Supreme Committee for Town Planning - and the new governorate of Buraimi
The Supreme Committee for Town Planning was established by Royal Decree 27/85 in 1985, to draw up general town planning policies in the light of the country’s development plans.
According to the Ministry of Information's website, "[the committee] is responsible for following up the implementation and development of approved planning programmes, devising criteria for valuing properties which have been compulsorily purchased for public utilities under the law, and removing any material or financial obstacles to the implementation of plans which have been approved."
That page still states that the committee is chaired by His Excellency Malik bin Suleiman al Ma’amari, Minister of Transport and Housing, although he is now Inspector-General of Police and Customs. Royal Decree 27/85 was superceded by Royal Decree 31/2005 issued in March 2005, which appointed the Minister of National Economy to be chairman. The Ministry of National Economy has responsibility for overall financial macro-planning at the national level.
Members of the committee included the respective ministers of housing, electricity and water (vice-chairman), the interior, the Inspector-general of police and customs, the Minister of state and governor of Dhofar and the President of Muscat Municipality. Undersecretaries of the ministries of regional municipalities, environment and water resources (MRMEWR), tourism and transport and communications were also declared members.
A technical secretariat was created to administer the committee's functions, which was to be affiliated to the Ministry of National Economy. Presumably this was not sufficiently effective because royal decree 24/2006 dated 29th March 2006 established a Secretariat-General of the Supreme Committee for Town Planning and appointed its secretary-general, presumably intending to render it independent of administrative control from the structure of the Ministry of National Economy.
And finally, royal decree 102/2006 of October 3rd restructured the committee yet again, cancelling the decree of 2005. Two elements are particularly noteworthy. The Undersecretaries of the ministries that had been designated as members were to be replaced by the ministers themselves, and it was spelt out that the Minister of National Economy was to issue the "regulations of the general-secretariat and employees affairs at the committee without abiding by government’s rules and regulation," which suggests that the secretariat-general had not been free from administrative interference.
I would guess that there was a recognition of the need to coordinate government planning and decisions regarding urban development by bringing together representatives from several ministries, particularly as there had been a spate of decrees declaring the allocation of land for public utilities. It is almost a truism in Oman that nothing much can be done or takes too long to be done unless the process is approved at ministerial level.
But there must be more to it than that given the spotlight that shone on Buraimi and Madha at the very beginning of October.
Events could have been triggered at a meeting of the Council of Ministers on 26th September hard on the heels of a meeting of the Higher Committee of Five-Year Plans chaired by Sayyid Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, in Muscat on 23rd September. That meeting convened as required by Article 5 of Royal Decree No 1/2006, to make its first half-yearly evaluation for the 7th Five-Year Plan (2006 to 2010) and to assess how developments were, or were not, proceeding.
At any rate, it was resolved that special measures needed to be taken about Buraimi and Madha. Madha is a small enclave of Oman lying entirely within the United Arab Emirates between the northern border at Wajaja and the Governorate of Musandam. Buraimi is the district that is virtually contiguous with Al Ain in the UAE. The only time that I have ever been anywhere near Buraimi, which was approaching it from Al Ain, I found it impossible to decide where the one began and the other ended. But the border is very sinuous, and you can't help but cross into UAE more than once to travel to other areas of Oman.
Tellingly, there have been indirect hints via the press that inhabitants of these districts had complained directly to HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said of a lack of development.
Ahmed bin Abdulnabi Macki, minister of national economy and deputy chairman of the Financial Affairs and Energy Resources Council led a delegation immediately to the area to meet local representatives, before the end of September. He announced that RO108 million was to be allocated to the wilayats of Buraimi and Mahda, of which RO50 million were for ongoing and new projects approved in the Seventh Five-Year Development Plan.
Over RO44 million was endorsed for the Sohar-Buraimi dual road project and RO17 million for water supply for the two regions, in addition to RO10 million for asphalting and lighting of internal road works, construction of residential units, landscaping works and completion of services at the Buraimi Industrial Estate and expansion of Al Rawdha-Buraimi road.
It's an astonishing volte-face, and one can only wonder whether discontentment might have been enough to brew dissension. But it could also be primarily economic. So close to the UAE, it would be only too easy to compare the rate of development of trade and services either side of the border.
A lot of dissatisfaction has undoubtedly stemmed from the RO2 toll at the border with UAE which the government had apparently implemented some years ago to raise revenue. Instead, it has caused considerable hardship to 'traders and students' who have no option but to cross the border at least once or twice daily to get to their places of work or study. Macki announced that the toll would be lifted at once at the crossings at Wadi Jizi (Buraimi) and Wadi Sa'a, although it would continue to be collected at Al Wajaja (Hatta on the UAE side) and Qatmat Milaha.
And then, in September 2005, there were frequent reports of motorists crossing from UAE into Oman to take advantage of lower petrol prices in the Sultanate, causing temporary shortages at petrol stations. That didn't make garage owners in Al Ain happy and there was talk of cross-border fuel smuggling.
Finally, another royal decree, 108/2006, issued on 16th or 17th October, elevated the wilayat of Buraimi to the status of Governorate, making it the fourth in Oman after Muscat, Dhofar and Musandam. Royal decree 107/2006 issued at the same time, upgraded the niyabat of Al Sinainah to wilayat. The new Governorate of Buraimi will comprise the wilayats of Buraimi, Mahdhah and Sinainah, falling within the administrative structure of the Ministry of the Interior. The appointment of the governor, at special grade, has yet to be announced.
Will this special recognition ameliorate complaints and bind the region to Oman? Let's wait and see. And how exactly is the Supreme Committee for Town Planning going to achieve its aims?
