Oman's Supreme Council for Planning holds meeting

Muscat: The Supreme Council for Planning held its second meeting for this year under the chairmanship of Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Council reviewed His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said's royal blessing for the national program for enhancing the economic diversification, which comes within the framework of implementing the 9th five-year plan (2016-2020).

An ambition plan for implementation has been developed in cooperation with an international expertise house to follow up the performance, implementation and support provided to enhancing the targeted economic diversification sectors at the 9th five-year plan (2016-2020) namely the manufacturing industries, the transport and logistic services, tourism, fisheries, mining and the enablers sectors, such as the labor market and finance sector.

The program will start with a number of intensified seminars in which specialized experts from the public organizations, the private sector, the civil society organizations and all stakeholders will take part. The seminars will cover details and will decide the responsibilities, the resources, and the financial allocation for implementation, the timetable for implementation and the accurate measurement indicators.

The Council also reviewed the status of expenditure on the development budget for the ministries and governmental units with relation to implementing the different development projects and compliance with the ceiling for expenditure during the financial year 2016.

The Council discussed the restructuring plan for the water and sanitary drainage sector, as well as the solid waste sector in the Sultanate. The plan aims at adopting a national policy based on the shifting to a new organizational structure that enhances the efficiency of the use of natural resources, providing better service to customers and ensuring better response to demand for water. The plan also aims at promoting the management of the solid wastes and preserving environment by involving the private sector in collecting, recycling and treatment of wastes on proper economic bases.

The meeting also discussed a number of other issues for which the Council took necessary decisions.