
cense/2 year experience/ Preferred
role Marketing / Sales / Business
development Executive.
Contact-94122944,
Indian male B.Sc Chemistry Grad-
uate 6 years experience in India
seeking suitable placement willing
to work in any fi eld currently on
visiting visa. Contact: 94855667 /
92255983
Pakistani male three years experi-
ence in Oman speaks excellent
English, earlier worked as English
speaking tourist guide.
Contact : 99120956
Indian 16 yrs sales / marketing
all Oman experience, on visit visa
with D/L. Contact: 90205082
B.Tech Electronics Indian male
experience in Technical & market-
ing 2 years Oman driving license.
Contact: 98627362 , email :
34 yrs, Indian male 7 years sales
& marketing exp have valid D/L.
Contact: 99869456
MBA Graduate (Indian) 2 years
experience in Auto sales & market-
ing looking for suitable job in auto-
matic industry. Contact: 94676974
Email: [email protected]
MBA graduate having 6 years exp
in Sales & Marketing, 4 years with
PEPSI, India, having international
driving license permit seeks suitable
placement. Cont : 95308167,
Email : [email protected]
MBA (logistics and supply chain)
3.5 years freight forwarding ex-
perience operations & sales, back
offi ce operation Oman, Yemen &
UAE. Contact: 92549913
Email: [email protected]
Sales Coordinator, BBA MBA
(pursuing) tally on valid visa in
Oman. Contact : 98269281
Assistant Purchase Manager expe-
rience 9 years at Oman in Construc-
tion Company skills driving license.
Contact: 98894178
Email: [email protected]
Indian male, MBA Marketing
having 2.5 years Sales experience
immediately looking for a suitable
position. Contact: 91415145,
Email: [email protected]
Indian female M.Sc in computer
application, having experience in
Muscat looking for suitable place-
ment available to join immediately.
Contact: 94591608
Sales & Marketing Executive MBA
with 3 years experience in sales
looking for suitable placement.
Contact: 91345727.
Indian female (M.Tech in Power
system) having Gulf experience
seeking suitable placement in
Oman, now in family visa.
Contact: 94306164 / 91001194
5 years experience in Sales
currently looking for a placement.
Contact: 93458869
30 yr old experienced available
with NOC & Oman driving license
6+years experience in chemicals
Industry. Contact: 96675065
SKILLED / UNSKILLED
Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fi tter
gulf & Indian exp looking job.
Contact: 95175192
TECHNICIAN /MECH.
Instrumentation & controls Technician with 2-3 years
experience preferably in water
sector and having valid driving
license call Ph:+968 99450811
Send CV to [email protected]
B.Com male 2 yrs experience in
sales Computer knowledge,
seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 98371144
email: [email protected]
MISCELLANEOUS
Chief Accountant , 7 years
experienced (out of 25 years
experience in accounts) worked
in reputed group companies. Cur-
rently procuring MBA fi nance and
having Omani Driving License
seeks suitable openings from
reputed companies.
Contact : 95598477 / 98803439
DAILY GUIDET H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6 D7
TOURS
TOURS
RENT A CAR
Silver car, car rental at good rate.
Contact: 96166155/93530540
25 - 50 seater bus with PDO & BP
specifi cation for monthly rent &
small car with driver.
Contact: 99839898
SITUATION WANT-
ED
TOURS
SITUATION WANTEDCARGO
TRANSPORTATION
Transportation.Contact: 99099714
Transportation Al Khuwair.
Contact: 92711421
Transportation. Contact: 91310107
Transportation available Ruwi to
Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.
Contact: 91103909
Transportation. Contact 99508282
Transportation. Contact:99664703
Transportation. Contact
96173326
Transportation. Contact
94510847
Transportation Contact:
99077395
Transportation taxi mini bus.
Contact: 93091106
DRIVING
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
MATRIMONIAL
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 back-
ache, paralysis, arthritis etc
& massage, All Season (Vaid-
yaratnam). Contact 24475280 /
95371664 / 92504980
www.siddhayur.com
GOOD NEWS
MATRIMONIAL
Sunni Muslim parents invite
alliance for their daughter for Hy-
derabad boys. Contact: 91383229
Email: [email protected]
Menon / Nair boy 30 years, look-
ing for a girl, preferred from Otta-
palam area. Contact: 99505473
Hindu nair age 64, looking for a
suitable girl. # 0091 755900189
Nair boy 27 years Keralite work-
ing in Canada looking for qualifi ed
girl. Contact: 99361442
D8 T H U R S D AY, J A N UA R Y 2 1 , 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDEEmail: [email protected] classifi [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
SITUATION WANTEDDINING DELIGHTS