Founded 1975 . Volume 41 No. | Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group

February 24, 2016 15 Jumada Al Ula 1437 AH

WEDNESDAY

2 40

MORNING MINUTE

Annual session of council of Oman,2012

FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN

The state, with all its civil, security and military institutions, cannot continue to be the main source of employment, as this calls for a capacity beyond its reach and a mission that the state cannot sustain forever. The citizens have to understand that the private sector is the real source of employment in the long run. Hence they should not hesitate to join the private sector and must not desert their jobs therein.

‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’

of

s

e

Private sector workers worry for their benefits

FAHAD AL GHADANIREJIMON K fahadnews@timesofoman.com reji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Bosses in the private sector cannot axe worker benefits for their expat and Omani em-ployees in the same way those at government-funded companies, an official at the Ministry of Man-power told Times of Oman.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Finance put into play a decision to halt a raft of benefits, such as health insurance, school fees and

housing allowances, for thou-sands of workers in semi-govern-ment institutions which receive 50 per cent or more state funding.

The decision has heightened concerns that the private sec-tor will follow suit, amid reports some bosses have already begun cutting benefits, however, a Min-istry of Manpower official said that employers have to respect the existing contracts.

“Benefits and rights mentioned in the job contract cannot be halt-ed or cut. If done, then the worker

can challenge it in the court,” Tal-ib Al Dhabbari, head of the media department at Ministry of Man-power, said.

Nabhan Al Battashi, chairman of General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU), said that nobody can break the work con-tract signed between the company and its employees.

“Even for the privileges, the La-bour Law states clearly that any privilege granted to the employee by his companies for two continu-ous months becomes one of his

rights and the company can’t stop under any case,” said Al Battashi.

Mohammed Al Farji, board member of General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU), said that the Labour Law clearly mentions workers’ rights which should not be violated by the com-panies under any circumstances.

Mohammed Hassan Al Ansi, senior official at the Oman Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), told Times of Oman that such decision should not be im-plemented by all the companies.

“Companies making good busi-ness and having several projects for the current year and in the fu-ture can’t just stop benefits granted to their employees,” said Al Ansi.

He added that such companies have no excuses but to follow the contract between them and their employees. “On the other hand, some of the oil sector companies who have failed to get projects for this year and the coming one, might be excused to restudy their expenses and maybe stop some of the unnecessary privileges given to their employees,” said Al Ansi.

Many private sector company workers are worried about wheth-er the government decision will be replicated in their companies too.

“We don’t know whether our company will replicate what government is planning to im-plement in semi-government institutions. Already company is cutting many benefits citing fi-nancial crisis. If they replicate the government move, then it would be a disaster,” Fawaz Al Farsi, an engineer in a Muscat-based con-struction company, said.

Meanwhile, economists and businessmen said that the num-ber of private sector companies adopting austerity measures is going up.” >A5

A Ministry of

Manpower official

said that bosses

in the private

sector must honour

contracts or risk

facing labour courts

Chinese refiners help Oman Crude post a big gain over Dubai gradeTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Oman Crude’s April delivery prices rose to $30.79 per barrel, indicating a premium of more than $1 a barrel, compared with the Dubai Crude prices.

Oman Crude prices showed a big growth in premium over the benchmark Dubai Crude this year, mainly due to strong buying from Chinese refiners.

According to media reports quoting traders, the widen-ing spread between Oman and Dubai’s crude oil grades under-scored the market impact of a new breed of Chinese crude buy-ers, who are turning the screw on refiners across Asia, forcing many to change their refineries’

crude grades and others to pay up steep premiums.

However, the average price of Omani oil’s March delivery has stabilised at $27.4 per barrel.

Earlier this month, DME said the exchange had registered a new record for physical delivery

volumes at 27.3 million barrels for the March loading, and four successive open interest records for its Oman Crude futures con-tract peaking at 36,109 contracts.

The exchange also saw traded volumes increase by 17 per cent year-on-year, amidst strong in-terest in DME Oman contracts from commercial and financial firms around the world.

Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minister for Oil and Gas, said the country’s oil production this year would be targeted at around 990,000 barrels per day (bpd). The crude oil production stood at 358.1m barrels (equiva-lent to 981,000 bpd), against 344.37m barrels (equivalent to 943,500 bpd) in previous year.

G R O W T H I N P R E M I U M

New projects to ease road trafficTimes News Service

MUSCAT: More than 10 impor-tant road projects will be com-pleted in 2016, making travel across various sectors in Oman a lot easier and faster.

This includes the Bid Bid-Sur Road, a portion of the Al Batinah Expressway, Nizwa to Ibri (sec-ond stage), Mahda to Al Rawda in Buraimi, Sinaw to Mahoot and to Duqm, the Al Rustaq moun-tainous toad, the Dhank road to Al Khabib, Samad Al Shan to Wadi Indam, Qutbait to Marsud road and Camel Race road in Adam, Al Dakhiliyah, accord-ing to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Besides this, several interior roads and tunnels will be con-structed in Al Mudhabi and Al Batinah.

Altogether, 49 road projects are under construction at a cost of OMR2.1 billion, and cover a road stretch of 1,650 kilometres (km) in addition to roundabouts, flyo-vers and tunnels, data from the Ministry of Transport said.

Cuts across roadsMeanwhile, seven projects for the construction of cuts across roads are under execution at a cost of OMR7.5 million. The road length is 96 km, while the annual main-tenance cost for asphalt roads and off roads is estimated to reach

OMR9.5 million in 2016. Ministry of Transport and

Communications officials said travel time to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be cut short after a portion of the Al Batinah Expressway is opened this year.

Eight lanes“Whether for drivers coming to Oman from the neighbour-ing countries or the other way around, they will no longer need to use the current road as the new one has eight lanes, which will eventually save time,” said Ahmed bin Sulaiman Al Yarubi, director of the Land Transport Department, Ministry of Trans-port and Communications.

He added that the new road will reduce the gridlock, which motorists are currently facing while travelling to neighbour-ing countries.

New parts of the Al Batinah Expressway, Barka-Al Hazm in-terchange and Liwa-Khatmat Milah are expected to be com-pleted in 2016.

The Al Batinah Expressway has been divided into six pack-ages, with a total length of 265 km stretching from Halban in the wilayat of Barka to Khatmat Mi-laha in the wilayat of Shinas.

In July, 2015, the Ministry of Transport had opened the first part of Al Batinah expressway, which runs from Muscat to Barka.

1 0 R O A D P R O J E C T S

MUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of congratulations to President Toomas Ilves of the Republic of Estonia on the occasion of his country’s National Day.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan has expressed his sin-cere congratulations and best wishes to President Ilves and his country’s people. -ONA

E S T O N I A

Omani short film selected for Coventry film festival

OMANMuscat among top 3 GCC cities for expats

2Muscat Dubai and Abu Dhabi are among the top three cities in the GCC

for expatriate living, according to the “Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living Survey.” The survey takes into account factors, such as the city’s political and social environment, medical care and health considerations. >A4

WORLDObama asks Congress to shut Guantanamo

3President Barack Obama launched a final push to persuade Congress to

close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, but lawmakers, opposed to rehousing detainees in the US, declared his plan a non-starter. Obama pleaded with the Congress to give his proposal a “fair hearing.” >A13

OMANKhoula doctors save premature baby

1A baby born 13 weeks prematurely, weighing 570 grams at birth, has been

saved by doctors at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Khoula Hospital. The baby was born in 23 weeks of gestational age, instead of the normal 36 weeks. However, the girl’s twin could not be saved by the doctors. >A2

T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S

A2

HM sends greetings

A2 W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

OMAN It took us a while to make this film and we were not expecting to

win because there were lots of other teams and many talented

students taking part, but we are so glad to have won

Hajer Yahya Al Tuwaijr, short film maker

Omani short film to be screened at UK festival

DEEBA HASANdeeba@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Only a little over a dec-ade ago, it was hard to find Omani women working as photogra-phers or filmmakers, however, with the recent development and advent of globalisation, women in Oman are now on par with men in almost every field—be it technical or creative.

Not only within the country, but Omani women have also proved themselves internationally, by be-ing recognised at various interna-tional events and conferences.

An example of the continuous strides made by women in Oman are three students from the Mid-dle East College (MEC), Hawra Salim Al Fahdi, Aneesa Hamood Al Amri and Hajer Yahya Al Tuwaijri,

who have made their college and their country proud by making it to Coventry University’s Middle East Film Festival, a weeklong af-fair which will see participation of short filmmakers from different parts of the Middle East.

It is the first time that a team of students from Oman will be taking part in this very interesting and enlightening event. Queen Rania was a guest at last year’s festival and this year will also see some fa-mous people attending and appre-ciating the participants.

Al Fahdi, Al Amri and Al Tu-waijri were able to rise and shine from among 49 other students of

the college, who also placed their best bet to enter the same compe-tition with their short films, but in the final stage, it was this trio of girls who were able to make a mark with a film entitled “Culture of Oman.”

“It took us a while to make this film and we were not expecting to win because there were lots of other teams and many talented stu-dents taking part, but we are so glad to have won and now we are excited to be travelling abroad to the Mid-dle East Film Festival in the UK, we hope that it will be a fruitful ex-perience,” said Al Tuwaijri.

All the three girls are profes-

sional, award winning photogra-phers, and have been able to display their work at various photo exhibi-tions inside and outside Oman. Al Amri has the talent of sketching and graphic designing and was able to contribute immensely to the making of the short film.

The three-minute film took three weeks to complete and film-ing was done at a few locations in Muscat, including the Muttrah Souq (market) and the Muscat Festival’s Heritage Village in Al Amerat Park, where the girls were able to record different scenes from the rich heritage of Oman. They used a Canon camera for filming, and iMovie for editing the video, they also used the Wacom digital drawing pad for the sketch-es in the video.

The Middle East College offers a strong and comprehensive mul-timedia course and the theme for this year’s festival was “Culture.” Much to the pride and delight of the three girls is the fact that their film will be shown on the first day of the festival and not just that, their film will also be the first one to be showcased on that day in front of celebrity guests and VIPs.

Spearheading the team of tal-ented girls are responsible staff and faculty members at the Mid-dle East College, who have tried to make sure that their students come out with the best results. Naaz Najeeb, Vikas Rao and Has-san Al Balushi have been constant-ly supporting the students.

Their parents are proud of them, and these girls are not stopping here, but have big dreams and would like to make a full length feature film and even move to Hollywood. “Short films are nice, especially if you want to convey a short message to people, however I would like to one day make full length feature films, and even en-ter Hollywood. I am already pre-paring to take part in another in-ternational competition soon and hope to win there,” said Al Fahdi.

The film made by

Middle East College

(MEC) students

Hawra Salim Al Fahdi,

Aneesa Hamood Al

Amri and Hajer Yahya

Al Tuwaijri will be

screened at Coventry

University’s Middle

East Film Festival

Khoula Hospital helps premature baby to surviveMOBIN MATHEW BLESSONmobinmathew@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: A baby born 13 weeks prematurely, weighing 570 grams at birth, has been saved by doctors at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Khoula Hospital.

The baby was born at 23 weeks of gestational age, instead of the normal 36 weeks. However, the girl’s twin, which weighed less than 500 grams, could not be saved by the doctors.

According to Dr. Mohammed Tariq of Khoula Hospital, the baby was born in a critical con-dition. “She was born in a bad shape. She required machines for the breathing process for quite a long time,” Dr. Mohammed told Times of Oman.

The baby was given a special treatment and kept in the NICU for more than four months. “Dur-ing the treatment she contacted some infections and had other health issues,” the doctor said.

“Premature birth babies have low immunity and she also re-quired antibiotics to treat in-fections and underwent oxygen therapy,” he said.

According to the doctor, the baby was kept in NICU until she was able to take normal feeding and started gaining weight like a normal baby.

The baby also suffered from a heart condition called Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA), which meant that the open hole in her heart was not closed naturally by the third or fourth day after she was born. Consequently, the PDA was treated and closed with the help of medications.

At the time of discharge from the hospital, the baby weighed 2.2 kg and her eyes and hearing ex-aminations were normal.

According to the hospital offi-cials, the baby will be taken to the hospital twice a month to moni-

tor her growth and neurological developments. This will be done until she reaches two years of age.

“This was a major achieve-ment for Khoula Hospital’s Nursing and Medical Team,” Dr Mohammed Tariq noted.

Only 10-40 per cent of babies born at 23 weeks survive. Of those who survive, more than 50 to 60 per cent have short or long-term complications in the form of bleeding in the head, eye problem, fits, breathing problem with oxygen dependency, and feeding problem.

“However the baby was dis-charged from the hospital with-out any complications,” Dr Mo-hammed Tariq said.

According to the baby’s par-ents, she is doing well at the mo-ment. “She is perfectly all right now. Last week she weighed around 2.7kg and she is taking food as a normal baby,” Dr Fathi-ya Al Abadi, the mother said.

“We express our deepest grati-tude to Khoula Hospital staff es-pecially the NICU department and administration for the high level of care that we received from them,” Abdullah Al Sibani, the father of the baby, said.

“At the moment we are giving her some vitamins and iron medi-cine,” Al Sibani added.

H E A L T H C A R E

LENS EYE: A still from the short film which was filmed at a few

locations in Muscat, including the Muttrah Souq and the Muscat

Festival’s Heritage Village in Al Amerat Park. -Supplied photo

Lucky baby

A3

OMANW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

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Book festival starts today

MUSCAT: The Muscat Interna-tional Book Fair will start at the Oman International Exhibition Centre on Wednesday and contin-ue until March 5.

The 21st session of the interna-tional book festival will start un-der the auspices of Mohammed bin Al Zubair, His Majesty the Sultan’s Advisor for Economic

Planning Affairs.More than 650 publishers from

27 Arab and foreign countries are taking part in the fair. Publishing houses from Pakistan and Italy will take part for the first time in the fair.

A website with search engine will also be available with 250,000 titles . -ONA

2 1 S T S E S S I O N

Omantel, Oman airports join hands for telecom linkagesTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Omantel, the Sultan-ate’s leading provider of integrat-ed telecommunication services has joined hands with the Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) to link all airports in Oman through fixed telecommu-nications solutions.

Phase one of the project will connect the Muscat International Airport with the Salalah Airport through a fibre-optic network with speeds of up to 155 megabits per second (Mbps). Phase two will link additional airports, such as the Sohar and Duqm Airports.

Upon completion, the project will allow for advanced fixed tel-ecommunication capabilities and connectivity for all airports throughout the country and will provide greater efficiency and

convenience for airport staff, sub-contractors and passengers.

Commenting on the project, Todd Deck, vice president, Cor-porate Business Unit at Om-antel said, “Omantel has been a proud partner of OAMC for many years and we are pleased to once again work in collabora-tion to ensure that all airports in Oman are equipped with the highest quality fixed telecom-munications solutions.”

As part of the project, Omantel will be providing OAMC with the latest and most advanced fixed telecommunication services in addition to ensuring a 24 hour-a-day network monitoring and di-rect and round-the-clock techni-cal support by a dedicated team of network specialists.

The project also entails a total of 13,000 Integrated Services for

Digital Network (ISDN) lines to be installed at the Muscat Inter-national and Salalah Airports, in addition to the provision of an internet leased line service con-nectivity with a speed of 34 Mbps at both airports.

Dr. Moaman Mohammed Ab-dullah Al Busaidi, general man-ager, CT at OAMC said, “Airports have a vital role to play as the gateway to a nation, thus it is ex-tremely important that the tech-nology and services available are world-class in order to give the best possible impression of our country upon entry and exit. At OAMC we are very pleased to join hands with Omantel to en-able a fixed communications sys-tem that links the airports across Oman. This project will greatly improve our ability to function cohesively with other airports.

C O N N E C T I V I T Y

Electricity regulator approves new-look bill Times News Service

MUSCAT: A new design for electricity consumption bills to be issued by licensed distribu-tion and supply companies has been approved by the Authority for Electricity Regulation.

These bills are issued by (Mus-cat Electricity Distribution Co., Majan Electricity Co., Mazoon Electricity Co., Rural Areas Elec-tricity Co. and Dhofar Power Co.).

The new bill aims to provide customers with essential in-formation in a simple manner on aspects related to their con-sumption. The Authority has worked closely with the elec-tricity licensees and provided clear instructions regarding the type of information to be included in the bill and urged companies to adopt new tech-nologies for communicating with customers for the delivery of their bills in a timely manner.

Customers’ concernsOn the subject, the Executive Director of the Authority, Qais bin Saud Al Zakwani stated that: “The Authority continues to adopt initiatives with the objec-tive of raising the performance of licensees operating in the electricity sector. Customer in-terests remain a focus area that we work to ensure are served in the best possible way. The newly designed bills took into consideration concerns and observations raised by custom-ers, who we continue to interact with on a regular basis.”

The main objective of the newly designed bills is the pro-vision of information regard-ing the quantity of consump-tion in a clear and adequate manner. The bills will also clarify the rights of customers and their obligations with re-spect to payment of dues dur-ing the specified period.

I N I T I A T I V E Faster removal of abandoned cars planned

ERIK PRINSerik@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Operations to clear streets, residential areas and public spaces of cars that have been abandoned by their owners will get a boost, as the Munici-pal Council of the governorate of Muscat and the Royal Oman Po-lice (ROP) have agreed to speed up the removal of cars, Ali Al Maashari, a member of the Mu-nicipal Council, said.

According to a press release from the Muscat Municipal-ity, abandoned vehicles are an in-creasing problem that affects the environment and gives an ugly appearance to the city.

“In Muscat, abandoned cars are a big problem, especially in the Wilayat of Greater Muttrah, Seeb, Bausher and, to a lesser ex-

tent, in Al Amerat and Quriyat. The biggest problem is caused by cars being abandoned in public spaces, parking lots and in front of homes. It affects not only the general upkeep of an area, but also hinders residents.”

Al Maashari added that chil-dren playing near abandoned cars are affected by dust. Also, fuel in-side these cars can cause fires.

“Those who leave their cars for a long period in any of these ar-eas have to understand that they violate the Cleanliness Law of the Governorate of Muscat. They should take care of their prop-erty, as abandoning the car might violate other laws.”

Al Maashari noted that the fine for abandoning a vehicle is OMR50 for the first two offences, and can reach OMR500 for re-peat offenders,and even as high as OMR1,000.

Owners will also be liable for the costs of removing cars, ac-cording to Al Maashari. Further, if owners fail to reclaim their cars, the Municipality then will have

the right to sell it at auction.However, Al Maashari said that

procedures currently take too much time and action is needed to swiftly clear the streets of aban-doned vehicles.

“People now have two months to pay fines and remove the ve-hicles they have abandoned. We want to shorten this period to two weeks, after which the Mu-nicipality will have the right to remove the vehicle. We have pro-posed a new law which will give us the mandate to act on this is-sue and, in coordination with the ROP, immediately remove these vehicles from the streets.”

Al Maashari added that he expects higher fines will come into force in the future. How-ever, since the law is still under study, he had no additional de-tails to share.

Times of Oman earlier reported that Muscat Municipality and the ROP were studying a new law to assist in removing abandoned cars, following complaints from area residents.

People now have

two months to pay

fines and remove

the vehicles they

have abandoned.

This could be

shortened to two

weeks, after which

the Municipality

will have the right to

remove the vehicle

PROBLEM: The biggest problem is caused by cars being

abandoned in public spaces, parking lots and in front of

homes. Photo used for illustrative purposes only.

BSM observes Martyrs DayTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Bangladesh School Muscat (BSM) observed the In-ternational Mother Language Day on Tuesday, along with re-membering its martyrs.

On this very mournful day, BSM and all Bangladeshi expa-triates express deep mourning for the martyrs, who sacrificed their lives in 1952. To mark the day and inculcate love for the mother tongue among stu-dents, a day-long programme was observed.

Students, teachers, all other staff and most of the expatri-ates gathered in the school premises. The observation of the day officially started by laying flower wreaths on the Martyrs’ Monument (Shaheed Minar) to commemorate those who were martyred during the agitation for recognition of the

Bengali language. To mark the day, apart from other activities, an art competition was held among the students.

Sekander Ali, ambassador of the People’s Republic of Bang-ladesh to Sultanate of Oman, placed a wreath of flowers on behalf of the Embassy. In his speech, Ali expressed deep mourning for the martyrs, who gave up their lives on February 21, 1952 to establish Bengali as one of the State Languages of the then Pakistan.

“We are indebted to Salam, Barkat, Rafiq, Jabbar, Shafiur and others. No one in the world has sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue, except these Bengali heroes. Their no-ble sacrifice established Benga-li as one of the State Languages of Pakistan. This is a unique example of the history of our civilisation,” said Ali.

E V E N T

MUSCAT: Public Authority for Electricity and Water (PAEW), said that a sudden failure occurred at Sohar Desalination Plant in the Wilayat of Sohar in the Governo-rate of North Al Batinah, owned by Sohar Power Company (SPC) and resulted in full shutdown of the plant.

PAEW said in a statement that the Oman Power and Water Pro-curement Company in coordina-tion with SPC are making strenu-ous efforts to fix the problem and re-operate the plant. According to current information, restoration is expected to take 48 hours. Infor-mation will be updated according to the reports issued by SPC.

PAEW requests citizens and residents in the Governorates of North Al Batinah and Al Buraimi to rationalise water use. PAEW will activate emergency plan and use alternative water sources and use of reverse pumping of water from Barka Plant. -ONA

P A E W

Shutdown at desalination plant in Sohar

A4 W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

OMAN 107th is the global ranking given to Muscat by the international human resources consultancy

Muscat in top 3 cities for expats in the GCC

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Muscat, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are among the top three cities in the Gulf Coopera-tion Council (GCC) for expatriate living, according to the “Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living Survey.”

The survey takes into account factors, such as the city’s political and social environment, medical care and health considerations, public services, recreation fa-cilities and natural environment, among others.

The international human resources consultancy placed Muscat 107th in the global rank-ings, while Dubai was placed 75th and Abu Dhabi was ranked 81st on the list.

Other regional citiesMuscat was followed by Doha at the 110th place, Kuwait City at the 124th spot, Bahrain at 133rd, Riyadh and Jeddah ranked at 164th and 165th, respectively among the GCC countries.

“It is great to know that Muscat has been named among the top

three cities in the Middle East as we always believe Muscat is the most beautiful city with good medical care and recreational facilities for expatriates,” said S Bose, a resident of Bausher.

Valuable informationThe report also provided valuable information and hardship premi-um recommendations for more-than 440 cities throughout the world, with the ranking covering 230 of these, covering 211 cities across five continents, based on criteria, such as safety, economic transparency and growth.

“Rankings in many regions were affected by recent world events, including economic and political upheavals, which re-sulted in currency fluctuations, cost inflation for goods and ser-vices, and volatility in accommo-dation prices,” said Rob Thissen, consultant on Global Mobility at Mercer ME.

Mercer produces individual cost of living and rental accom-modation cost reports for each city surveyed.

Mercer’s 2016 Quality of Living Survey

takes into account the political, social

environment, medical care and public

services, recreation facilities and natural

environment, among others

A destination for those seeking the beauty of nature and water sports

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Masirah Island is witnessing an influx of tourists who come to explore the island, including its sites and sur-rounding waters.

Also, the island is witnessing construction of a number of hotel and tourism projects to accommo-date the growing numbers of tour-ists from around the world.

Masirah Island is located in the southeast of the Sultanate, and is the largest island in Oman. It represents the beauty of the sea, as it appears to be a jewel amidst blue water.

Visitors to Masirah Island be-come enchanted by the beauty of the surrounding nature, rep-resenting the diversity of its en-vironments.

The marine environment makes up the majority of this island. One can also see arable lands where grass grows during the rains. Additionally, there are mountains in Ras Half, Rasiah, Alijah and other areas. Further-more, the island climate is moder-ate throughout the year.

Visitors to Masirah also enjoy cool breezes, while its beaches offer an unparalleled opportunity to watch rare sea turtles laying eggs, which is a popular activity among tourists.

Ferry serviceThe island can be reached on large ferries, called Aliassorahs. Aliasso-rahs carry cars, goods and people to and from the island.

These ferries are operated by the Shannah-Masirah maritime line, providing service for tourists, transporting passengers, as well as supplying various goods, while contributing to strengthening and revitalising social and economic development efforts on the island.

Since August 2014, two new ferries owned by National Ferries Company have been added to the fleet. Each ferry can carry 154 pas-sengers, as well as 38 vehicles of various sizes.

Surfing is one of the attractions for tourists on Masirah Island and paragliding competitions are also held.

It is also one of the most popu-lar destinations for lovers of sea

sports, especially diving, riding jet skis and water skiing.

“The hotels of the Masirah Wilayat become filled with guests, especially during holidays”, ac-cording to PR officer Khamis Ali Khamis Al Jahmani. The most important tourist facilities in-clude Masirah Resort, Masirah Hotel, Dana Gulf, and Sirabish Hotel, in addition to the new ho-tel, which is ready for operation and located downtown.

Al-Jahmani adds that the tour-ist season on Masirah Island be-gins at the beginning of May and reaches its peak in June among foreign tourists. Some set up tents in camps close to the sea. There is also a turnout among

Omani visitors and those from the Gulf countries.

One of the popular tourist land-marks on the island is the Marsis Old Fort, which stands witness to the history of the Wilayat since ancient times and is located in the village of Marsis.

Another important monument on the island is the Islamic cem-etery, located in Safaji village.

Also,a German group that vis-ited the area in the past identified a number of monuments, discov-ered by archeologist Gerd Vaasgeri of the German Mining Museum in Bochum, as well as Ali Bikhit Al-Shanfari, the former archaeo-logical director at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture.

M A S I R A H I S L A N D

BREATHTAKING BEAUTY: Visitors to Masirah also enjoy cool breezes, while its beaches offer an unparalleled opportunity to watch rare sea turtles laying eggs, which is a popular activity among tourists. – Supplied photo

Supreme Council, SQU discuss options for trainingTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Cooperation in the field of planning, strategy mak-ing and training were among the issues discussed by the Joint Committee of the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and the Su-preme Council for Planning held its second meeting on Monday at the University Council Hall.

The meeting was headed by Dr. Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, the vice chancellor of SQU, and Commit-tee members from both sides.

The Committee discussed sev-eral topics on the agenda of the meeting, which included a review of what has been implemented from the recommendations of the first meeting of the commit-tee, including cooperation on the subject of research and scien-tific consultancy and exchange of experiences and capabilities in various fields.

In addition, the two sides re-viewed cooperation in the field of planning, preparing strategies

and training, and expansion of cooperation through the open-ing of more centres and colleges at SQU.

Different areas of training of-fered by the university to the soci-ety through the Centre for Com-munity Service and Continuing Education were also discussed, along with the ways of taking ad-vantage of training courses in the development process.

The Joint Committee also re-viewed the findings and recom-mendations of the study “Free and Open Source Software,” which has been developed by the university’s Communication and Information Research Centre and the Information Technology Authority, and the appropriate mechanism for using it for future planning and implementation.

The Committee discussed training avenues available to the university students at the Su-preme Council for Planning, and ways to enhance cooperation in different fields of the economy.

S T R A T E G Y M A K I N G

Knee replacement surgery at KhoulaMUSCAT: A team of surgeons from Khoula Hospital managed to replace neraly half the knee of a patient which is the first-of-its- kind in the Sultanate.

The patient has been suffering from knee pain for the past sev-eral years. The X-ray and physi-cal examinations showed that the patient was suffering from Os-teoarthritis of the knee, which is common in the Sultanate.

Having undergone conserva-tive therapy and medications, the patient had no other option than to undergo surgery, said Dr. Su-walim Al Ghanami, leader of the knee replacement team.

The operation for the replace-ment of half a knee ( partial re-placement) is an ideal option for some patients with Osteoarthri-tis, said Dr. Al Ghanami, adding that two such operations were done so far and both the patients are in good health. -ONA

F I R S T - O F - I T S - K I N D

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OMANW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

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‘Austerity measures already

in place for private sector’

“The private sector has already implemented the changes in their companies. They have send a lot of their back-office employees to their home country. They are ask-ing them to work from offsite so that they can reduce the housing and service cost,” Jeevan Toprani, director of an audit firm, said.

Mubeen Khan, vice chairman of Indian Chattered Association Muscat Chapter, said that auster-ity measures has already started in private sector.

“Many companies have sent back their employees and try-ing to avoid the avoidable cost,” Mubeen said.

Prasanth Nair, organisation-al excellence advisor at Sital Administrative Consultancy, said that there are obvious signs of private sector austerity measures.

“Many organisations have al-ready taken drastic as well as

sporadic steps relating to exist-ing market scenario. Expatriates who were enjoying such benefits from organisations may feel the heat and many of them may take desperate measures, including change of location and sending families back to home country,” Prasanth added.

Krishnan MAK, an economist in Muscat, said that it is a ‘no brainer’ that private sector shall replicate it.

“For obvious reasons it shall hit more hard on the expats for he/she has no other additional op-tions to cover up the deficit / loss,” Krishnan said.

Economies of scaleManjot Singh Chug, a business tax advisor at Ernst and Young, said that economies of scale must be achieved in all aspects of business.

“Reduced market demand will

force private sector to achieve economies of scale for com-petitive pricing. Companies will have to critically evaluate and challenge aspects of business which are inefficient. Human Resource is only one aspect of it,” Manjot added.

$14 billionOfficial statistics show that Oman has lost $14 billion worth of rev-enues in 2015 compared to a year earlier due to low oil prices.

Oman had a fiscal deficit of 15 per cent last year and in 2016 the deficit is expected to be 17 per cent as the low oil price eats into export earnings and blows a hole in the country’s budget.

With breaking-even crude oil prices of $75 per barrel for the 2016 budget, Oman will need to dig deep into the reserves to come up with financial discrepancy to wipe out the OMR 3.5b deficit.

C U T I N B E N E F I T S

Oman equipped to maintain growth tempo: OBG reportMUSCAT: Long-term prepara-tions for the Sultanate’s post-oil future have been explored in de-tail in a report produced by the global publishing, research and consultancy firm Oxford Busi-ness Group (OBG).

According to the publication entitled, “The Report: Oman 2016,” this year will see the commencement of Omani’s strong pipeline project, which includes both large-scale pub-lic and private sector initiatives earmarked for roll-out in the coming years.

OBG’s new publication also provides wide-ranging cover-age of Oman’s efforts to nurture small-business growth as part of the push to encourage an en-trepreneurial spirit amongst the Sultanate’s younger generation.

Other topics covered in the report include the national bid to move the local industry up the value chain in a move, which should help local firms become more competitive and boost productivity.

As the government sharpens its focus on linking industrial ar-eas and improving regional con-nections, the report also gives the spotlight on the Sultanate’s increasingly important transport and logistics sector.

It contains a contribution from His Majesty Sultan Qa-boos bin Said, together with a detailed, sector-by-sector guide for investors.

It also features a wide range of

contributions from other leading representatives, including the Azerbaijani Minister of Econo-my and Industry, Shahin Musta-fayev, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Plan-ning (SCP) Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi and the Chairman of the Special Economic Zone Author-ity of Duqm (SEZAD), Yahya bin Said AlJabri.

Andrew Jeffreys, OBG’s chief executive officer and editor-in-chief, said the Omani Govern-ment’s continued investment in supporting infrastructure dem-onstrates its commitment to di-versifying the national economy and exploring new opportunities for growth.

Key sectors“Our latest report highlights the key sectors in the Sultanate’s economy that are ripe for expan-

sion, including logistics and tour-ism, and the national drive al-ready under way to harness their potential,” he stated.

“While challenges, such as regulatory hurdles, will need ad-dressing, Oman is already taking steps to stimulate private sector participation, which bodes well for its long-term plans for eco-nomic development.”

OBG’s Managing Editor for the Middle East, Oliver Cornock add-ed that despite feeling the weight of declining oil prices, Oman is well equipped to maintain the tempo of its development plans.

Fiscal balance“The external economic climate is undoubtedly putting pressure on Oman’s fiscal and current ac-count balances. However, its low debt-to-GDP ratio provides the Sultanate with the option of seek-ing funding via the international markets if it so chooses,” he said.

“With the government’s efforts to enhance the country’s business climate already beginning to yield results, investors eyeing Oman have much to consider.”

“The Report: Oman 2016” marks the culmination of more than six months of field research by a team of analysts from OBG. The publication assesses trends and developments across the economy, including macro-eco-nomics, infrastructure, banking and other sector developments. The publication is available in print and online. -ONA

T H E R E P O R T : O M A N 2 0 1 6

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Dutch Night to raise funds to set up greenhouses for Omani disabled

ERIK PRINS erik@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Dutch-funded green-houses will soon be built to aid the disabled in Oman, reflecting Dutch expertise in horticulture.

Revenues from the upcoming Dutch Night 2016, organised by the Dutch community in Oman, will be used to fund the greenhous-es, said members of the organising committee during a Monday din-ner honouring sponsors.

Hanna van der Lande, member of the organising committee of Dutch Night, thanked last year’s sponsors of Dutch Night, which raised OMR10,000 for a preschool in Samail. The preschool, which did not have sufficient facilities, was able to build new classrooms and purchase new furniture and

equipment using the money do-nated by the Dutch community to the Dar Al Atta’a charity.

“We would like to thank the loyal supporters of Dutch Night, who have made all of this possible”, she said. Van der Lande stressed the importance of linking Dutch Night, which is held on Dutch King’s Day, with charity.

More than just a party“By linking the organisation of Dutch Night with a charitable aim, we are organising more than just a party. In this way, we attempt to give more value to our connection with Oman, which we regard as our home”, she said.

Further, Van der Lande praised the cooperation with Dar Al Atta’a, which carries out projects funded by the Dutch community.

May Al Bayat, Marketing Direc-tor of Dar Al Atta’a, expressed her thanks for the funds received from Dutch Night. The Dutch commu-nity numbers around 700, accord-ing to the Dutch embassy.

“We want to thank the spon-sors and organisers of Dutch Night from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks to your support, we have been able to improve facilities at the school in Samail”, she said.

Al Bayat added that preschools in rural areas often do not have

adequate facilities.She said that this year, the disa-

bled will also benefit from the sup-port of the upcoming Dutch Night.

“Thanks to the Dutch commu-nity and the sponsors, the disabled will finally be able to make a living when they receive these green-houses. Previously, their crops were often destroyed because of the heat”, she said.

The greenhouses, to be built at Al Wafa Centre for Disabled in Bid Bid, are “typically Dutch”, Bar-

bara Joziasse, Ambassador of the Netherlands, said.

“I’m really excited about this project, since those greenhouses are close to the Dutch heart. While we in the Netherlands use green-houses to provide warmth to crops, in Oman the heat will instead be kept away,” she noted.

Joziasse explained that hor-ticulture and greenhouses form a major industry in the Nether-lands, as well as an important export product.

“I think it could also be a good business for the people of Oman. There is a lot to gain, especially when it comes to Oman-branding. Dutch knowledge of horticulture can certainly help here”, she said.

Wim Berendsen, Project Man-ager at CB and I and one of the major sponsors, told the Times of Oman that his company decided to support the project, keeping in mind the importance of helping the disabled.

“Any country that does not rec-ognise the needs of its disabled, is not doing well”, he added.

Another major sponsor, OHI, said it is important to give back something to the community.

“We have been doing this for over twenty years. When you do it once, and every time you see the satisfaction that comes out of it, you get the satisfaction re-turnedmany times.”

Ambassador Joziasse told the Times of Oman that she appreci-ated the initiative.

“It is great to see that they have decided to not only have a party, but also give something back to the community and help those in need. I think it is important to make the guests aware that there are also people who are in need of help”, she said.

The greenhouses, to be built at Al Wafa

Centre for Disabled in Bid Bid, are “typically

Dutch”, said Barbara Joziasse, Ambassador

of the Netherlands

HELPING HAND: Revenues from the upcoming Dutch Night 2016, organised by the Dutch community

in Oman, will be used to fund the greenhouses. – Jun Estrada

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OMANW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Local studies have shown that hereditary blood disorders are increasing

in Oman and have revealed that 10 per cent of the Omani population is

suffering from one of such disorders, specifically sickle cell anaemia.

Hussam Al Nabhani, vice president for Corporate and External

Affairs of Oxy Oman

TO ADVERTISECall: 24726666

Vehicle to boost blood

disorder awarenessTimes News Service

MUSCAT: As part of its social re-sponsibility activities, Occidental of Oman, Inc. (Oxy Oman) said it has gifted an ‘Awareness Vehicle’ to the Oman Hereditary Blood Dis-order Association (OHBD).

The vehicle has been equipped with screens where people will be able to watch video clips that raise awareness about blood disorders.

The delivery of the vehicle is part of a sponsorship agreement signed between the two organisa-tions. Hussam Al Nabhani, vice president for Corporate and Ex-ternal Affairs of Oxy Oman and Salam Salim Al Kindy, chairman of OHBD were signatories from the respective organisations.

To be used as a portable library, the vehicle will carry various ma-terials as part of awareness pro-grammes conducted by OHBD.

The vehicle will be present along with representatives from the association at various national and social events around the coun-try and will be seen making regular visits to sport clubs, women’s as-sociations, hospitals, schools and universities around the country.

The awareness programmes aim to inform people on different subjects, including minimising the chances of inheriting blood hereditary disorders, how to plan healthier marriages, protection

through pre-marital tests, as well as to deal with people, who are already infected with hered-itary blood disorders and edu-cate the infected children about such disorders.

Hereditary blood disorders“Local studies have shown that hereditary blood disorders are increasing in Oman and have re-vealed that 10 per cent of the Om-ani population is suffering from one of such disorders, specifically sickle cell anaemia. So Oxy Oman aims to contribute to spreading awareness about these disorders,” Al Nabhani said.

Oxy Oman has built a reputation of being a good corporate citizen in the local community. Oxy Oman’s social responsibility programmes enhances collaboration and ce-ments partnerships with key stakeholders to achieve sustain-able development.

O X Y O M A N Stress on saving genetic pool for food, farm needs

HASAN SHABAN AL LAWATIhassan@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: A 100 per cent in-crease in the number of camels has been reported in Oman be-tween 2009 and 2013, accord-ing to research conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF).

The total number of camels in the Sultanate has increased from 124,000 in 2009 to 242,833 in 2013.

According to data collected in 28 villages in the Wilayat of Qabil targeting 3,875 camels, a majority of these animals (1,209) are used for racing, while only a few are be-ing used for production of meat and milk (187).

According to Ihab Shaat, an ex-pert in animal conservation at the Oman Animal and Plant Genetic Resources Centre (OAPGRC), 60 per cent of camels in Oman are found in the Dhofar governorate.

Ihab Shaat was one of the 108 participants at the Regional Conference for Animal Genetic Resources Conservation 2016, where participants came from 19 countries, and presented 42 oral and poster presentations through two days.

A first-of-its-kind, the confer-ence commenced on Tuesday at the Sultan Qaboos Univer-sity (SQU) under the auspices of Dr Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, vice chancellor of SQU in the pres-ence of Dr. Hilal bin Ali Al Hinai, secretary general of The Research Council (TRC).

Four internationally-renowned

keynote speakers from Portugal, Sweden, France and a represent-ative from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisa-tion (UNFAO) were also among the participants.

Organisers said the conference was mainly concerned with the conservation of genetic resourc-es of domestic animals for food and agriculture.

It hosted renowned scientists from various parts of the world and the region as well as local con-cerned bodies and policy makers.

According to Osman Mahgoub Gaafar, a professor at SQU’s Col-lege of Agriculture and Marine Sciences, the major objective of the conference was to discuss is-sues pertinent to animal genetic resources conservation and their relevance in the world, the region and in Oman.

Serious challenges“The importance of this confer-ence is that it comes at a stage during which the world is going through a critical time and fac-ing serious challenges. These challenges range from dramatic climatic changes to strenuous economic conditions, as well as diminishing natural resources,” he said.

Gaafar added that the issue of genetic resources and their con-servation is of great importance today as these are fundamental for achieving food security and sustainability of resources.

“Maintenance of genetic biodi-versity is essential for conserving and improving the native animal populations,” he stressed.

Oman has been at the forefront of the efforts to protect local ge-netic resources. On the national level, this is reflected in the solid work done by some ministries (such as the Ministry of Agricul-ture and Fisheries and Environ-ment and Climatic Affairs), as well as the Diwan Royal Court.

LandmarkA landmark in this regard was the establishment of the Oman Ani-mal and Plant Genetic Resources Centre at the Research Council on a Royal Order.

SQU has also been carrying out high quality research in the area of genetic resources conserva-tion in several colleges and de-partments. This conference will ascertain the strong ties of col-laboration between the TRC and SQU for advancement of research in the country.

Dr. Nadya Al Saadi, executive director of the OAPGRC, said the UNFAO estimates that approxi-mately 805 million of the world’s 7.3 billion population, or 1 in 9 persons, suffered from chronic undernourishment between 2012 and 2014.

“And almost all these hungry people live in developing coun-tries,” she added.

“At the current rate of popula-tion growth, the consumption of

food and agriculture products during the second decade of the 21st century will be equivalent to that of the last 10,000 years,” she added.

“Animal genetic resources have been contributing to food and agriculture for more than 12,000 years, providing meat, milk products, eggs, fibre, fertiliz-er for crops, manure for fuel and draught power. They are a part of our common heritage and culture and far too valuable to neglect,” Al Saadi said.

She further said that while the world’s population is soaring, the amount of arable land is much the same as it was when agriculture was first practised with approxi-mately one human being for every 25 hectares of land.

Food shortages“Today, human density averages 25 people per hectare and may even exceed 1,200 people per hectare in urban centres. It is this rapid growth in population that is exposing many developing coun-tries to chronic or frequent food shortages,” she explained.

In response to these challeng-es, at September’s the UN Sus-tainable Development Summit, world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Develop-ment, which includes a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice and tackle climate change by 2030.

Data from the Wilayat

of Qabil showed that

majority of camels

are being used for

racing purposes

while only few are

used for meat and

milk production

AT THE FOREFRONT: The conference began at the Sultan Qaboos University under the auspices of Dr

Ali bin Saud Al Bimani, vice chancellor of SQU in the presence of Dr. Hilal bin Ali Al Hinai, secretary

general of The Research Council. – Supplied photo

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REGIONW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Telegram, which has an estimated 20 million

users in Iran or a quarter of the population, has

“totally changed the scene”

Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, Political activist

IS cuts Syrian regime’s supply route to Aleppo

BEIRUT: IS militants were re-ported to have tightened their grip on a Syrian government sup-ply route to Aleppo on Tuesday as the army battled to retake the road as part of its campaign to seize the city.

As Damascus accepted a US-Russian plan for a “cessation of hostilities” between the govern-ment and rebels due to take effect on Saturday, heavy Russian air strikes were also said to be tar-geting one of the last roads into opposition-held parts of Aleppo.

The plan announced by the United States and Russia on Monday is the result of intensive diplomacy to end the five-year-long war. But rebels say the ex-clusion of IS and the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front will give the government a pretext to keep at-tacking them because its fighters are widely spread in opposition-held areas.

Air strikesThe Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes since Sep-tember, said it would coordinate with Russia to define which groups and areas would be in-cluded in what it called a “halt to combat operations”. Damascus

also warned that continued for-eign support for the rebels could wreck the agreement. The Rus-sian intervention has turned the momentum President Bashar Al Assad’s way in a conflict that has splintered Syria and mostly re-duced his control to the big cities of the west and the coast.

Damascus, backed by ground forces, is making significant ad-vances, including near the city of Aleppo which is split between re-bel- and government-control.

The IS assault has targeted a desert road which the govern-ment has been forced to use to reach Aleppo because insurgents still control the main highway further west.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which reports the war using a network of sources on the ground, said IS fighters had seized the village of Khanas-er on the road, which remained closed for a second day. A Syrian military source told Reuters army operations were continuing to re-pel the attack. IS, which controls swathes of eastern and central

Syria, differs from rebels fighting Assad in western Syria because its priority is expanding its own “caliphate” rather than reform-ing Syria through Assad’s removal from power.

The group has escalated attacks on government targets in recent days. On Sunday, it staged some of the deadliest suicide bomb at-tacks of the war, killing around 150 people in government-con-trolled Damascus and Homs.

A US-Russian statement said the two countries and others would work together to deline-ate the territory held by IS, Nusra Front, and other militant groups excluded from the truce.

In Geneva, UN spokesman Ah-mad Fawzi said: “This is a cessa-tion of hostilities that we hope will take force very quickly and hope provide breathing space for intra-Syrian talks to resume.”

Fawzi said there were plans for additional aid deliveries to opposition-held areas blockaded by government forces near Da-mascus, including the Eastern Ghouta. — Reuters

Excluded from

ceasefire plan,

IS militant

group intensifies

attacks on Syrian

government troops

Iran’s poll candidates turn to online platforms to woo votersDUBAI: The buzzing crowds and human chains of Iran’s election in 2009 may be nowhere to be seen ahead of Friday’s poll but the activ-ists who fired up the protests then are keeping the flame alive online.

After the sustained demonstra-tions of 2009, Iran’s establishment barred reformist candidates and unauthorised gatherings, and ar-rested many activists.

Now, reformists seeking to spread the word about moderate candidates have turned to online platforms like the messaging app Telegram. “There is no way we are allowed to have that street pres-ence again,” said Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, a political activist who spent five months in solitary con-finement for running a campaign supporting a reformist candidate

in 2009. Now a researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard, Jalaeipour runs a so-cial media and Telegram campaign that includes the Green Online Chain, harking back to the Green Chain of 2009 when activists in green headbands held hands to form a 20-km (12-mile) line down Tehran’s Valiasr Street. Although activists communicated in closed

Facebook groups before the 2013 presidential elections, in which the reformist vote helped centrist Hassan Rouhani to a landslide, they could not replicate the reach they had offline in 2009, he said.

Telegram, which has an esti-mated 20 million users in Iran or a quarter of the population, has “totally changed the scene”, Jal-aeipour said. “Former president

Khatami’s video message in sup-port of the coalition of moderated and reformists has been viewed more than three million times on Telegram in one day. Another poster we shared on Telegram was viewed by a million people only in 12 hours. How we could print and distribute that many posters?” he said. Jalaeipour, now 33, is con-vinced that campaigning on social

media is not only cheap, but more efficient, though he added that it cannot substitute for face-to-face campaigning. Iranians have cre-ated thousands of groups on Tele-gram that are constantly forward-ing material from one group to another, something that is rare on platforms such as Facebook where people tend to “like” posts rather than “share” them. — Reuters

F R I D A Y B A L L O T

CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES: A Syrian woman reads a newspaper

at a kiosk in the capital Damascus on Tuesday, a day after a

ceasefire deal was announced.– AFP

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INDIAW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

There is no doubt that seditious speeches and slogans were

raised in the event concerned. We also know that some involved

in it, who went absconding soon after, have now returned

B. S. Bassi, Delhi Police Commissioner

Riot victims heckle Khattar after 19 killed in Haryana

NEW DELHI/ROHTAK: A po-litical ally of Indian Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi was shouted down on Tuesday by a crowd angered by rioting in a northern state that destroyed businesses, paralysed transport and cut water supplies to metropolitan Delhi.

The chief minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar was heck-led by local people in the town of

Rohtak, northwest of the capital, after they objected to his com-ments promising that they would receive compensation.

More than a week of unrest in-volving the Jats has challenged the authority of Modi, who was elected in 2014 with the largest majority in three decades but has publicly ignored the outburst of anger over a lack of jobs.

Although Jat leaders reached a deal late on Monday to end

more than a week of protests that killed 19 people and injured 170, anger was still boiling among the victims whose livelihoods had been ruined.

Live TV pictures showed Khat-tar giving up his attempt to ad-dress angry people on the street. After retreating indoors to give an impromptu news conference, he repeated his promise of com-pensation only to be shouted down again.

Soon after Modi won national power, Khattar led his nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party to power in Haryana, a state of 25 million people, for the first time.

Trail of destructionThere was a trail of destruction through the town, one of several to be hit by Jat agitation to de-mand more government jobs and college places, with one Hyundai dealership gutted.

Traders who staged an earlier sit-down protest said they had lost everything.

“I had two showrooms on the road both were first looted and then set on fire. I have nothing left now,” Anil Kumar told Reu-ters Television.

Kumar appealed to Modi and to chief minister Khattar for com-pensation: “Are we not humans? Don’t our votes count? Why did they not have any mercy on us? Don’t we pay our taxes?”

Modi has remained silent through the worst social unrest of his 20 months in office.

A senior government official said he would give a statement in due course to parliament, which convened for its budget session on Tuesday. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley next week presents his

annual budget. He is expected to announce big hikes in public sec-tor pay that would make it hard to free up funds for investment with-out borrowing more money. Thou-sands of troops were deployed to quell the protests, which flared on Monday near Sonipat when a freight train was torched and, according to reports, police shot dead three protesters.

Jats also attacked buses in neighbouring Rajasthan. Disrup-tion has been huge, with at least 850 trains cancelled, 500 facto-ries closed and business losses es-timated at as much as $5 billion by one regional lobby group.

India’s largest car maker, Maru-ti Suzuki, shut two factories at the weekend because its supply of components was disrupted.

The army on Monday retook control of a canal that supplies three-fifths of the water to Delhi, a metropolis with a population of over 20 million. A key sluice gate was reopened, but protest-ers sought to cut the water supply at another place. “The canal was damaged by protesters and repair work will have to be done,” Delhi’s Water Resources Minister Kapil Mishra said.

“The water crisis will continue for a few more days.” - Reuters

Although Jat leaders

reached a deal to end

more than a week of

protests that killed

19 people and injured

170, anger was

still boiling among

the victims whose

livelihoods had been

ruined

SC commences hearing on pleas against Jaya’s acquittal

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday com-menced final hearing on various appeals including the one filed by the southern state of Karnataka against the acquittal of AIADMK Chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Min-ister J Jayalalithaa and others in a disproportionate assets case.

A bench, comprising justices P. C. Ghose and Amitava Roy, asked senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for Karnataka government, to start arguments in the matter.

The Karnataka government is arguing the case as the trial was shifted from south Indian state of Tamil Nadu and a Bangalore court had convicted the accused including Jayalalithaa who had succeeded in her challenge before the High Court there. Opening his arguments, Dave said there were glaring mistakes in the order of the Karnataka High Court acquit-ting Jayalalithaa and others which needed to be set aside.

“There are glaring mistakes in the order of the Karnataka High Court acquitting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, which has to be set aside. The trial court has given a very reasoned or-der holding them guilty and needs to be upheld,” Dave said. - PTI

G L A R I N G M I S T A K E S

2 JNU students asked by court to surrender;Bassi warns of action

NEW DELHI: Two JNU stu-dents accused of sedition, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhttacharya, were on Tuesday asked by the Delhi High Court to surrender and were not given any protec-tion from arrest even as the Delhi Police Commissioner warned the five accused students that all op-tions are open to act against them if they fail to cooperate.

While refusing to grant protec-tion from arrest, the court asked both petitioners to give details of the date, place and time where they will surrender, to the court and that senior police officials will ensure their safety.

The High Court will on Wednesday hear the plea of the two students, who are accused in a sedition case along with JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar, seeking protection during their surrender to the police.

As the legal battle intensfied, a plea seeking immediate arrest of the five JNU students accused of raising anti-national slogans came up before the High Court which dismissed it after the peti-tioner sought to withdraw it due to convert it into a criminal pub-lic interest litigation (PIL).

The plea was filed as a civil writ petition but when the mat-ter came up for hearing before a bench of the advocate represent-ing the petitioner sought.

At the outset, Justice Manmo-han said, “You withdraw this plea and file a fresh writ petition. I am not going to change the nomen-clature of this petition.”

Earlier in the day, the division bench had agreed to urgently hear the plea which also sought direction to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to allow Delhi Police to enter its premises to arrest the five students — Umar Khalid, Anant Prakash Narayan, Ashutosh Kumar, Rama Naga and Anirban Bhattacharya.

Kamini Jaiswal, appearing Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhat-

tacharya, sought protection from their arrest till tomorrow but the judge said, “I am simply re-noti-fying the matter for tomorrow. We are not disposing of the peti-tion. Let it be heard tomorrow.”

Delhi Police Commissioner B. S. Bassi, who has been under at-tack over thrashing by lawyers of media persons, students and teachers in Patiala House court premises when Kanhaiya’s case came up, asserted that his force will not “shy away” from using its options if the five JNU students who have resurfaced in the cam-pus after being in hiding for 10 days, fail to cooperate with the investigators.

“There is no doubt that sedi-tious speeches and slogans were raised in the event concerned. We also know that some involved in it, who went absconding soon after, have now returned.

“At this point, there is no immi-nent threat to life and property, for which we are working with patience. For every job we do, our tactics are dynamic,” Delhi Police Commissioner said. - PTI

S E D I T I O N C A S E

ENRAGED: Angry locals, affected by Jat agitation, shout slogans

in front of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s car in

Rohtak on Tuesday. - PTI

ON GUARD: Police personnel guard at the entrance of Jawaharlal

Nehru University where students are agitating, in New Delhi on

Tuesday. - PTI

The High Court will

on Wednesday hear

the plea of the two

students, who are

accused in a sedition

case along with

Kanhaiya Kumar,

seeking protection

during their surrender

to the police

A9

INDIAW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

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President calls for discussion and debate, not disruption of House

NEW DELHI: As the budget ses-sion commenced, President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday hit out at the frequent disruption and ob-struction of Parliament and urged MPs to function in a spirit of coop-eration, asserting that it reflects the supreme will of the people.

In his customary address to the

year’s first session of Parliament prepared by the government out-lining its agenda for the coming fis-cal, he skipped contentious issues like the unrest in the Jawaharlal Nehru University or Hyderabad University or the reservation agi-tation in Haryana.

The President declared that the government will constantly strive for smooth and construction con-duct of Parliamentary business

“Our Parliament reflects the

supreme will of the people. Dem-ocratic temper calls for debate and discussion, and not disrup-tion of obstruction.

“My government will con-stantly strive for smooth and constructive conduct of Parlia-mentary business. I urge all Mem-bers of Parliament to discharge their solemn responsibilities in a spirit of cooperation and mu-tual accommodation. Let us all collectively endeavour to build a

flourishing and prosperous India,” the president said.

The President remarks assume significance in the context of re-peated disruption of business on various issues, loss of time of Par-liament and the stalling of legisla-tive business in Rajya Sabha where the government lacks majority.

AppealThe 75-minute speech was heard in rapt attention by members in

the central hall of Parliament and occasional thumping of desks, es-pecially when he regretted the dis-ruptions and appealed for smooth functioning of Parliament.

“Let noble thoughts come from all directions, should be the spirit behind the debate in this temple of democracy. Being a member of this great institution bestows great honour as well as important responsibilities,” Mukherjee said.

The President used the occasion

to give a report on the economy de-scribing India as “a haven of stabil-ity” in a turbulent global economy and said government has simpli-fied procedures for approvals, re-pealed obsolete laws and put in place a non-adversarial tax regime.

Turning to Pakistan, he said the government is committed to forg-ing a “mutually respectful rela-tionship” with that country while asserting that “firm and effective” steps will be taken to deal with any situation arising out of cross-border terrorism.

The President the government is fully committed to firmly deal-ing with all challenges concerning the security of the country.

“Terrorism is a global threat and strong counter measures are nec-essary worldwide to eradicate it completely,” Mukherjee said, con-gratulating the security forces for successfully foiling the recent ter-ror attack at the Pathankot air base.

He said, “firm and effective steps will be taken to deal with any situ-ation arising out of cross-border terrorism.” - PTI

President Pranab

Mukherjee’s remarks

assume significance

in the context of

repeated disruption of

business on various

issues, loss of time of

Parliament and the

stalling of legislative

business in Rajya

Sabha

SPELLING OUT: President Pranab Mukherjee addressing the Joint

Session of Parliament on the first day of the Budget Session in

New Delhi on Tuesday. - PTI /TV GRAB

Economic ties with India on upswing, says US diplomatPATNA: Economic ties between India and the US are on an up-ward swing and American in-vestment in the country has seen a more than three-fold jump in 2015-16, US Ambassador to In-dia Richard R. Verma on Tuesday said while noting that a “stable tax regime and legal certainty” were key for growth in this area.

Here to make a tour of “fast-progressing Bihar”, Verma un-derlined the utility of the single-window clearance system for attracting investment and hailed the southern states for having implemented such processes.

Lauding Bihar for the turna-round it has achieved in recent years, he said, “We hear about positive success story of Bihar in last few years. When I meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Governor Ramnath Kovind, we will identify specific areas where American establishments could have involvement.”

Verma pointed to the American

multinational General Electric company manufacturing loco-motives in Marauhra and Mad-hepura in Bihar at an investment of $2.5 billion. The US company is to make 900 locomotives in Bi-har, he said. The US Ambassador said that economic ties between his country and India would in-crease in the future.

He added that American com-panies have two prime concerns before making any investment — “they look for stable tax re-gime and legal certainty for their investment”. “US investment in India increased to $105 billion in 2015-16 as compared to $30 billion 10 years back,” he told re-porters here. “About 200 US com-panies were present in India in 2005, which has increased to 500 in 2015-16,” added Verma.

More than 1.2 millions Indian got US visas in 2015, said Verma, who was accompanied by the US Consul General Craig L. Hall on his visit to the state capital. - PTI

T H R E E - F O L D J U M P

POINTS TO PONDER Our Parliament reflects the supreme will of the people.

Democratic temper calls for debate and discussion,

and not disruption of obstruction

My government will constantly strive for smooth

and constructive conduct of Parliamentary business

Let noble thoughts come from all directions, should be

the spirit behind the debate in this temple of democracy

The government is fully committed to firmly

dealing with all challenges concerning the

security of the country

My government is committed to forging a mutually

respectful relationship with Pakistan

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Foreigners bringing FDI

likely to get long-term

visa or residency permit

NEW DELHI: Foreigners who bring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) may get long term visa or residency permit as the option is being explored by the govern-ment to make travel easy for businessmen as part of the ‘Make In India’ campaign.

India’s Finance Ministry and the Home Ministry’s foreigners division are deliberating whether India can offer long term visa or residency permit as a token of gesture to foreign businessmen who invest in the country, official sources said.

ProposalIf the proposal is implemented, it would be part of the Narendra Modi’s ‘Make In India’ campaign to attract foreign direct invest-ment. Various provisions of the Foreigners Act are being exam-ined and discussions are also on whether to bring an amendment to the existing rules, sources said.

The facilities which may be offered to such investors are still being explored, but they would definitely get enhanced facilities and hassle-free entry to India as well as domestic travel, they said.

As of now, business travellers are not required to get them-selves registered with the For-

eigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO)/ Foreigners Registration Officer (FRO) con-cerned if they have entered India on a long term visa provided their continuous stay in India does not exceed 180 days. But if they stay for more than 180 days, he/she should get himself/ herself regis-tered well before the expiry of 180 days from the date of arrival with the FRRO/FRO concerned.

As per the existing rules, all foreigners (including foreigners of Indian origin) visiting India on long term (more than 180 days) Student Visa, Medical Visa, Re-search Visa and Employment Visa are required to get themselves registered with the FRRO/ FRO concerned having jurisdiction over the place where the foreigner intends to stay, within 14 days of arrival. However, Pakistan nation-als are required to register within 24 hours of their arrival.

All Afghanistan nationals are required to register with the FRRO/FRO concerned within 14 days of arrival except those Afghan nationals who enter In-dia on a visa valid for 30 days or less provided the Afghan national concerned gives his/her local ad-dress in India to the Indian Mis-sion/FRRO/FRO. - PTI

O P T I O N E X P L O R E D

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PAKISTAN W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

London School of Economics to ‘establish’ Jinnah chair

ISLAMABAD: The London School of Economics and Politi-cal Science (LSE) is considering establishing a ‘Jinnah Chair’ at the institute in recognition of the achievements of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muham-mad Ali Jinnah.

This was informed by LSE Di-rector Professor Craig Calhoun on Tuesday in a meeting with Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif.Expressing gratitude to the

head of LSE for the gesture, the prime minister said, “Pakistani government will encourage and

welcome partnerships of LSE with local universities.”

Appreciating the overall im-proved situation in Pakistan, the LSE’s Professor Calhoun said that

they see a new-found hope in Pa-kistan, which was not there a few years ago.

“We see improved security and much better economy in Pakistan.

The improved security environ-ment and positive economic indicators have contributed towards building a positive im-age of Pakistan”, said Professor Craig Calhoun.

Offering to share experiences with Pakistan, Professor Craig Calhoun further said that LSE will extend help to parliamentarians.

“We want to help Pakistan in producing economist leaders for policy making.”

Great futureSpeaking on the occasion, PM Nawaz said that Pakistan is on the right path of ensuring a great future for the nation as the country has taken a firm stand against terrorism.

“We have categorically resolved to take the terrorists head-on and we are successfully eliminating them from every nook and corner of the country,” PM Nawaz told Professor Calhoun.

According to a statement is-sued by the Prime Minister’s House, the prime minister said the country’s economy was sta-ble and further growing because of the consolidated efforts of his economic team.

“Pakistan is proactively pursu-ing the policy of reaching out to its neighbours in the region for en-suring regional peace and stabil-ity,” said Sharif. — Express Tribune

Expressing gratitude

to the head of LSE for

the gesture, Prime

Minister Nawaz

Sharif said, Pakistani

government

will encourage

and welcome

partnerships of

LSE with local

universities

HOPE: London School of Economics’ Director Professor Craig Calhoun said, we see improved security

and much better economy in Pakistan. The improved security environment and positive economic

indicators have contributed towards building a positive image of Pakistan. — AFP file photo

PM opens world’s first solar-powered parliamentISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday inaugu-rated the world’s first ever solar-powered Parliament House.

“I appreciate the initiatives of National Assembly speaker and Senate chairman for making the country’s parliament the first in the world to be run entirely on so-lar power,”he said while address-ing the inauguration ceremony.

“It is encouraging to note that the Parliament’s solar plant will not only meet its own energy re-quirements but the additional electricity will contribute to the national grid,” he added.

The premier assured that the shortage of electricity has always been a problem for Pakistan but the government is gradually trying to resolve it.

Lauding China’s efforts, Nawaz stated that this solar power sys-tem, along with China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is proof of friendship between the two countries. ”Not only Pakistan, but China as well as the entire re-gion will benefit from CPEC,” he reiterated. Chinese President Xi Jinping and PM Nawaz launched the project on April 22, 2015.

The system is currently gen-erating 80MWh electricity, of which 62MW is used by the Par-liament House and the surplus 18MW supplied to the national grid. The project was complet-ed in seven months at a cost of Rs280.61 million. — Express Tribune

I N N O V A T I O N

SAVING ENERGY: The solar-power plant will help the Parliament House save around Rs12 million in electricity bills every year, officials

claim. The power demand at the legislative house rises to 2.3MW in summers due to the additional load of air conditioners and other

cooling equipment. — AFP file photo

‘Karachi factory fire was planned by extortionists’KARACHI: The Joint Investiga-tion Team (JIT) is seeking a go-ahead to arrest at least nine key suspects belonging to a political party for their alleged involve-ment in Karachi’s Baldia Town factory fire case.

Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment’s (MQM) former Karachi Tanzeemi Committee in-charge Hammad Siddiqui is the prime suspect behind the country’s deadliest fire.

On 11 September 2012, Ali Enterprises caught fire which claimed the lives of 259 workers. The investigators had to rely on the owners’ claims to establish the cause of the fire though they now claim to possess scientific evidences as well.

“The case has become strong as besides the owners’ statements, we now also have scientific evi-dences,” said a JIT member while talking to The Express Tribune.

A four-member team of foren-sic experts had arrived in Karachi from Punjab in October 2015, to

help officials ascertain the cause of the fire. The investigation team headed by Deputy Inspector Gen-eral (DIG) Sultan Khawaja and DIG Munir Shaikh have also re-corded the statements of the gar-ment factory owners – the Bhaila brothers Arshad and Shahid in Dubai, who have refused to return to Pakistan.

Not accidentalTheir statements were recorded both on paper and in front of a camera at the Pakistan consulate. They had claimed that the fire was not accidental and an extortionist group was behind the incident.

“The Bhaila brothers’ state-ments and Punjab forensic ex-perts’ reports have confirmed that it was not an act of God but rather an act of man,” explained a member of the JIT who did not wish to be named. “The forensic report also confirms that some chemicals were used to set the factory on fire.”

The JIT team has submitted

its final report to the Sindh Home Department. “So far we have found a gang of nine members be-longing to a political party includ-ing a former in-charge of MQM’s Karachi Tanzeemi Committee Hammad Siddiqui to be behind the deadly incident,” claimed an officer. “Apart from Siddiqui, another party’s workers Reh-man Bhola and Rizwan Qureshi’s names will be included in the FIR, for lighting the fire and killing in-nocent factory workers.”

The officer further explained that the police are now waiting for the go-ahead from the home department. “After a go-ahead in the first stage, their names will be placed in the FIR, then they will be declared absconders and proclaimed offenders and finally their red-warrants will be issued as apparently all of the suspects are currently living abroad,” ex-plained an officer. In the immedi-ate aftermath of the incident, an inquiry team had declared the fire to be accidental. — Express Tribune

R E P O R T

Police kill 12 terrorists in KarachiKARACHI: At least 12 suspected militants involved in targeted kill-ings and attacks on police officers were killed during an alleged ex-change of fire with law enforce-ment agencies Monday evening.

At least four police officials were also injured in the encounter.

The militants were killed dur-ing a joint raid by police and intel-ligence agencies on a suspected hideout in Pipri area of Bin Qasim in Malir district.

The raid was based on informa-tion provided by a number of high profile terrorists belonging to al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) whose arrest had been dis-closed by the military recently.

“The encounter occurred when militants attacked us and injured four of our men,” said Malir Senior Superintendent Police Rao Anwar, who was leading the raid.

Two-hour gunbattleA two-hour gunbattle ensued.

Earlier, it had been reported that eight men had been killed in the raid in Pipri. Senior Superin-tendent Police Anwar added that four suspects who had managed to escape during the raid were later killed in Gadap.

“Police followed them with tech-nical support from agencies and took them down,” Anwar added.

He said the militants belonged to AQIS and LeJ. — Express Tribune

S H O O T O U T

Gwadar water needs funds approved by chief ministerQUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has approved Rs55.604 million in an effort to meet the needs of potable water in Gwadar.

A press statement issued here said that a summary sent by the Department of Public Health and Engineering was approved, following the addi-tional chief secretary’s visit to Gwadar on the special direc-tives of Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri.

Supply machineryOf this, Rs6.651 million have been approved for the supply machinery.

Speaking to the media, addi-tional district councillor Gwa-dar Ghulam Shah Qehtani said that the provincial government was taking all measures to pro-vide clean drinking water to the people of insurgency-hit Balo-chistan. — Express Tribune

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Fijian islands still cut-off after cyclone, fear of Zika and Dengue outbreaksSYDNEY: Fiji sent boats on Tues-day carrying desperately needed aid to remote islands and coastal villages devastated by a power-ful cyclone which killed at least 29 people, as aid workers warned of possible outbreaks of Zika and Dengue viruses.

There are fears the death toll could rise in the nation of 900,000 people when communication re-

sumes with the smaller islands hit by Cyclone Winston on Sat-urday. Aerial footage of outlying islands taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and posted on the Fiji government’s official web-site, showed whole villages flat-tened and flooded after Winston’s destructive winds, up to 325 kph (200 mph), tore through the archi-pelago of 300 islands.

Thousands of Fijians live in tin or wooden shacks in low-lying coastal areas. Authorities have warned of “catastrophic” damage to Koro Island, Fiji’s seventh-larg-

est island, and more than 8,000 people continue to shelter in evac-uation centres across the country.

Prime Minister Frank Bainima-rama reassured Fijians that the government was doing all it could amid growing criticism of the slow emergency response in some parts of the country. “We realise the des-perate position that you are in,” Bainimarama said in a statement

after visiting an evacuation centre. “We will not rest until we have

reached you and given you the helping hand you so badly need and deserve.” “Unfortunately the recovery process will take time, perhaps a long time,” he added.

“Almost no part of our nation has been left unscarred.” Aid workers warned of potential outbreaks of the Zika and Dengue viruses, both

carried by mosquitoes which will breed in the stagnant water left by the storm.

“The threat of dengue and Zika in the coming days in Fiji is real,” said Chris Hagarty, senior health programme manager at Plan In-ternational Australia. “The period immediately following a disaster of this scale can be a particularly dangerous one.” -Reuters

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Political economy in Arab developmentMohammed Mahfoodh Al Ardhi

Politics is an effective tool for national devel-opment. Driven by globalisation, the open-ing of new markets, and the widespread

trading of commodities and currencies across borders, the role and importance of politics has increased remarkably in recent years, leading to the emergence of international political alliances and conglomerates based on mutual economic interests — such as the BRICS grouping of coun-tries, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the European Union. These developments lead me to wonder where Arab economic and developmental alliances are today, if any exist at all? What is it that hinders their formation despite the critical neces-sity of such associations for our economies and in our socio-cultural context? Undoubtedly, a devel-opment project can only exist with the widespread participation and engagement of society. Similarly, Arab development efforts must be embedded in Arab culture and identity and remain flexible to es-tablishing partnerships across the region.

Politics is simply defined as an effective re-sponse by decision makers to changes and devel-opments in each historical era. In today’s context we face several critical developments. These in-clude the continuing crises in the Arab world and their profound impact on progress and the socio-cultural climate, the consequences of the global financial crisis with projections of a future marked by stagnation and reduced growth levels, as well as transformations in regional relations such as the nuclear deal with Iran that has added a staggering $400 billion to the global markets.

If we analyse these developments, we will defi-nitely find them deeply rooted in the region’s his-tory. Changes do not happen suddenly — crises and conflicts are caused by a series of factors that are related to development. The weak performance of Arab economies, lack of social progress and the fragile social fabric of the region have rendered the Arab culture vulnerable to external interferences. The main cause of the conflicts we are currently witnessing is the lack of a joint Arab development project that provides the people of this region with financial security and prospects of a bright future.

The above factors have emerged as a result of the divide between politics and development, as well as between the development rhetoric and a real-ity that needs action rather than words. To combat such challenges we need to focus on two key areas.

First, we need to enliven Arab society and

strengthen it with our identity, heritage, culture and sense of belonging. Development is simply a culture of belonging before it becomes an eco-nomic outcome. A strong cultural identity leads to stronger and more robust nations, and fortifies their position on the global political and economic landscape. In order to witness steady progress, knowledge, science and technology must form an integral part of our national cultures. Through fo-cusing on these areas, we can build strong human capital — comprising individuals that are worthy citizens combining science, knowledge and a pride in their national culture. These individuals will certainly prioritise progress of their nations on all levels.Second, we need to find solutions to the chal-lenges that hinder the cumulative development of the Arab world. Economic systems that work inde-pendently have limited influence in an era that is witnessing new alliances and formations.

We all remember the impressive growth levels witnessed by the economies of Asia, Europe and South America in the not-so-distant past. A crucial factor for this growth was an integrated economic system as a result of alliances. This system led to the expansion of national economies, opening up of the employment market, a surge in trading ac-tivities, and most importantly to a political immu-nity from any external disturbances.

This is a critical time for us to launch an inter-Arab political and cultural dialogue that mainly aims to resolve current and imminent challenges and establish Arab relations that are on par with global economic consortiums. Such a platform must spring from our shared destiny and histori-cal roots. The inter-Arab regional dialogue should consider changes in global markets, such as the drop in oil prices. We have to think out-of-the-box to build an economy that is based on investments, production of commodities and services and co-operation between the Arab world and wider re-gion. We have to accept that in this global village, our future depends on our collective decisions and actions. We may lack an actionable programme at present or indeed even an understanding about how to implement such a mega project. I am confi-dent that it will happen eventually given our shared circumstances spell out such an imperative.

The author is the Chairman of National Bank of Oman and an International Advisor to the Brookings Instituition. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman

Finding of huge armadillo extremely exciting The refers to the story An Ice Age tank-like mammal from Argentina was huge armadillo (February 23). This is an extremely fascinating find. Along with the Ice Age mammoth find this is of utmost impor-

tance. Most people will not be aware but efforts are being made to successfully clone the mammoth. If this is ever accomplished, it would be reasonable to say many other animals — like dodo and sabre tooth tiger — can theoretically be possible. This would indeed be very interesting as the reason behind their demise might be possible to be deciphered through their genetic makeup and behaviour. — Christine Clair, Muscat

Helping fellow beings noble cause This refers to the report Baby Gorilla born by rare caesarean section delivery at British zoo (February 23). This report is indeed a pleasant surprise among all the outra-geous global news events. The fact there are individuals who care about something other than their own is really heartening.

We humans have lost our humanity by wreaking havoc and mayhem through environmental degradation and endless conflicts. Working for the betterment of our fellow beings is indeed a very noble cause. — Saima Suad, Ruwi

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New project for electricity load controlMUSCAT: Work of the electricity load control centre project in the Sultanate will commence next month. The Tender Board had awarded a tender for the project to an international specialist company. The project worth RO6.55 million will be implemented within 23 months. It is part of the plans prepared by the Ministry of Electricity and Wa-ter to modernise and develop electricity sector in the Sultanate with the aim of expanding electricity networks to cover all parts of the Sul-tanate and to control it electronically. Required works in this project include preparing required programmes and systems of the control centre, manufacturing, supplying, installing, testing and operating the system which will be used in the centre.

1836: Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo

1895: The Cuban War of Independence begins.

1916: A film version of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea opens in New York.

1916: Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for the Big Four meeting on Germany.

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EU campaign gives Boris Johnson an opportunity to put clear blue

ideological water between himself and George Osborne. Until now, the

bookmakers have made Osborne the frontrunner; but Boris’s weekend

maneuvers have put him ahead with some oddsmakers and level with

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MARK GILBERT

Pakistan Super League and the Indian version should not be compared. Both are fulfilling contrasting purposes and are important. A comparison is

unjustified. For what it’s worth, Pakistanis are just not as crazy as Indians are — about cricket — but they are starved of entertainment

BILAL MEMON

The heart of the matter is this: African countries mistook a commodity supercycle-fed

boom for a sustainable economic transformation. But a boom

connotes transient good fortune – enjoy it while it lasts, or save

the proceeds for a rainy day. Most African governments opted for the

former

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ANTI-AUSTRALIA RALLY IN EAST TIMOR East Timorese activists attend a rally outside the Australian embassy in Dili on Tuesday. Hundreds of East Timorese activists held a rally calling on

the Australian government to negotiate for the establishment of permanent maritime boundaries between Australia and East Timor. — AFP

US proposes 13 transfer sites for Guantanamo detainees

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama urged lawmakers on Tuesday to give his plan to close the US military prison at Guanta-namo Bay, Cuba, a “fair hearing” and said he did not want to pass the issue to his successor when he leaves the White House next year.

The Pentagon proposal pro-poses 13 potential sites on US soil for the transfer of remaining detainees but does not identify the facilities or endorse a specific one, administration officials said on Tuesday.

Obama pledged to close the prison and move the detainees as a candidate for the White House in 2008. Lawmakers largely oppose moving the prisoners to the United States, however, and his final at-

tempt to get congressional backing is unlikely to gain traction.

“Let us go ahead and close this chapter,” Obama said in White House remarks.”I don’t want to pass this problem on to the next

president, whoever it is.” Obama leaves office in January 2017. The Guantanamo prisoners, held at a US naval station in southeastern Cuba, were detained by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The facility came to symbolise aggressive detention practices in years past that opened the United States to allegations of torture.

The transfer and closure costs would be $290 million to $475 mil-lion, an administration official told reporters on a conference call.

Housing remaining detainees in the United States would be $65 million to $85 million cheaper than at the Cuba facility, the offi-cial said, so costs would be offset in three to five years.

Some 35 prisoners will be trans-ferred from Guantanamo to other countries this year, leaving the fi-nal number below 60, officials said.

Obama is considering closing the facility by executive order if lawmakers do not back his propos-al. The plan would send detainees who have been cleared for trans-fer to their homelands or third countries and transfer remaining prisoners to US soil to be held in maximum-security prisons.

Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011.

Though the Pentagon has pre-viously noted some of the sites it surveyed for use as potential US facilities, the administration wants to avoid fueling any po-litical outcry in important swing states before the November 8 presidential election. — Reuters

Some 35 prisoners

will be transferred

from Guantanamo to

other countries as

Obama is considering

closing the facility

by executive order

if lawmakers do not

back his proposal.

BID TO SHUT: This file photo taken on April 28, 2007 shows a guard yelling down from a guard tower

at Camp #4 at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. US President Barack Obama

has been trying to close the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since taking office in 2009,

arguing that it acts as a recruitment tool for extremists and feeds into an anti-US narrative. — AFP files

Taliban talks by March after four-party peace summitKABUL: Afghan government and Taliban representatives are ex-pected to meet in Islamabad by the first week of March for their first direct talks since a previous round of the peace process broke down last year, officials said on Tuesday.

Following a meeting in Kabul, the so-called Quadrilateral Coor-dination Group (QCG), made up of officials from Afghanistan, Paki-stan, the United States and China, “expressed strong support for the upcoming direct talks between the Government of Afghanistan and authorised representatives of the Taliban and other groups.”

In a joint statement released by the Afghan foreign ministry, they said the first round of direct peace talks is expected to take place by the first week of March in the Pakistani capital.

On Monday, the powerful chief of the Pakistan army, General Ra-heel Sharif met officials from Qa-tar, where the Taliban maintains a political office, to prepare the way

for Tuesday’s meeting, the fourth in a series of quadrilateral encoun-ters aimed at laying the ground for full peace talks.

However the Taliban has been riven by factional infighting since last year’s announcement of the death of the movement’s founder Mullah Mohammad Omar some two years earlier.

Not clearly indicatedThe Taliban has not yet clearly in-dicated whether it will take part in any talks with the Western-backed government in Kabul.

New leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has laid down precondi-tions for taking part in any talks, including the withdrawal of all for-eign forces, while a breakaway fac-tion that opposes him has rejected any negotiations.

But officials in Kabul have ex-pressed hopes that at least some parts of the movement and other insurgent groups affiliated with it can be persuaded to join.

“I think there’s a lot of Taliban that want to come,” the outgoing commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan General John Camp-bell said earlier this month.”That’s what’s going to be hard, to get all the right people to the table.”

Continuing violenceTuesday’s four-way talks in Ka-bul came against a backdrop of continuing violence and increas-ing military pressure from the Taliban, which has stepped up its insurgency since the withdrawal of most international troops from combat in 2014.

Over the weekend, Afghan of-ficials confirmed that troops had pulled out of two key districts in Helmand, leaving the entire north-ern half of the volatile province in the hands of the insurgents.

Insurgents have also kept up their suicide bombing campaign, with 14 people killed in an attack on a clinic in Parwan province north of Kabul on Monday. — Reuters

Q U A D R I L A T E R A L C O O R D I N A T I O N G R O U P

BREAKTHROUGH: Delegations from Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States and China discuss during

a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday. — Reuters

China missiles game changer: US admiralWASHINGTON: China’s deploy-ment of missiles and radars and its building of runways on reefs in the South China Sea are “changing the operational landscape” there, the head of the US Pacific Command said on Tuesday.

China was “clearly militarising the South China (Sea),” Admiral Harry Harris told the US Senate Armed Services Committee, add-ing: “You’d have to believe in a flat earth to think otherwise.”

Yi-Kerry talksSpeaking ahead of a meeting in Washington between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State John Ker-ry, Harris said China was con-tinuing to escalate the situation in the South China Sea with new deployments.

“I think China’s SSMs - surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island...Its new radars on Cuarteron Reef...The 10,000-foot runway on Subi Reef. and on Fiery Cross Reef and other places; these are actions that are changing in my opinion the op-erational landscape in the South China Sea,” he said.

Responding to a question, Har-ris said Chinese DF-21 and DF-26 anti-ship missiles could pose a threat to US aircraft carriers, but said the vessels were resilient and that the United States had “the ca-pability to do what has to be done if it comes to that.” — Reuters

S O U T H C H I N A S E A

Mars recalls products in 55 countriesFRANKFURT: US chocolate maker Mars Inc announced a recall of chocolate bars and oth-er products in 55 countries after bits of plastic were found in one of its products, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

A statement posted on the website of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority said Mars re-called Snickers, Mars, Milky Way, Celebrations and Mini Mix after a piece of plastic was found in one of its products that could cause choking. Mars Netherlands said it was work-ing closely with the Dutch food safety authority on the matter, according to the statement.

The privately held compa-ny earlier said it had recalled products in Germany, but was not immediately available to confirm which other countries might be affected.

“We want to avoid having con-sumers who bought one of the (affected) products consume them,” Mars said in a statement on its German website.

It said the recall affected all Mars and Snickers products, Milky Way Minis and Minia-tures as well as certain kinds of Celebrations confectionery boxes with best-before dates ranging from June 19, 2016 to January 8, 2017. — Reuters

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Migrant flows to Europe top 110,000 so far in 2016

GENEVA: The number of mi-grants and refugees arriving in It-aly and Greece since the start of the year has risen sharply com-pared to the same period 2015 and hundreds are stranded at European borders due to rising restrictions, aid agencies said on Tuesday.

At least 102,500 people have landed on Greek islands including Samos, Kos and Lesbos this year, and 7,500 in Italy, the Interna-tional Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement.

“We’ve reached that figure in two months as opposed to last year when it was reached by the summer,” IOM spokesman Itayi Viriri told a news briefing.

In 2015, the 100,000 mark was not reached until the end of June, according to IOM figures. The vast majority of the latest arrivals are from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, IOM said.

In a separate statement, the United Nations refugee agency called on European countries to take a “unified approach” and de-nounced restrictions limiting ac-cess for asylum seekers, including some based on nationality.

Referring to caps imposed by Austria and Slovenia, the UN-HCR said: “These newest restric-tive measures risk violating EU law and undermine efforts for a comprehensive and coordinated

approach to deal with the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe.”

Most of the refugees are fleeing war and persecution and deserve protection, including Syrian refugees from fierce fighting in Aleppo, the UN High Commis-sioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

“And yet, with every passing week, it appears some European countries are focusing on keep-ing refugees and migrants out more than on responsibly man-aging the flow and working on common solutions.”

Last week Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia agreed to jointly profile and regis-ter refugees at the border between Macedonia and Greece, which had resulted in “increased protec-tion risks”, UNHCR said.

Austria and Slovenia’s daily cap on asylum seekers and their joint restrictions with the other three countries had left nearly 700 peo-ple, mainly Afghans, barred from crossing from Macedonia into Serbia, UNHCR said.

Macedonia’s own restrictions

also left hundreds stranded at bor-der crossings from Greece, where police started removing them on Tuesday, sources said.

More than 410 have died so far this year at sea, mostly on the route from Turkey to Greece, the IOM said.

The migrants had squatted on rail lines in the Idomeni area on Monday after attempting to push through the border to Macedonia, angry at delays and additional re-strictions in crossing. They were expected to be taken to relocation camps inside Greece.

Greek police and empty buses had entered the area before dawn, a Reuters witness said. In one area seen from the Macedonian side of the border, about 600 people had been surrounded by Greek police, the witness said.

There were an estimated 1,200 people at Idomeni, in their vast majority Afghans or individu-

als without proper travel docu-ments. A crush developed there on Monday after Macedonian authorities demanded additional travel documentation, including passports, for people crossing into their territory.

Some countries used by mi-grants as a corridor into wealthi-er northern Europe are imposing restrictions on passage, prompt-ing those further down the chain to impose similar restrictions for fear of a bottleneck in their own country.

But there are concerns at what may happen in Greece, where an influx continues unabated to its islands daily from Turkey. On Tuesday morning, a further 1,250 migrants arrived in Athens by fer-ry from three Greek islands.

“It’s a difficult management exercise. I don’t know if the plan-ning is adequate. The flows are increasing, more ships are com-ing,” Piraeus mayor Yannis Mora-lis told Mega TV during a visit at the port’s station where migrants had gathered.

He said the port’s terminals were full, mostly with women and children. “It’s a difficult situation, not only for Piraeus but for the country as well.”

Some of the migrants had bus tickets to Idomeni, but it was un-clear if they would be permitted to travel north from Athens.

More than 700 migrants were rescued from six leaky boats in the sea between Tunisia and Sicily on Tuesday and four were found dead, the Italian navy said.

The navy said one of its ships went to help three boats, re-covering 403 survivors and the four bodies. Another ship res-cued 219 people from two ves-sels and a third coordinated the rescue of 105 migrants from their sinking boat.

The navy did not say what na-tionality the migrants were nor did it give any other information about their identities. — Reuters

Greek police remove

migrants from

Macedonian border

as UNHCR calls for

‘unified approach’ to

deal with crisis

Vienna ranked world’s most pleasant city, Baghdad worstVIENNA: Vienna, Austria’s grand capital on the Danube river, offers the highest quality of life of all cities in the world, while the Iraqi capital Baghdad, once more took its place at the bottom of a liveability list compiled by con-sulting firm Mercer.

The survey of 230 cities helps companies and organisations de-termine compensation and hard-ship allowances for international staff. It uses dozens of criteria such as political stability, health care, education, crime, recreation and transport.

Lagging behindGlobal centres London, Paris, To-kyo and New York City did not even make the top 30, lagging be-hind most big German, Scandina-vian and Australian cities.

Vienna’s 1.7 million inhabit-ants benefit from the city’s cafe culture and museums, theatres and operas. Rents and public transport costs in the city whose architecture is marked by its past as the centre of the Habsburg empire are cheap compared with other western capitals.

Switzerland’s Zurich, New Zea-land’s Auckland, Germany’s Mu-nich and Canada’s Vancouver fol-lowed Vienna - which reached the best position for the seventh time in a row - in the top five of most pleasant cities to live in.

Best African entryThe best African entry on the list was South Africa’s Durban at 85. Baghdad was again ranked lowest in the world. Waves of sectarian violence have swept through the city since the American-led inva-sion in 2003. Damascus, five year’s into Syria’s bloody war, ranked six places above Baghdad, with Ban-gui in the Central African Repub-lic, war-torn Yemen’s capital San-aa, Haiti’s Port-au-Prince, Sudan’s Khartoum and Chad’s N’Djamena in between. — Reuters

S E V E N T H T I M E I N A R O W

A tank-like mammal was huge armadilloWASHINGTON: DNA coaxed out of a 12,000-year-old fossil from Argentina is providing unique in-sight into one of the strangest Ice Age giants: a tank-like mammal the size of a small car with a bul-bous bony shell and a spiky, club-shaped tail.

Scientists said on Monday their genetic research confirmed that the creature, named Doedicurus, was part of an extinct lineage of gi-gantic armadillos. Doedicurus was a plant-eater that weighed about a tonne and roamed the pampas and savannas of South America, vanishing about 10,000 years ago along with many other large Ice Age animals.

“With a length of more than three meters (10 feet) from head to tail, it certainly looks like a small car, like a Mini or Fiat 500,” evolu-tionary biologist Frederic Delsuc of France’s Université de Mont-pellier, one of the researchers, said.

It was a member of a group called glyptodonts that shared the landscape with giant ground sloths, saber-toothed cats and towering, flightless, carnivorous “terror birds.” Some glyptodonts

made it as far north as southern portions of the United States, from what is now Arizona through the Carolinas.

The researchers were able to place Doedicurus and the other glyptodonts into the armadillo family tree after studying small fragments of DNA extracted from

bits of the creature’s carapace. They used a sophisticated tech-nique to fish mitochondrial DNA out from a soup of environmental contaminants that had leached into the fossil over the eons.

They determined the glyptodont lineage originated about 35 million years ago. The oldest armadillo

fossil, from Brazil, was around 58 million years old.

Asked what someone might think upon encountering Doedi-curus, another of the researchers, evolutionary biologist Hendrik Poinar of McMaster University in Canada said, “That’s the biggest armadillo-looking creature I’ve ever seen, and it has a tail like an Ankylosaurus. Yikes!”

Doedicurus resembles the dino-saur Ankylosaurus, which also was heavily armoured and wielded a club-like tail.

The researchers said the resem-blance was an example of “conver-gent evolution” in which disparate organisms independently evolve similar features to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.

Scientists have debated whether humans contributed to the extinc-tion of the glyptodonts. Poinar said he believed that humans played a role, saying most of the large mam-mals of that time were under pres-sure not only from climate change as Ice Age waned but also from human hunting. The research was published in the journal Current Biology. — Reuters

A R G E N T I N A

Gorilla born by rare Caesarean section delivery at UK zooLONDON: A baby gorilla has been delivered by a rare Caesar-ean section at a British zoo in an operation performed by a hospi-tal gynaecologist, the zoo said on Tuesday. Vets at Bristol zoo in western England called in expert medical help after the mother Kera showed signs of potentially life-threatening pre-eclampsia.

Professor David Cahill, a gy-naecologist at a nearby hospital who has delivered hundreds of babies by caesarean but never a gorilla, was drafted in to perform the operation, one of just a hand-ful ever carried out worldwide.

“Along with having my own children, this is probably one of the biggest achievements of my life and something I will certainly never forget,” he said in a state-ment. “I have since been back to visit Kera and the baby gorilla, it was wonderful to see them both doing so well.” The baby girl goril-

la weighed just over a kilogram (2 lbs 10oz) at birth 11 days ago. She initially needed help from vets to breathe independently but is now doing well after being hand-reared around the clock by keep-ers, the zoo said. “The birth of any gorilla is a rare and exciting event; but the birth of a baby gorilla by caesarean section is even more unusual,” said John Partridge, the zoo’s senior curator of animals.

“It wasn’t a decision that we took lightly - Kera was becoming quite poorly and we needed to act fast in order to give the best pos-sible treatment to mother and baby, and to avoid the possibility of losing the baby.” — Reuters

U N U S U A L E V E N T

Libya likely to run out of life-saving medicines soon: UN officialCAIRO: Libya faces severe short-ages of life-saving medicine and about one million people will soon be in dire need of help, a UN hu-manitarian official warned, as war-ring factions hamper efforts to end chaos and form a unity government.

“Our estimation is that by the end of march, Libya may run out of life saving medications which will impact about one million people.” said Ali Al Za’tari, the United Na-tions humanitarian coordinator for the North African country.

“If there is no medication and medical supplies coming in that will be a real issue for Libya.”

Al Za’tari was due to meet Arab League delegates on a visit to Cai-ro to try and win support for UN efforts to ease what he calls a hu-manitarian crisis in Libya.

His main concern at this point is scarcity of medicine needed to

combat diseases like cancer, and the state of hospitals in Libya, which has descended into anar-chy since the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi five years ago.

Compounding the many prob-lems are about 435,000 internally displaced people living in schools and other public places and some

250,000 migrants and refugees who had hoped to pass through Libya and find a better life abroad.

Since 2014, Libya has had two competing governments.

The UN plan under which the unity government has been named was designed to help Libya stabi-lise and tackle a growing threat from IS militants. It has been op-posed by hard-liners on both sides from the start and suffered delays.

Instability has taken a heavy toll on healthcare facilities. In Beng-hazi, for instance, only one or two out of about a dozen hospitals are functioning, said Al Za’tari.

A few days ago, he was notified that the psychiatric care hospi-tal in Benghazi has no resources. Scores of patients lack proper care.

“It is really difficult for a hospi-tal to continue like this in a town that is witnessing constant daily

fighting in certain parts,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Al Za’tari said 1.3 million people in Libya need humanitarian assis-tance. “Today we are receiving re-quests from NGOs for food. That is not a good sign. It means you have a sizeable portion of the commu-nity requiring food intake that is stable food intake,” said Al Za’tari.

Focusing attention on their plight will be difficult in a region with multiple crises, from Syria to Iraq to Yemen.

“The perception is Libya is rich and can fend for itself. Libya is rich but it can’t fend for itself today,” said Al Za’tari, in reference to Lib-ya’s status as an oil producer. “It is not an easy story to sell and I admit it. I am living it. Telling people that Libya has a humanitarian situation makes them go back in their seats and say ‘no way’.” — Reuters

S E V E R E S H O R T A G E S

FOR SAFER PASTURES: Migrants climb aboard a lifeboat during a rescue operation of 219 migrants

by Italian naval vessel Bettica (not seen) on Tuesday. – Reuters/Marina Militare/Handout via Reuters

MAKING A POINT: Ali Al Za’tari, the United Nations humanitarian

coordinator for Libya, speaks during an interview with Reuters in

Cairo, Egypt, on Monday. – Reuters

ICE AGE GIANTS: Two armadillo-like creatures named Doedicurus

are shown in this artist’s rendering by Peter Schouten on Mon-

day. Doedicurus was a plant-eater that weighed about a tonne and

roamed the pampas and savannas of South America. – Reuters/Handout

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In Benghazi, for instance, only one or two out of about a dozen hospitals are functioning

MARKEWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6B

Muscat

5,430.41- 6.50

- 0.12%

Dubai

3,191.81+ 21.54

+ 0.68%

Abu Dhabi

4,313.57+ 16.38

+ 0.38%

Saudi Arabia

5,995.89+ 18.19

+ 0.30%

Kuwait

5,166.19+ 21.64

+ 0.42%

Bahrain

1,176.17+ 2.07

+ 0.18%

Qatar

9,950.00+ 36.68

+ 0.37%

CURRENCY RATES* DRAFT RATES (OMR1)* GOLD PRICES*Forex rates vs OMR1*

US Dollar .................................2.58

Euro ............................................ 2.32

Pound ...........................................1.82

Indian Rs ..............................177.53

Pakistan Rs .........................277.16

Bangla Taka........................201.13* Rates are as of Feb 23

Source: Bank Muscat

Indian Rs ...................................178.03

Pakistan Rs .............................272.00

Sri Lanka Rs ............................371.75

Bangla Taka........................... 203.50

Phil Peso ................................... 123.50

* Rates as of Feb 23 Source: Oman UAE Exchange

Muscat 24ct per gm (OMR) .......15.60

Muscat 22ct per gm (OMR) .......15.00

Dubai 24ct per gm (Dh) ............145.00

Dubai 22ct per gm (Dh) ..............137.75

* Rates as of Feb 23

Source: Malabar Gold & Diamonds

Type ............................Delivery...........Price

Oman Crude ............. (Spot) ........$30.03

Dubai Crude ............. (Spot) ........$29.53

Murban Crude ........ (Spot) ........$32.08

Arabian Light ......... (Spot) ........$28.98

N.Sea Brent ............... (Spot) ........ $34.78

West Texas Int ....... (Spot) ........$33.23

CRUDE OIL PRICE

DIGEST VIDEO

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Listed firms to pay OMR350m dividend

A E JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Companies listed on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) are expected to maintain total dividends for 2015 at the previous year’s level of more than OMR350 million.

According to market sources, around 55 to 60 companies have already announced their cash and stock dividends, which totals around OMR325 million. Another 15 to 20 companies are expected

to announce dividends in the com-ing couple of weeks. Although as many as 130 firms are listed on the Muscat Securities Market, a sec-tion of listed firms will not offer any dividend due to losses.

Dividend announcements“Broadly, dividend announce-ments are in line with the previ-ous year,” said Suresh Kumar, head of research at Al Maha Fi-nancial Services.

“Most of the companies have maintained their dividends, which is based on their 2015 earnings,” added another senior market analyst, who did not want

to be named. Suresh Kumar said that al-

though earnings of certain indus-trial companies have been affect-ed due to an increase in natural gas prices, the corporate sector in general had tried to maintain divi-dend payouts.

“For instance, the Oman Ce-ment Company, Al Anwar Ceram-ics, Al Maha Ceramics Company and Oman Cables Industry have maintained their dividends.” However, Raysut Cement Com-pany reduced its cash dividend for 2015.

In case of the banking sector, while some banks have raised their

dividend payouts marginally, few others had maintained dividends at the previous year’s level. In general, banks are offering better dividends for 2015 than the previ-ous year. Traditionally, telecom-munication, oil marketing firms and utilities are the dividend pay masters in Oman.

Major blue chip firmsThe five major blue chip firms that paid maximum cash dividend on the local bourse are the Oman Telecommunications Company (115 per cent, including 55 per cent interim dividend), Shell Oman Marketing (106 per cent), Oman Refreshment Company (100 per cent), Al Maha Petroleum Prod-ucts Marketing Company (100 per cent) and the Oman Cables In-dustry (90 per cent). Several firms have announced a combination of both cash and stock dividends.

Although most of the annual general meetings are scheduled for next month, investors will receive actual payments only by the first week of April.

Market experts believe that 25 to 30 per cent of the total dividend money is expected to come back to the bourse as reinvestment, which will depend on investor senti-ment, market outlook and funda-mentals of companies.

However, dividend related ad-justment or correction could be seen towards the end of March.

But the local bourse is expect-ed to recover when the dividend money comes back to the bourse in April.

Around 55 to 60

MSM-listed firms

have announced

cash and stock

dividends, which

totals OMR325m.

Another 15 to

20 companies

are expected to

announce dividends

in the coming

couple of weeks

Global crude prices decline amid oversupply outlookLONDON: Oil prices retreated from a two-week high in New York as signs of rising US invento-ries and weaker Chinese econom-ic growth compounded forecasts that a global surplus will endure for the rest of this year.

April futures slid as much as 2.8 per cent after the March con-tract expired 6.2 per cent higher on Monday. European equities dropped from a three-week high after Chinese gauges of manu-facturing and services fell to new lows.

Oil stockpiles will keep ac-cumulating into 2017 as supply continues to exceed demand, capping any price recovery, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its medium-term report on Monday.

US inventories probably ex-panded further from the highest level in more than eight dec-ades, according to a Bloomberg survey before government data on Wednesday.

Balances remain bearish“In the near term, balances re-main bearish,” Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at consultants Energy Aspects, said in a report. “Weak economic growth, slow Chinese demand, strong dollar” have been among the key drivers weighing on prices, she said.

Oil is down about 12 per cent this year on speculation a global glut will persist amid the outlook for increased exports from Iran and brimming US stockpiles.

Iran will add more output capac-ity than any other member of the Organisation of Petroleum Ex-porting Countries (Opec) over the next six years as it seeks to regain lost market share after the remov-al of sanctions, the IEA said.

Rising inventoriesWest Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery lost as much as 94 cents to $32.45 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $32.67 at 9:45am Lon-don time. Total volume traded was about 40 per cent above the 100-day average. The March contract rose $1.84 to $31.48 on Monday, the highest for front-month pric-es since February 4. WTI lost 30 per cent last year. Brent for April settlement dropped as much as 94 cents, or 2.7 per cent, to $33.75 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude trad-ed at a premium of $1.40 to WTI for April. — Bloomberg News

O I L S U P P L I E S

Market experts believe that 25 to 30 per cent of total dividend

money is expected to come back to the bourse as reinvestment.

- Times file picture

New report unveiled

on Oman’s economy

by research firm

MUSCAT: Oman’s long-term preparations for a post-oil future are explored in detail in a report just produced by the global pub-lishing, research and consultan-cy firm Oxford Business Group (OBG).

The Report: Oman 2016 charts the country’s strong project pipe-line, which includes both large-scale public and private sector initiatives earmarked for roll-out in the coming years.

OBG’s new publication also provides wide-ranging cover-age of Oman’s efforts to nurture small-business growth, as part of the push to encourage an en-trepreneurial spirit amongst the Sultanate’s younger generation.

Other topics covered in the re-port include the national bid to move local industry up the value chain, in a move, which should help local firms become more competitive and boost productiv-ity. As the Government sharpens its focus on linking up industrial areas and improving regional connections, The Report: Oman 2016 also shines a spotlight on the Sultanate’s increasingly im-portant transport and logistics sector.

The report contains a contri-bution from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, together with a detailed, sector-by-sector guide for investors.

It also features a wide range of contributions from other leading representatives, including the Azerbaijani Minister of Economy and Industry Shahin Mustafayev,

the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Planning (SCP) Sultan bin Salim Al Habsi and the Chairman of the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (Sezad), Yahya bin Said Al Jabri.

Andrew Jeffreys, OBG’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief, said that the Omani government’s con-tinued investment in supporting infrastructure demonstrated its commitment to diversifying the national economy and exploring new opportunities for growth.

“Our latest report highlights the key sectors of the Sultanate’s economy that are ripe for expan-sion, including logistics and tour-ism, and the national drive al-ready under way to harness their potential,” he said.

“While challenges, such as regulatory hurdles, will need ad-dressing, Oman is already taking steps to stimulate private sector participation, which bodes well for its long-term plans for eco-nomic development,” he added.

OBG’s Managing Editor for the Middle East Oliver Cornock add-ed that despite feeling the weight of declining oil prices, Oman was well equipped to maintain the tempo of its development plans.

“The external economic cli-mate is undoubtedly putting pressure on Oman’s fiscal and current account balances. How-ever, its low debt-to-GDP ratio provides the Sultanate with the option of seeking funding via the international markets if it so chooses,” he said. — ONA

O X F O R D B U S I N E S S G R O U P

– Bloomberg file picture

TREASURY BILLS ISSUEDA tender of government treasury bills, issue number 441, was held at the Central Bank of Oman. The total value of the allotted Treasury bills amounted to OMR15 million, for a maturity period of 91 days, from February 24 until May 25, 2016. — ONA

B2

MARKETW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

JOHN DEFTERIOS*

Investors were sensing a bold agreement between Opec and non-Opec producers to

cut oil output in attempt to raise prices was being cooked up be-hind the scenes, but sealing that deal perhaps did not serve the interests of the world’s largest exporter Saudi Arabia.

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) member Venezuela, arguably the country most desperate for an agreement due to it’s crumbling economy, sounded an optimistic tone that a deal to cut production was going be secured. “We’re on a very, very, very good path,” said Eulogio Del Pino,

Venezuela’s oil minister and president of state oil company PDVSA. He had completed a week- long tour of the Middle East and Russia in an attempt to secure commitments by the major producers.

Instead, there was only an agreement to hit the pause button and freeze production at January output levels. This effort showed a collective awareness of market pressure but required no sacrifice by the producers themselves. It was telling what Saudi Arabia’s powerful oil minister had to say after what has been defined now as the Doha agreement.

“We don’t want reduction in supply. We want to meet demand

and we want a stable oil price,” said Ali Al Naimi, Saudi Arabia’s oil minister.

That of course went counter to the demands of Venezuela and Nigeria who both went public over the past month suggesting that current prices are imposing too much pain on their respec-tive economies.

Ratings agency S&P con-curred and downgraded Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Brazil, Oman and Kazakhstan two days after the plan to freeze production.But the energy minister of Qatar and current rotating president of Opec clarified the priorities behind the move between Opec and non-Opec players. “This step is meant to stabilise

the market and to be beneficial not only to the oil producers and exporters, but also to the world economy,” said Moham-med Al Sada, who spearheaded this effort with his Venezuelan counterpart.

A day later, the duo went to Tehran to gauge interest from Iran, which supported stabilis-ing the market, but after having sanctions lifted last month publicly sidestepped the issue of freezing its own production.

The initial market rally before the Doha meeting was triggered by comments from the UAE’S minister of energy Suhail Mo-hammed Al Mazrouei. While on a state visit to India, Mazrouei told Sky News Arabia that Opec

was willing to cooperate with non-Opec producers. Perhaps investors became overly excited since it signalled a potential shift by the Gulf producers who have steadfastly backed the Saudi Arabian led strategy to secure market share rather than protect prices. Even before the Doha meeting, the chairman of Saudi Aramco did not hide the Kingdom’s position.

“We are not going to accept to withdraw our production to make space for others,” said Khalid Al Falih the chairman of Saudi Aramco at the CNN energy roundtable at the World Economic Forum.

But like the UAE, he too left the door open if there is a com-

mitment from all the major players. “If there are short term adjust-ments that need to be made and if other producers are willing to collaborate, Saudi Arabia will also be willing to collaborate,” Al Falih concluded.

Getting all the players lined up remains no simple task – even for freezing, not cutting produc-tion. Take Russia for example. Energy minister Alexander No-vak said ideaswere proposed “to cut production by each country by up to five per cent,” but added at the time, “It was too early to talk about it”. — CNN

The author is CNNMoney’s Emerging Markets Editor

Bold agreement between Opec and non-Opec crude oil producersC O M M E N T A R Y

Saudi sells its firstfloating rate bonds

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia sold its first floating-rate bonds in a dec-ade at the top end of price guid-ance, two people with knowledge of the deal said, as the kingdom seeks to bridge a budget deficit amid tightening bank liquidity.

Riyal-denominated five-year notes were priced at 25 basis points under the three-month Saudi Interbank Offered Rate, ac-cording to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is not public yet.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency had indicated a range of 30 to 25 basis points under the benchmark, they said.

The seven-year notes yield 10 basis points under three-month Saibor, while the 10-year notes priced five basis points above the

interbank rate, the people said. Both were also at the top end of price guidance, they said. The central bank didn’t immediately respond to calls and an e-mail sent after office hours. It is the first time that the kingdom has sold floating rate notes since October 2006, according to the central bank’s website.

Cut in spendingThe kingdom is taking unprec-edented measures to shore up its public finances and reduce the economy’s reliance on oil amid the plunge in crude prices.

The Saudi government has raised fuel prices and trimmed spending to narrow a deficit that may have been the widest since 1991 last year.

The Washington-based Inter-national Monetary Fund expects economic growth in Saudi Arabia of 1.2 per cent this year, the slow-est pace since 2002. Saudi Arabia will probably sell about 120 billion riyals of debt in 2016 to support its finances after oil’s slump, Saudi Fransi Capital said in October.

The three-month interbank lending rate climbed 19 basis points this year to 1.74333 per cent on Monday, its highest in about seven years, as bank liquid-ity tightens in the world’s biggest oil exporter.

SAMA, as the Saudi Arabian central bank is known, is also eas-ing rules on bank lending rules to boost credit growth, people with knowledge of the matter said ear-lier this month. - Bloomberg News

The kingdom

seeks to bridge a

budget deficit amid

tightening bank

liquidity

Carmaker Tata renames hatchback Zica as TiagoMUMBAI: India’s Tata Motors said on Monday it has renamed its Zica hatchback as Tiago.

The carmaker had said it would have a new name for the car, showcased at the New Delhi motor show this month, after the outbreak of the Zika virus. Tata Motors is seeking an image makeover with the curvaceous hatchback, which is being en-dorsed by world soccer player of the year Lionel Messi.

The hatchback will compete

with vehicles in a similar class from Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor, where prices start at Rs400,000 ($5,830). In-dia’s fifth-biggest automaker, which owns the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, has struggled to dispel perceptions of cheapness since releasing its Nano cars sev-en years ago costing under $3,000.

Tata will apply for regulatory registrations and is working to-wards the market launch of Tiago by March end, it said. - PTI

I N D I A N C A R

B3W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

MARKET

Shell to help Omanis start own businesses

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Shell is focusing on re-vamping Intilaaqah project in or-der to meet the growing needs of Omani entrepreneurs, in its Gift to the Nation initiative. The re-vamped Shell Intilaaqah will help entrepreneurs launch their own business, and in turn contribute to Oman’s 2020 Vision.

Shell is also focusing on ex-panding its current entrepreneur support services to cover busi-ness start-ups and alumni sup-port. Shell has announced its fifth Gift to The Nation under the aus-pices of Yusuf bin Alawi bin Ab-dullah, minister of foreign affairs, at a ceremony in Muscat.

Oman was the first country to launch the Shell Intilaaqah pro-gramme in the Middle East in

1995. Till date, more than 10,000 Omani female and male entre-preneurs have graduated from the programme.

Jobs createdAn official said that through Inti-laaqah in Oman, over 1,600 busi-nesses have been created and 30 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) financed, where 900 em-ployment positions have been sustained, 32 per cent of which are Omanis.

“Shell’s Gift to the Nation is a tribute to the long standing rela-tionship Oman has with Shell. We hope that the full potential of the two announced initia-tives are going to be utilised in the coming 5 years and we look forward to more sustainable and rewarding initiatives,” Yusuf bin

Alawi bin Abdullah, minister of foreign affairs, said.

This year, and in line with Shell’s ongoing commitment to foster the development of the SME sector and to promote ener-gy sustainability and educational awareness, Shell announced it will launch a project to install use solar energy into a select number of Grade 10-12 secondary schools across Oman.

As part of the Gift to the Na-tion, Shell also announced it will launch a project to install use so-lar energy into a select number of Grade 10-12 secondary schools across Oman.

School projects Inaugurating the event, Chris Breeze, Shell’s Country chairman in Oman said that the solar power into schools project will be a first of its kind project for Oman. It will show how solar energy can help supplement existing electricity demand which currently is largely generated from either diesel or gas. By using Omani contractors to help install the solar installa-tions we also help contribute to Oman’s energy and economy tran-sition, by helping build a platform

for development and implemen-tation of small-scale solar pro-jects in Oman. By putting these installations into public schools we also help boost interest in science, technology, innovation & entrepreneurship for Omani youth and awareness in Oman’s future energy transition.”

It may be recalled that, in 2010, Shell’s Gift to the Nation saw the migration of Intilaaqah and Inti-laaqah Enterprise Fund into a single programme under the brand name Shell Intilaaqah — offering a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs to gain financial support for their business-es and benefit from other develop-ment services and consultancy.

Gift to the Nation is a tradition initiated by Shell in 1995 — the 25th anniversary of Oman’s Re-naissance, to launch every five years, a new project that carries a small further contribution to the development of Oman’s society and economy.

Shell is also focusing on expanding its

current entrepreneur support services to

cover business start-ups and alumni support

Bosses of Britain’s top firms say EU exit will hit economyLONDON: Bosses of a third of Britain’s biggest companies warned on Tuesday that an exit from the European Union (EU) would put the economy at risk and threaten jobs

In a letter to the Times news-paper, bosses from big employers including telecoms group BT, re-tailers Marks & Spencer and Asda and oil firm BP joined forces to ar-gue that access to the EU’s single market enabled firms to grow and create jobs.

The letter, signed by 36 of the bosses of FTSE 100 companies, is likely to be seized on by Prime Minister David Cameron who is battling to persuade Britons to re-main in the 28-member bloc in a June 23 referendum.

On Monday, the pound posted its biggest one-day loss in almost six years on concerns that Britain could vote to leave the bloc after the influential London mayor, Bo-ris Johnson, said he would cam-paign for a British exit, or Brexit.

“Business needs unrestricted

access to the European market of 500 million people in order to continue to grow, invest and cre-ate jobs,” the letter signed by al-most 200 business leaders said.

“We believe that leaving the EU would deter investment, threaten jobs and put the economy at risk. Britain will be stronger, safer and better off remaining a member of the EU.” Those signing the letter included the chief executives or chairman of 36 FTSE 100 com-

panies however many large firms opted not to sign the letter, prefer-ring instead to stay neutral in the highly charged debate.

The move, organised by the Britain Stronger in Europe cam-paign, with the support of Cam-eron’s Downing Street office, echoes similar moves made by big business in the run up to the 2014 Scotland independence referen-dum, which helped to keep Scots in the United Kingdom. - Reuters

J U N E R E F E R E N D U M

Chinese investors welcome new

market regulator, await new rules

SHANGHAI/BEIJING: Chi-na’s new securities regulator Liu Shiyu, a former central banker, has a tough job on his hands — not least managing a huge weight of expectation from millions of small investors smarting from a recent stock market collapse.

Liu, appointed at the week-end to replace Xiao Gang, the scapegoat of the piece, inherits the fallout from near 50 per cent drops in China’s major indexes from peaks in June, blamed on a

confluence of mistakes made by multiple regulators.

While Liu has no experience in the securities business and his curriculum vitae reads much like Xiao’s - and other previous heads of the China Securities Regulato-ry Commission for that matter — some superstitious ‘netizens’ are pinning their faith on his birth sign. They note he was born un-der the Chinese zodiac sign of the Bull, and have made word plays rhyming his family name. - Reuters

S T O C K M A R K E T

G20 summit to focus on greater fiscal spendingWASHINGTON: United States will call on G20 countries this week to use fiscal policy in order to boost global demand, a senior US Treasury official has said.

“We will urge greater use of pol-icy space, including fiscal space, to bolster global demand. That would lead to strengthened confidence and I would expect reduce volatil-ity,” the Treasury official said in a preview call with reporters on Monday, ahead of a G20 meeting later this week in Shanghai, China.

G20 finance ministers, includ-ing US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and central bank governors will meet from February 26 to 27, with sagging global growth, diver-gent monetary policies and cur-rency devaluations set to domi-nate the agenda.

While there, the United States will also urge all members to re-frain from manipulating exchange rates for competitive purposes, in line with existing G20 commit-ments, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“I see those commitments as be-ing a strong indication from G20 members that they will manage their currencies in ways that are globally consistent. I think that those commitments are very, very important,” the official said.

Lew has repeatedly called on China to more clearly commu-nicate its currency policies and actions amid uncertainty over Beijing’s transition to a market-determined exchange rate. Recent Chinese efforts to improve its communications have been con-structive, the official said.

China’s slowdownChina’s economic slowdown has also skittered financial markets as it seeks to rebalance its econ-omy towards consumption-led growth. The senior Treasury offi-cial said that supply-side reforms in China were “crucial” as it pivots to a stronger services sector, and praised the country’s ongoing ef-forts to reduce excess capacity.

Lew is scheduled to travel to Be-ijing for two days immediately fol-lowing the G20 gathering, where he will meet with senior Chinese government officials, Treasury said in a statement. In those meet-ings he will urge China to “follow

through” on its commitment to market-based economic reforms, the senior Treasury official said.

On Friday, IMF chief Christine Lagarde called on G20 officials to focus on global economic spillo-vers from their policy decisions. An increasing number of central banks, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Ja-pan, have turned to negative inter-est rates over the past year in order to avoid deflation and promote economic growth. - Reuters

E C O N O M Y

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.com

GIFT TO THE NATION: Shell is focusing on revamping Intilaaqah project in order to meet the growing needs of Omani entrepreneurs in

its Gift to the Nation initiative. - Supplied picture

Jack Lew, United States

Treasury Secretary. – Bloomberg News

I see those commitments as being a strong indication from G20 members that they will manage their currencies in ways that are globally consistent. I think that those commitments are very, very important

US Treasury official

AGAINST EXIT: Bosses from top firms like BT, Marks & Spencer

and Asda and BP joined forces to argue that access to the EU’s

single market enabled firms to grow and create jobs. – Bloomberg News

B4

MARKETW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

MUSCATSECURITIES MARKET

SHARE PRICE BULLETIN FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23

REGULAR MARKET .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................OM0000003224 ...........RENAISSANCE SERVICES ..................................... 1,789,404 ...... 270,723................... 103 ............0.144 ........... 0.154 ...........0.144 ............0.151 ............. 0.142 ........... 0.009 ............. 6.338 ................0.153 .............. 0.153...................0.154 ...................43,888,304.........0.100

OM0000002226 ...........AL JAZEERA SERVICES .......................................... 188,460 ............54,774......................21 ............0.291 ...........0.292 ...........0.288........... 0.291 .............0.280 ............0.011 ............. 3.929 ................0.288..............0.288...................0.290 .................. 17,810,443 .........0.100

OM0000005005 ...........ALMAHA CERAMICS ................................................ 142,134.............59,700......................13 ........... 0.420 ...........0.422 ...........0.420........... 0.420 ............. 0.410.............0.010 ............. 2.439 ................0.420.............. 0.414...................0.420 ..................22,050,000 ........0.100

OM0000002176 ............AL JAZEERA STEEL PRODUCTS ........................ 266,082 ............39,557..................... 34 ............0.147 ........... 0.151 ............0.147 ........... 0.149 ............. 0.146............ 0.003 ............. 2.055 ................0.147 .............. 0.146...................0.147 ................... 18,609,796 .........0.100

OM0000002440 ...........AL SHARQIA INVESTMENT HOLDING ............ 20,000 ...............2,140........................ 1 ............0.107 ........... 0.107 ...........0.107 ........... 0.107 ............. 0.105............ 0.002 ............. 1.905 ................0.107 .............. 0.105...................0.109 ....................9,630,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001962 ............AL MADINA INVESTMENT ................................... 430,700 ............26,738......................18 ........... 0.062 ........... 0.063 ...........0.062........... 0.062 ............. 0.061.............0.001 ............. 1.639 ................0.062.............. 0.061...................0.062 ..................12,843,386 .........0.100

OM0000003521 ............GALFAR ENGINEERING AND CON. .................. 3,915,367 ......247,046................... 150 ........... 0.062 ........... 0.065 ...........0.061 ........... 0.063 .............0.062 ............0.001 ..............1.613 .................0.062..............0.062...................0.063................... 18,268,780 .........0.100

OM0000003026 ...........OMAN TELECOMMUNICATION ........................ 230,328 .........362,697..................... 28 ............1.570 ........... 1.580 ...........1.565 ............1.575 ............. 1.560.............0.015 ............. 0.962 ................1.580 .............. 1.580................... 1.585 ................ 1,181,250,000 ......0.100

OM0000001087 ............OMAN UNITED INSURANCE ............................... 1,158,766 .......274,897..................... 69 ........... 0.236 ...........0.240 ...........0.236........... 0.237 .............0.236 ............0.001 ............. 0.424 ................0.236 ..............0.236...................0.237...................23,700,000 .........0.100

OM0000001533 ............OMINVEST ........................................................................4,942 .............. 2,320........................4 ........... 0.464 ...........0.500 ...........0.464........... 0.464 .............0.464 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.500..............0.470...................0.480 .................256,527,802 ........0.100

OM0000001681 ............OMAN AND EMIRATES INV. HOLDING ............... 3,029 .................. 288........................2 ........... 0.095 ........... 0.095 ...........0.095 ........... 0.100 .............0.100 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.095 ..............0.095...................0.100................... 12,187,500 .........0.100

OM0000001707 ............OMAN CABLES INDUSTRY ........................................ 4,936 ............... 7,626........................ 1 ............1.545 ........... 1.545 ...........1.545 ............1.545 ............. 1.545............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................1.545 .............. 1.525...................1.545 ..................138,586,500 ........0.100

OM0000001749 ............OMAN CEMENT .............................................................. 1,000 ..................440........................ 1 ........... 0.440 ...........0.440 ...........0.440 .......... 0.440 .............0.440 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.440..............0.440...................0.472..................145,583,992 ........0.100

OM0000002366 ...........AL BATINAH DEV. INV. HOLDING ....................... 20,000 ...............1,480........................2 ........... 0.074 ........... 0.074 ...........0.074 ........... 0.074 .............0.074 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.074 ..............0.074...................0.076....................2,220,000 ..........0.100

OM0000003125 ............GLOBAL FINANCIAL INVESTMENT ................. 20,000 .............. 2,320........................ 1 ............0.116 ........... 0.116 ............ 0.116 ............0.116 ............. 0.116 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.116 ...............0.115................... 0.116 ...................23,200,000 ........0.100

OM0000003661 ............VOLTAMP ENERGY .....................................................24,179 .............10,634........................4 ........... 0.440 ...........0.440 ...........0.430........... 0.440 .............0.440 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.430..............0.420...................0.430 ..................26,620,000.........0.100

OM0000003711 ............SOHAR POWER ......................................................................30 ..................... 11........................ 1 ........... 0.352 ........... 0.352 ...........0.352 ........... 0.352 .............0.352 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.352 ..............0.324...................0.352................... 77,795,520 .........0.100

OM0000003968 ...........OOREDOO....................................................................... 103,000 ............71,688........................4 ........... 0.696 ........... 0.696 ...........0.696 ........... 0.696 .............0.696 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.696 ..............0.692...................0.696..................453,057,184 ........0.100

OM0000004768 ...........AL MADINA TAKAFUL ............................................. 355,350 ........... 25,645......................17 ........... 0.072 ........... 0.073 ...........0.072........... 0.072 .............0.072 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.073 .............. 0.071...................0.073...................12,600,000 .........0.100

OM0000004925 ...........AL BATINAH POWER ........................................................100 .................... 20........................ 1 ........... 0.200 ...........0.200 ...........0.200 .......... 0.201 .............0.201 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.200 ............. 0.198...................0.200 .................135,652,373 ........0.100

OM0000004735 ...........SEMBCORP SALALAH .................................................. 4,467 ............. 11,123........................2 ........... 2.490 ...........2.490 ...........2.490........... 2.490 .............2.495 ...........-0.005 ........... -0.200 ...............2.490..............2.490...................2.495..................237,688,416 ........1.000

OM0000001525 ............OMAN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE .............. 688,500 ..........137,314..................... 42 ........... 0.200 ...........0.202 ...........0.197 ........... 0.199 .............0.200 ...........-0.001 ........... -0.500 ...............0.198 .............. 0.197...................0.198 ...................39,800,000.........0.100

OM0000001772 ............AL ANWAR HOLDING............................................... 760,624 ......... 138,582..................... 59 ............0.184 ........... 0.185 ...........0.180 ........... 0.182 ............. 0.183............-0.001 ........... -0.546 ............... 0.181 .............. 0.181...................0.182 ................... 27,313,650 .........0.100

OM0000003398 ...........BANK SOHAR................................................................ 134,706.............21,852......................15 ............0.163 ........... 0.163 ........... 0.161 ........... 0.162 ............. 0.163............-0.001 ............-0.613................ 0.161 .............. 0.159................... 0.161 ..................233,513,280 ........0.100

OM0000002028 ...........GULF INTERNATIONAL CHEMICALS ..............88,360 ............ 26,537......................15 ........... 0.302 ...........0.302 ...........0.297........... 0.300 .............0.302 ...........-0.002 ........... -0.662 ...............0.297..............0.297...................0.299 ...................6,300,000 ..........0.100

OM0000002796 ...........BANK MUSCAT ............................................................ 520,605 .........227,004..................... 26 ........... 0.440 ...........0.440 ...........0.436 ........... 0.436 .............0.440 ...........-0.004 ........... -0.909 ...............0.436 ..............0.434...................0.438..................999,234,652 .......0.100

OM0000001160 ............NATIONAL GAS ............................................................. 11,000 ...............3,366........................ 1 ........... 0.306 ...........0.306 ...........0.306........... 0.306 ............. 0.310............-0.004 ........... -1.290 ...............0.306..............0.302...................0.310 ...................15,300,000 .........0.100

OM0000001483 ............NATIONAL BANK OF OMAN ................................. 213,631 ............. 57,755........................9 ........... 0.272 ........... 0.272 ...........0.270........... 0.270 .............0.274 ...........-0.004 ........... -1.460 ...............0.270..............0.268...................0.270 ................. 361,991,768 ........0.100

OM0000001509 ............DHOFAR INT.DEV.AND INV. HOLD. ....................... 9,000 ...............3,420........................2 ........... 0.380 ...........0.380 ...........0.380........... 0.380 .............0.386 ...........-0.006 ............-1.554................0.380............. 0.000...................0.380 ..................93,632,000.........0.100

OM0000002820 ...........GULF INVESTMENT SERVICES ...........................75,000 ............... 7,065........................4 ........... 0.095 ........... 0.095 ...........0.094........... 0.094 .............0.096 ...........-0.002 ........... -2.083 ...............0.094..............0.094...................0.095.................... 5,531,262 ..........0.100

OM0000001418 ............RAYSUT CEMENT ........................................................74,282 ............ 74,358......................16 ........... 1.000 ........... 1.010............0.996........... 1.000 ............. 1.025............-0.025 ........... -2.439 ...............0.996 ..............0.980...................0.996................. 200,000,000 .......0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 11,257,982 . 2,169,121...................666 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ...... 31........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

PARALLEL MARKET ................................................................................................................................................................................. OM0000001053 ............OMAN TEXTILE HOLDING ....................................... 3,690 ............... 1,421........................4 ........... 0.390 ...........0.390 ...........0.384........... 0.386 .............0.384 ........... 0.002 ............. 0.521 ................0.384..............0.370...................0.384 ................... 2,316,000 ..........1.000

OM0000001368 ............CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS IND. .................. 611,000............ 20,468..................... 28 ........... 0.034 ........... 0.034 ...........0.033 ........... 0.033 .............0.033 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.033 ..............0.032...................0.033....................2,805,000 ..........0.100

OM0000001566 ............OMAN FISHERIES .......................................................70,957 ...............4,100......................12 ........... 0.058 ........... 0.058 ...........0.057 ........... 0.058 .............0.058 ........... 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.058 ..............0.057...................0.058.................... 7,250,000 ..........0.100

OM0000004420 ...........BANK NIZWA ................................................................ 244,100 ............ 17,301........................7 ............0.071 ........... 0.071 ...........0.070............0.071 ............. 0.071............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.070..............0.070...................0.071 ................. 106,500,000 .......0.100

OM0000005963 ...........PHOENIX POWER ...................................................... 165,630............ 23,686......................16 ............0.143 ........... 0.144 ...........0.143 ........... 0.143 ............. 0.143............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.144 .............. 0.143...................0.144 ..................209,152,009........0.100

OM0000004511 ............ALIZZ ISLAMIC BANK.............................................. 289,224 ............ 16,787......................19 ........... 0.059 ........... 0.059 ...........0.058 ........... 0.058 .............0.059 ...........-0.001 ............-1.695 ................0.058 ..............0.057...................0.058...................58,000,000 ........0.100

OM0000002564 ...........AL HASSAN ENGINEERING....................................21,080 ............... 1,430........................4 ........... 0.068 ........... 0.069 ...........0.067 ........... 0.068 .............0.070 ...........-0.002 ........... -2.857 ...............0.069 ..............0.067...................0.069.....................5,114,144 ..........0.100

.............................................SUM: .................................................................................. 1,405,681 .........85,193..................... 90 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... TRADED SEC. ........ 7........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

BONDS AND SUKUK MARKET ......................................................................................................................................................................OM0000004602 ...........BANK MUSCAT CONV. BONDS 4.5 ...........................1,566 ...................183........................4 ............0.117 ........... 0.117 ............ 0.117 ............0.117 ............. 0.117 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................ 0.117 ...............0.117................... 0.119 ...................35,421,646 .........0.100

OM0000004867 ...........BANK MUSCAT C C B 4.5 .................................................706 ..................... 71........................3 ........... 0.100 ........... 0.101............0.100 ............0.101 ............. 0.101 ............ 0.000 .............0.000 ................0.101 ..............0.100...................0.206 ..................32,283,910 .........0.100

OM0000005971 ............B.MUSCAT COMPL. CONVR. B.B.3.5 ...........................510 .....................48........................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: ...................................................................................... 2,782 .................. 302........................9 .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................................... 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 ....................................... 5,439.04 .............. 5,429.54 ....................5,430.41 ................... 5,436.91 .................. -6.50 .................. -0.12Financial Index ..................................... 6,767.74 ...............6,745.53 ....................6,745.53 ...................6,762.29 ................ -16.76 .................. -0.25Industrial Index ....................................6,647.33 .............. 6,620.99 ...................6,640.24 ................... 6,639.74 ....................0.50 ................... 0.01Services Index ....................................... 3,015.81 .............. 3,003.82 ....................3,015.43 ...................3,001.08 ..................14.35 ................... 0.48MSM SHARIAH INDEX.......................839.68 .................. 837.43 .......................838.19 ...................... 839.05 .................. -0.86 .................. -0.10

Trading SummaryVolume ................ Turnover ..........Trades .............. Market Cap............. Up ............Down ............. Equal .........Sec. Traded12,666,445 ................. 2,254,616 .....................765 ............... 16,310,686,223 ................ 10 ......................13 .................... 18 .........................41

MSM index ends lower

MUSCAT: Muscat bourse edged down on selling pressure. The benchmark MSM30 Index wit-nessed dull trading volumes to close at 5,430.41 points, down 0.12 per cent.

MSM Sharia Index closed at 838.19 points, down 0.10 per cent. Galfar Engineering was the most active in terms of volume while Omantel led in terms of turnover. Renaissance Services was Tues-day’s top gainer, up 6.34 per cent while Al Hassan Engineering was the top loser, with a loss of 2.86 per cent.

OMR2.25m turnoverAs many as 765 trades were ex-ecuted on Tuesday, generating turnover of OMR2.25 million with 12.67 million shares chang-ing hands. Out of 41 traded secu-rities, 10 advanced, 13 declined and 18 remained unchanged.

Omani Investors were net buyers for OMR149,000 fol-lowed by GCC & Arab Investors OMR35,000 while Foreign In-vestors remained as net sellers for OMR184,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index retreated 0.25 per cent to close at 6,745.53

points. Al Sharqia Investments, Al Madina Investments and Oman United Insurance in-creased 1.90 per cent, 1.64 per cent and 0.42 per cent respec-tively. Gulf Investment Services, Al Izz Bank, DIDIC, NBO and Bank Muscat declined 2.08 per cent, 1.69 per cent, 1.55 per cent, 1.46 per cent and 0.91 per cent respectively.

Industrial Index stayed flat at 6,640.24 points, up 0.01 per cent. Al Maha Ceramics, Al Jazeera Steel, Galfar Engineering and Oman Textiles gained 2.44 per cent, 2.05 per cent, 1.61 per cent and 0.52 per cent respectively. Al Hassan Engineering, Raysut Cement and Gulf International Chemicals declined 2.86 per cent, 2.44 per cent and 0.66 per cent respectively.

Services Index ended posi-tively at 3,015.43 point, up 0.48 per cent. Renaissance Services, Al Jazeera Services and Omantel increased 6.34 per cent, 3.93 per cent and 0.96 per cent respective-ly. National Gas, OIFC and Semb-corp Salalah declined 1.29 per cent, 0.50 per cent and 0.20 per cent respectively. — United Securities

Renaissance Services was the top gainer, up

6.34 per cent, while Al Hassan Engineering

was the top loser, with a loss of 2.86 per cent

Muscat Securities Market. – Times file picture

Saudi inflation acceleratesRIYADH: Inflation in Saudi Arabia accelerated the most in more than three years in Janu-ary after government subsidy cuts drove up transportation and commodity prices.

Consumer prices rose an annual 4.3 per cent, up from 2.3 per cent in December, the General Authority for Statistics said on its website. That’s the most on an annual ba-

sis since October 2012. Consumer prices went up 1.9 per cent on the month, according to the authority.

“The surge in Saudi inflation to 4.3per cent year-on-year in Janu-ary was almost entirely due to the subsidy cuts that were announced alongside the budget,” Jason Tu-vey, Middle East economist at Capital Economics in London, said in an e-mailed note.

Saudi Arabia pared energy sub-sidies in January after a collapse in oil prices slashed government revenue, forcing officials to draw on reserves and issue bonds for the first time in nearly a decade. A month earlier, they announced that fuel, electricity and water prices would rise as part of a plan to restructure subsidies within five years. — Bloomberg News

E C O N O M Y

Excellence programme for small businesses announcedTimes News Service

MUSCAT: National Business Centre (NBC), which is part of the Public Establishment for In-dustrial Estates (PEIE), contin-ues its mission and commitment to building small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through sup-porting Al Tamayuz programme.

Al Tamayuz programme is an initiative spearheaded by two SMEs – Fatma Al Riyami Consul-tancy (Xeem) and Tawasul, which are incubated businesses at the National Business Centre. The two SMEs signed an agreement on Tuesday to implement this ex-cellence programme for SMEs.

Programme is based on prac-ticed business excellence and quality frameworks and stand-ards, offering a structured ap-proach bringing to SMEs experi-ence that provides practical and integrated approaches towards a healthy organisation fulfilling its goals from meeting customer ex-pectation to monitoring risks and

hazards and maximising perfor-mance and more.

The programme has a vision to create national competitive SMEs and is in a mission to drive excellence in Oman SMEs. The programme shall be launched on April 4, 2016, designed to boost SMEs competitiveness and dif-ferentiation brining valuable ben-efits to Oman SMEs, including setting up quality management system for 15 national SMEs, with expected engagement of

8to 10 months. Al Tamayuz pro-gramme opens registration for or-ganisations interested to support the initiative and award their own suppliers of SMEs with an op-portunity to join the programme; organisations willing to express their commitment to support po-tential SMEs and contribute to the national strategy directed to empower Oman small and medi-um enterprises; and SMEs inter-ested in the programme and seek to improve and excel.

P E I E I N I T I A T I V E

SME SUPPORT: The programme has a vision to create national

competitive SMEs in Oman. — Supplied picture

B5W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

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Canon honours Oman partners with awards

MUSCAT: In recognition of Can-on Middle East’s success in the Sultanate, the leader in office im-aging solutions handed out busi-ness awards to its best-performing IT channel partners while also launching initiatives to enhance its channel partner programme.

Within the strong presence of the Sultanate’s growing commu-nity of IT dealers, system inte-grators and resellers, over eight top-performing channel partners were awarded at the event, says a press release.

As part of the Canon Business Awards from best dealer perfor-mances for 2015, Arms Computers won the mega prize, while Intisar Corporation and Rahat Comput-ers won second and third prizes, respectively.

“Canon is a leader in the imaging and business solutions category in terms of technology, performance

and range. This success has been built on many factors, including our product range, the service we offer, and most importantly, our ongoing programme for the devel-opment of channel partners and dealers in the Sultanate. The Can-on Channel Partner programme seeks to continuously recognise the contribution of key players and team members of the Oman’s IT dealer channel who contribute to our success,” said Hendrik Ver-brugghe, marketing director- Can-on Middle East.

“The partner programme is an ideal platform to understand the needs of our channel partners and further consolidate our presence in the market. We want to show them that we are their partners in every true sense of the word, and we will continue to support them in all their business endeavours. Besides, such events are also important to help everybody gain a greater un-derstanding of the state-of-the-art

technology and the latest innova-tions taking place within the Canon office imaging product portfolio,” added Verbrugghe.

“The demand for cost effec-tive all-in-one office inkjet print-ers have significantly increased within the segment of home office users in Oman. We are happy to cater to this growing segment and take forward Canon’s vision of providing cutting-edge technology to business and home-office users. Canon has always been committed to developing its channel relations in the Sultanate and incentive pro-grammes such as this enable us to work closely with our channel partners. We are very pleased with the response for the Canon Busi-ness Awards in Oman and look forward to build on this success,” said Sharad Kumar, senior general manager of Genetco.

Some of the other winners who were handed out awards included Rahat Computers who won in the

mid-high colour (laser) category; WINS Computers from Salalah who won in the laser category; Of-fice Equipment from Salalah in Consumable business; Arabian Modern Computer Company in mid-high colour (inkjet) category; Arms Computer in Inkjet cat-egory; Intisar Corporation for OIP Business Category and Ex -In Tech Computer for Office inkjet and Maxify printers.

Techlink Systems, Muscat was recognised as the upcoming dealer of the year while Atlas Computer was accorded a Special Recogni-tion award for their association with Canon for 10 years.

The Canon Partner Programme was organised in coordination with Genetco, Canon’s authorised distributor in Oman. The pro-gramme is an initiative by Canon Middle East to engage more with channel partners and strengthen relationships with end-user cli-ents across the Sultanate.

The Canon Partner

Programme was

organised in

coordination with

Genetco, Canon’s

authorised distributor

in Sultanate of Oman

Sohar Power's literacy programme benefits north Batinah studentsMUSCAT: Sohar Power (part of global energy leader ENGIE), the owner of the independent power and water desalination plant at Sohar in the Al Batinah region of Oman recently celebrated the successful completion of two of its key development pro-grammes aimed at empowering the student community.

The literacy programme under the theme ‘North Al Batinah Pro-ject – Read and Succeed (NABP-RAS) was a collaboration with the Directorate-General of Education in North Batinah, to help develop the levels of understanding and speaking of the English language at schools, says a press release.

The programme, which was rolled out during 2014-2015, bene-fited over 15,000 students in about 80 Cycle 1 & 2 schools across the North Batinah governorate. Fur-thermore, the company also pro-vided smartboards with projectors to be installed at all the six wilayats in North Batinah benefiting over 6,000 students across 12 schools in the governorate.

The success of the two pro-grammes was celebrated with an event held recently at the English

Language Unit of the Department of Human Resources Develop-ment at the Directorate General of Education, Governorate of Al Batinah North. The event hon-oured the efforts and contribu-tions of all participants of the programme and recognised the partnering schools, awarding them with mementos as a token of the company’s appreciation.

Congratulating the company management and all the partici-pating schools, Dr Ali bin Nasser Al Harrasi, director-general of the Directorate General of Education at the Government of Al Batinah North governorate said, “Educa-tion is a cornerstone of develop-ment of a nation. Over the last four decades, under the leadership of His Majesty the Sultan, Oman has made giant strides in the field of education, and continues to lay emphasis on it towards building a greater future of the nation and our people. The success of these programmes is not only a celebra-tion of our efforts, but will serve as an inspiration for other such ini-tiatives that can make a valuable contribution towards building the nation’s human capital.”

“As Oman matures into a knowl-edge economy, it is increasingly vital for schools and other educa-tional institutions to constantly equip themselves with tools and techniques that will help deliver knowledge better, and we appreci-ate the partnership of Sohar Power in this regard to support schools in the region,” Al Harrasi added.

Speaking on the success of the programmes, Guillaume Baudet, CEO – Sohar Power said, “It has been an honour for Sohar Power to form a meaningful partnership with the DG of Education to ex-tend our support to this initiative. Collaborating with the govern-

ment in projects focused on edu-cation, and making a difference at grassroots level is a reflection of the objectives set by the company and its shareholders. The success of this program is a clear demon-stration of both the intent and ac-tions undertaken by the company to deliver impactful contributions to the wider community that we operate in, and our long-term view and vision for Oman. As CEO and father of two young children, I am proud of Sohar Power’s contri-bution to the development of the young generations and I will con-tinue to give my support to new initiatives in the future.”

The literacy programme helped students from Grades III to VIII to improve their linguistic compe-tences in areas such as vocabulary, spelling, reading fluency, com-prehension, and writing. The pro-grammes included oral repeated reading, guided reading, word wall and Dolch lists of high frequency words to name a few. The imple-mentation of the project was done through assigning one teaching period per week plus five-minute daily practice for Grades III to VII and one teaching period every two weeks for Grade VIII. Students had to undergo the programme from February 2015 and towards the end of the year, had to take exams to validate the acquired skills and improvements. Beyond enhancing their knowledge of the language, the programme also helped build confidence in the students, and de-veloped self-efficacy beliefs among all learners. Besides, the students also continue using the materials for many school years to come.

Elaborating further on the com-mitment of the company and the future, Jamal Al Bloushi, Admin-istration manager – Sohar Power added, “Students truly represent

the optimism and energy that is inherent in Oman as we build on our success as a nation. We are both pleased and inspired with the level of interest that these children showed in the pro-gramme, and it demonstrated their eagerness to learn and their commitment to work hard and succeed. The occasion also gave us the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment towards work-ing closely with the community.”

In conclusion, Baudet said, “It is important to recognise the deep impact the programme will have in contributing to the children’s life-skills, enhancing their employabil-ity in the longer term and building a stronger nation. Such initiatives are encouraged and supported by our shareholders, who themselves give high consideration to educa-tion and training.

"As an example, ENGIE, Sohar Power’s founder and main share-holder, is contributing to incubat-ing the next generation of Omani professionals with an internation-al career development programme, in line with their model of respon-sible growth and ongoing efforts towards social responsibility.“

E M P O W E R I N G S T U D E N T S

Kamat is back with its authentic

essence of Rajasthani cuisine

MUSCAT: The Ruwi outlet of Kamat Restaurant, which has been organising Rajasthani food festival for the last decade, has attempted once again, to bring back the authentic essence of Ra-jasthani cuisine.

Specially conceived and created by Pradeep Kapoor, the food festi-val presents Rajasthani vegetar-ian food at its finest — offering the best of traditional tastes right from soup, starters, main course to des-serts, says a press release.

Rajasthani cooking is essen-tially influenced by the war like lifestyle of its inhabitants (kings) led in the past. The food then was mostly cooked according to the moods of its rulers and the ingre-dients available, with scarcity of water in the desert conditions, being compensated with milk, ghee, yoghurt and butter milk, used liberally.

Lentils are also a major part of Rajasthani diet and so are bajra (maize), and corn. Essentially, the Rajasthani cuisine provides umpteen variations to tickle the palate and don’t forget the ample use of clarified butter (desi ghee)

enhances the taste and making it more special.

To start with the starters the chilla rolls, the pancackes made from split green gram dal, stuffed with green peas, onion, green chil-lies, coriander and herbs rolled and sautéed in desi ghee will definitely remind you of Andhra ‘pesarattu’ with a difference.

Kurkari bhindi (marinated okra in a batter of rice flour and corn, deep fried) is surely the best starter on the menu. The rice flour keeps the dish crunchy and the subtle or almost nonexistent use of spice is perhaps the dish’s sell-ing point.

There are other starters like stuffed paneer rolls and bharwan badi mirch — stuffed fat green chil-

lies dipped in a gram flour batter, deep fried and served with spicy mint chutney.

Main course consists of a vari-ety of dishes such as the rasbhari motiyan, the cottage cheese dump-lings, stuffed with cheese, dry herbs and sautéed in desi ghee and cooked in a rich cream based gravy.

Paneer palak kofta, another dish which makes it special from other kofta dishes is its preparation and taste. These cottage cheese dump-lings stuffed with freshly chopped spinach, is truly a Rajasthani food lover’s delight. But what is a must have is the pithora kadhi, the Ra-jasthani version of the kadhi.

The kadhi is different because of one factor which distinguishes it from the rest of the kadhis from dif-ferent parts of India. Here it is made from urad dal, giving a hint of the dahi wada taste to the preparation.

The festival is on till the end of March and that leaves you with ample time to try out the entire menu in parts.

The Rajasthani food festival is not for you to savour at one go, you must go there many times to enjoy all the dishes on offer.

F O O D F E S T I V A L

The festival is on till the end

of March and that leaves

you with ample time to try

out the entire menu in parts

ISG juniors present ‘Little Wonders 2016’

MUSCAT: Young students from CBSE International, the elemen-tary section of Indian School Ghubra (ISG), presented ‘Little Wonders 2016’, a scintillating evening of dance and music.

The event held recently was presided over by Neelu Rohra, Second Secretary, Embassy of In-dia, Oman; members of the school management committee (SMC), staff, parents and well-wishers, says a press release.

Zainab Rakhangi from Kinder-garten - Rainbow welcomed Nee-lu with a lovely potted plant.

In her welcome note Papri Ghosh, the principal, spoke about how ISG CBSEi has been suc-cessful in keeping its promise of commitment to providing quality education. She also thanked the parents for the support and en-couragement rendered by them.

In her address Neelu invoked the parents to help children bloom in their own way. She reiterated that each child is gifted in its own unique way and that has to be ac-cepted. She cautioned parents not to make children the instrument of making their wishes come true.

Ahmed Rayees, president, SMC, presented a token of appre-ciation to Neelu.

The cultural gala began with ISG CBSEi Junior Choir ‘The Singing Stars’ rendering the fa-mous song Dream Boat. The all student orchestra won tremen-dous applause.

What followed next was ‘Abra-cadabra - A Touch of Magic’, a mu-sical show which saw the school art studio come alive thanks to Moppy and Sloppy, the two magi-cal brushes. The brushes brought to life the various art pieces in-

cluding chess pawns, masks, feathers, matadors etc. The message that love, the sweetest mystery, is what adds colour and purpose to life and there is noth-ing in life that love cannot change was convincingly conveyed by the young stars.

The meticulous visual depic-tion, exemplary costume, foot tap-ping music and rhythmic dance moves made the evening a thor-ough entertainer for one and all.

M U S I C A L E V E N I N G

JAC truck’s Cummins

engine offers great fuel

efficiency and safety

MUSCAT: The JAC Motors 4 Ton (3.8L) light-duty trucks available in Oman exclusively at Towell Auto Centre (TAC) are powered by technically superior Cummins engine that gives this workhorse more than enough power for any kind of job.

Cummins engines are world class independent technology diesel engines that offer heavy-duty performance and are reli-able, rigid, safe and suitable for various road conditions, says a press release.

“JAC trucks integrate global advanced technology and are equipped with internationally renowned Cummins engine that offers impressive fuel efficiency, environmental performance, ex-cellent value and ultimate safety. JAC 4 ton trucks use a Cummins ISF diesel engine that meets Euro III emission standards. Cum-mins ISF engines are also fairly responsive and make the truck feel pretty lively and flexible, re-gardless of what load is carried at the back, being able to merge well with the city traffic,” a senior spokesperson of TAC explains.

The 2.8L JAC truck boasts maximum power of 107hp at

3600rpm with maximum torque of 240Nm at 2000rpm while the 3.8L model delivers maximum power of 141hp at 2600 rpm and 450Nm of torque at 1200 - 2200rpm, giving them great per-formance comparable to and at times exceeding that of their ri-vals in the same segment.

In Oman, TAC is the sole dis-tributor of JAC light-duty trucks.

R E L I A B L E

Cummins engines

are world class

independent

technology diesel

engines that offer

heavy-duty

performance and are

suitable for various

road conditions

B6 W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

ROUND-UPNissan now comes with a unique ‘Get It All’ offer on its sedan range

MUSCAT: Nissan from the house of Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has announced its unique Get It All of-fer on its sedan models until April 20. Its exclusive vehicle promo-tions are enticing and one-of-a-kind, promising unlimited benefits to valued patrons.

Bigger cashback and more benefits Auto enthusiasts can now avail exciting benefits on Nissan’s se-dan range of vehicles as its sea-sonal offers include cash gift upto OMR1,000, free registration, six years’ unlimited mileage ex-tended warranty, easy financing options, a loan term up to eight

years with Bank Muscat attrac-tive interest rates and periodic maintenance service only up to two years/20,000km whichever is earlier (offer includes only on the new service intervals of 10,000km). The offer is applicable on private registrations or per-sonal vehicles only.

The Nissan sedan range pro-vides customers with a compre-hensive product lineup and an op-portunity to choose from.

Nissan Oman’s world-class ser-vice facilities, equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and trained manpower enable them to fulfil the promise of ultimate own-ership experience towards their valued customers.

Nissan Micra Customers can get cashback of

OMR500 with the Nissan Micra 1.5 litre. The vehicle aims to attract a wider audience with its contem-porary good looks, eye-catching exterior colour range, spacious and fashionable interior, in ad-dition to a powerful high perfor-mance engine and a range of other options to make city driving easier.

Nissan Sunny With cashback of OMR500, the Nissan Sunny SL Grade comes with a unique feature like the NissanConnect that uses hands-free technology, smartphone, and the Nissan’s display screen to help customers stay in touch with the outside world from in-side their vehicle.

Nissan Tiida The vehicle comes with cash back

of OMR500. With dynamic styling looks and

class-leading spaciousness, the second generation of the Mid-dle East’s best-selling compact hatchback has everything to build on the Tiida nameplate’s estab-lished success.

Nissan Sentra Customers purchasing the Nissan Sentra not only get cash back of OMR1,000 but also get a chance to be part of an exciting raffle draw where winners get an all-expense paid trip to the ‘World Twenty20’ matches in India.

Offer highlights The first five lucky winners of the raffle draw scheduled to be held on March 20 will win two match tickets each, two travel vouchers

(worth OMR350 each) to watch the World Twenty20 finals.

Alternatively the next four winners selected from the draw will also win two match tickets each, two travel vouchers (worth OMR350 each) to watch one of the World Twenty20 Semi-Finals held in India. Each winner gets to take along a friend.

The travel vouchers can be used for booking the economy return flight tickets, one night hotel stay, visa, food and logistics expenses only and can be used for the trip to watch their respective Twenty20 match. The travel vouchers can be redeemed at BCD travel office only.

Nissan Altima With cash back of OMR1,000 the Altima 2.5 SL Grade comes with NissanConnect. This uses

hands-free technology, smart-phone, and Nissan’s display screen to help customers stay in touch with the outside world from inside their vehicle.

Nissan Maxima The completely redesigned 8th generation model is the sportiest most powerful Maxima ever. With cashback of OMR500, the Maxima is a modern and charismatic ve-hicle over-delivering on the fun-damentals earned over eight gen-erations for quality, reliability and class-above in innovation, safety features, dynamic performance and premium styling.

Suhail Bahwan Automobiles, the exclusive importers and dis-tributors of all Nissan vehicles in Oman, have their Nissan show-rooms spread across the Sultanate.

The Nissan sedan

range provides

customers with

a comprehensive

product lineup and an

opportunity to

choose from

Bank Muscat conducts fire evacuation drill at head officeMUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flag-ship financial services provider in the Sultanate, as part of its Busi-ness Continuity Planning (BCP) and Health, Safety and Environ-ment (HSE) exercise, successfully conducted a fire evacuation drill at the head office involving over 1,400 bank and retail outlet employees.

The evacuation from the build-ing was carried out in less than 5 minutes. Significant coordination and preparations were in place to ensure that the exercise was a suc-cess. The bank conducts fire drills at regular intervals to test fire evacuation preparedness as part of its commitment to the safety of customers, employees and suppli-

ers, says a press release.Featuring intelligent design,

practical in all aspects, the bank’s purpose-built headquarters in-corporates the latest technology and architectural features, meet-ing the key requisites in terms of functionality, security and BCP requirements.

The BCP looks at ways and means to equip the bank deal with a variety of eventualities that may come its way, providing the right set of tools and response mecha-nisms, as also identifying key procedures that will help protect the organisation during a crisis, reduce downtime and provide minimal disruptions in the normal

delivery of products and services. The BCP process involves contin-uous review and upgrading to keep pace with the dynamic and ever changing business environment that the bank operates in.

Bank Muscat is committed to providing an accident-free work place by developing safety man-agement systems that ensure the health and safety of employees, customers and members of the general public.

The aim is to protect people by introducing management systems and best practices exceeding legal compliance to ensure workplace risks are dealt with sensibly and responsibly.

S A F E T Y M E A S U R E

Joyalukkas partners with Etihad Guest

DUBAI: In collaboration with Etihad Airways’ award-winning loyalty programme, Etihad Guest, members of Joyalukkas Golden Rewards programme can now convert their loyalty points to Eti-had Guest miles.

This is the first time in the Mid-dle East that a jeweller is offering its members the loyalty benefit of converting their loyalty points to miles so they can enjoy privileges such as upgrades and flights, says a press release.

“The concept of the Joyaluk-kas Golden Rewards loyalty pro-gramme is to offer our custom-ers a more rewarding experience when they earn and spend points at our showrooms or with our partners around the world,” said John Paul Alukkas, executive di-rector of Joyalukkas Group.

“Without their support through the years, Joyalukkas Group would not have been in this top position and because of this, we are focused on providing our loyal members with a wide array of benefits and the best possible value through our loy-alty programme.”

Yasser Al Yousef, managing di-rector of Etihad Guest, said: “We

are always looking for new ways to provide our members with greater choice, and the partner-ship with Joyalukkas supports our wider vision for making Eti-had Guest the best global loyalty programme.

“We want to enhance the member experience by providing

them with more earning and re-demption options. We have built a programme with a membership base of more than 3.8 million members and each new feature is part of a strategic plan to fast track the programme’s growth and become a leading lifestyle loyalty programme.”

L O Y A L T Y P R O G R A M M E

OmanAd launches its revamped websiteMUSCAT: Oman Advertising Agency (OmanAd), one of the lead-ing agencies in advertising, media and publishing industry in Oman, has recently launched its revamped website (www.omanad.net).

The website is done using the state-of-the-art technologies and creative approach. It is simple, elegant, informative and easy to navigate, says a press release.

The agency caters the web and online requirements like website development, redesigning (static, CMS, responsive), domain regis-tration, hosting, server facilities, mobile applications, social media services, annual maintenance, on-line advertisement promotions etc. of many government and corporate organisation in Oman backed by creative and IT professionals with round the clock support.

OmanAd is a full-fledged ad-agency offering complete media and corporate solutions from con-cept creation to completion, brand-ing to brand positioning, media buying and planning, publishing, interactive and web solutions, pub-lic relations and event manage-ment, BTL and ATL requirements, offset and digital printing services, outdoor and indoor signages.

E A S Y T O N A V I G A T E

McDonald’s picks promo winners

to watch UEFA Champions League

MUSCAT: McDonald’s Oman announced the winners who have won a priceless four-day Europe trip for two to watch the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 match in London. The prize is made possible by McDonald’s in partnership with Mastercard, says a press release.

Mohamed Juma Khamiz Al Hashmi and Nabil Rashid Nasser Al Azri, winners of the McDon-ald’s Mastercard UEFA Cham-pions League raffle promotion, together with their chosen com-panions, Ahmed Al Hashmi and Hilal Al Habsi will travel to Lon-don from February 22 to 25.

The priceless prize package consists of two return air tickets, two match tickets to the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 games, four-star hotel ac-commodation and transfers, a private tour of the stadium and match hospitality, dinner at an acclaimed local restaurant and much more for the winners and their guests to enjoy.

Ali K. Daud, Development Li-censee and president of McDon-ald’s Oman, said: “In partnership with MasterCard, we at McDon-ald’s want to celebrate our cus-tomers’ loyalty and highlight how simple it has become for them to purchase their favourite meals.

With such an exciting trip to the UEFA Champions League, we can confidently say that winning will never taste so great.”

He added: “For many years, McDonald’s has been giving away many exciting priceless trips to various sporting events around the world. This has been McDon-ald’s’ way of giving customers an incredible value for their loyalty to the McDonald’s brand.”

Mohamed Al Hashmi, said: “We are very excited to take on the Europe trip to watch the UEFA Champions League. This is an incredible opportunity for me and my brother who will travel with me. A very big thanks to McDonald’s and Mastercard. I will never forget this priceless trip to London.”

“The mere thought of having an

all-expense paid trip to Europe to watch the UEFA Championship League is indeed an exciting jour-ney. I’m very thrilled. Apart from the UEFA Champions League that we will be watching for free, we are grateful because we have been given the opportunity to extend our trip in Europe for a couple of days. Thus, it makes the prize more meaningful. We are very grateful to McDonald’s,” commented Nabil Rashid Nasser.

During the last quarter of 2015, McDonald’s and MasterCard col-laborated to launch a new adrena-line-filled UEFA campaign to pro-mote its cashless payment system. McDonald’s customers using their MasterCard entered a raffle to win a priceless four-day Europe trip for two to watch a UEFA Champi-ons League RO16 match.

4 - D A Y E U R O P E T R I P

Kalabhavan celebrates

its annual day in style

MUSCAT: Kalabhavan School of Music & Arts, the franchisee of Kochin Kalabhavan, celebrated its 10th annual day recently at Ramee Dream Resort Hotel, Seeb.

Indra Mani Pandey, Indian ambassador to Oman, inaugu-rated the function by lighting the traditional lamp. Dr Abdulgafoor Ahmed Al Balushi, director from the Directorate-General of Lit-erature & Arts, Ministry of Her-itage and Culture attended the event as guest of honour, says a press release.

A large number of students and teachers participated in the event which lasted for almost four hours.

K. S. Prasad, a well known mini screen artist and a director board member of Kalabhavan India, at-tended as a special guest along with

a team of artists including Idea Star Singer fame Arun Gopan.

An art exhibition was also or-ganised by Kalabhavan’s drawing teachers as part of the annual day celebration at the same venue.

During the function, certifi-cates were given away to students who passed the Trinity Examina-tion for the keyboard and guitar conducted in November 2015. The students received the certifi-cates from Prasad. T. K. Sivadas, percussion instrument teacher of Kalabhavan’s Al Ghubra branch received a memento for complet-ing 10 years of continuous em-ployment with Kalabhavan.

The event sponsor was Al Jadeed Exchange while other main sponsors were Muscat Pharmacy, Doka, Crown Plastic & Al Gobrah Heights.

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RECRUIT

QUOTES

Others have seen what

is and asked why. I have

seen what could be and

asked why not.

— Pablo Picasso

It is a grand thing to

rise in the world. The

ambition to do so is

the very salt of the

earth. It is the parent

of all enterprise,

and the cause of all

improvement.

— Anthony Trollope

If you really want to do

something, you’ll find a

way. If you don’t, you’ll

find an excuse.

— Jim Rohn

END CALLSAVE LIVES

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Ensure proper disposal of garbage.

Lexus NX tops Google luxury vehicle search

MUSCAT: Lexus NX, the dynamic and luxurious SUV from Lexus has recently topped Google search for luxury vehicles.

It took over four years and the creative efforts of over 2,000 en-gineers to create the NX. Lexus’ newly developed two litre turbo engine provides all the power you need. But power is just one factor in real world performance. Han-dling is another, big factor. The NX handles superbly - intuitively - to offer sheer driving pleasure under all conditions. The NX is

for people who want to stand out from the crowd, too and lead, says a press release.

Having pioneered the luxury-utility crossover category more than a decade ago with the origi-nal midsized RX300, Lexus is now poised to disrupt the SUV segment once again with the all-new NX. The turbocharged NX combines the expertise of racers within the engineering team and the im-peccable touch of Lexus luxury through an exciting and sporty de-sign to set a new benchmark in the automotive world.

For its first-ever turbocharged gasoline engine, Lexus created all-new engine architecture. The 2.0-litre, four-cylinder port and direct-injection turbo engine uses an advanced valve control system to switch between Atkinson cycle and Otto cycle operation to opti-mise performance.

The NX with all-weather drive introduces Dynamic Torque Con-trol AWD to provide maximum traction and cornering stability. The system continuously con-trols torque transfer between the front and rear wheels, using

sensors for vehicle speed, steer-ing angle, steering speed, throttle angle and yaw rate.

In Oman every Lexus vehicle comes with special benefits and privileges such as six years unlim-ited extended mileage protection and Lexus Prestige Club Card that offers 24 hours on-road assistance from AAA.

The NX’s array of technology in-novations sets new standards for future Lexus models. It features the first application of a new Lexus Remote Touch Interface (RTI) with a touch pad.

A highly visible and easy-to-understand navigation screen enables users to confirm a range of information at a glance.

The look and feel of Lexus lux-ury detail begins before you enter the NX. A single LED elegantly streams a welcoming beam of light along the top of the handle and also to the ground as the driver approaches the vehicle. The cabin design combines structural ele-ments with luxurious yet func-tional materials and textures.

Carrying a touch of

Lexus luxury, the NX

is for those who want

to stand out from the

crowd and lead

Oman Flour Mills

exhibits its entire

range of Dahabi

products at Gulfood

MUSCAT: Oman Flour Mills Company is exhibiting its full range of Dahabi products till to-morrow at Gulfood 2016 at their stand ZP-B44 in Zabeel Plaza of Dubai World Trade Centre.

The company has setup live baking facilities to demonstrate its capabilities and sample the products, says a press release.

“Gulfood is the world’s largest annual food and hospitality show where the global food industry meets to promote their creden-tials. More than 5,000 exhibitors from 120 countries participate in this event. We are proud to showcase our complete product range and expertise in this event. The event also helps us learn innovative concepts and chal-lenges faced by the global food industry. In addition to provid-ing an opportunity to benchmark ourselves with our peers, the event also serves as a medium to

receive valuable feedback from our customers and distributors in the region,” said Abdullah Al Suleimi, Sales manager at Oman Flour Mills.

Oman Flour Mills along with its subsidiaries is showcasing the full range of products includ-ing Dahabi flour and speciality products, Dana and Baledi eggs, A’rayaf chicken, Dahabi and ‘Atyab’ range of bakery products including sliced breads, buns, Ar-abic breads, muffins, croissants, puff pastries and a wide variety of speciality products.

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Kia photography contest to end on March 8MUSCAT: A contest titled ‘Kia Adventure Awaits You’, invites participants across age groups and nationalities in Oman, to submit online, their best pictures clicked with any Kia 4WD in any adven-turous location.

One winner will win a night’s stay for a couple at Sifawy Bou-tique Hotel. This package also in-cludes full-board meals and spa, says a press release.

According to a spokesperson from Reliable International Au-tomotive, “Kia vehicles are ex-ceptional when it comes to driv-ing experiences. Their long list of advanced features, technologies and safety aspects, make them one of the preferred household vehi-cles in Oman. If you notice Kia is

always active in promoting the brand beyond traditional media. It strongly believes in adopting new mediums to reach out to its customers. Through interesting promotions and competitions the brand always interacts with its fans inviting them to know more

about Kia and keep themselves up-to-date with the latest events and happenings at Kia. Through this latest digital campaign Kia Adven-ture Awaits You, Kia wishes to en-courage its fans to showcase how Kia takes them places, and makes a memorable difference to their

lives. What’s more? At the end of it one lucky fan gets to be a winner!”

To participate in the Kia con-test, fans are invited to post their photos on Instagram & Twitter with a hashtag #SportageAdven-tureOman. Contest ends on March 8. The most unique and creative photograph will be chosen by Kia Oman. The winner will be an-nounced on March 14. Terms and conditions apply.

Kia Motors Corporation (www.kia.com) – a maker of quality vehi-cles for the young-at-heart – was founded in 1944 and is Korea’s old-est manufacturer of motor vehicles. Reliable International Automotive (RIA), the distributor for Kia in Oman provides a rewarding owner-ship experience for customers.

D I G I T A L C O N T E S T

PDO celebrates

10th Safety DayMUSCAT: Thousands of Petro-leum Development Oman (PDO) staff and contractors yesterday marked the launch of the com-pany’s Safety Day – an annual event to highlight the importance of safe practices in the workplace which started back in 2007.

This year PDO placed special emphasis on the theme of ‘Re-spect’, one of PDO’s three golden rules to embed a stronger safety culture. Over the next month, personnel will attend presenta-tions, group discussions, work-shops and role-playing exercises concentrating on the basics of safety, says a press release.

Since 2011, PDO’s safety per-formance has steadily improved and last year there was 12 per cent fall in its Lost Time Injury Frequency compared to 2014. However, the company is stress-ing there is no room for compla-cency or cutting corners, espe-cially in the current low oil price environment.

Raoul Restucci, managing di-rector of PDO, said: “Irrespective of cost pressures in the current challenging environment, PDO remains committed to its num-ber one priority of personal and process safety with a firm focus on Goal Zero - no harm to people, assets and the environment.

“This is our 10th Safety Day which is just one illustration of our constant focus on health, safety and the environment. However, it is important to em-phasise that the occasion should not be seen as an isolated event. We need to remain vigilant at all times and never drop our guard. A strong safety culture relies very much on getting the funda-mentals right and adhering to our three golden rules of compliance, intervention and respect to eradi-cate unsafe practices and behav-iour. It is about showing respect for the rules and for the hazards in our operation; it is about show-ing respect to our colleagues and our contractors by intervening where we see non-compliant or ‘at risk’ behaviours; and it is about showing respect to our en-vironment and the communities in which we operate.”

Over the past 10 years, PDO’s

Safety Day has addressed a num-ber of important areas such as fa-tigue management, asset integrity and improving driving standards.

Mohamed Al Salmani, manager - PDO Corporate Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) said: “Respect is the foundation of eve-ry HSE rule in our organisation. Without respect, there can be no compliance, without respect there can be no intervention. Every one of us has a role to play in protect-ing ourselves, our colleagues, our production, our equipment and our environment.”

S A F E P R A C T I C E S

This is our 10th Safety

Day which is just one

illustration of our

constant focus on

health, safety and the

environment. A strong

safety culture relies

very much on getting

the fundamentals

right and adhering

to our three golden

rules of compliance,

intervention and

respect to eradicate

unsafe practices

and behaviour

Raoul RestucciManaging director of PDO

TZC supports Omar bin Khattab Institute for the Blind

MUSCAT: As part of its corporate social responsibility, The Zubair Corporation (TZC), Oman’s lead-ing business conglomerate, sup-ported the open sports day event of the Omar bin Al Khattab Institute for the Blind in Mawaleh.

The open sports day of Omar bin Khattab Institute for the Blind was supported by the ‘collabora-tion team’ of The Zubair Corpo-ration. The ‘collaboration team’ comprises a group of employees of The Zubair Corporation who par-ticipate in community initiatives which are planned and executed by them, says a press release.

Support for Omar bin Khattab Institute for the Blind’s sports day comes as part of The Zubair Cor-poration’s strategy to bring focus to its continued and evolving socially relevant work as a responsible cor-porate house with intent to make a positive difference in the society.

The sports day event provided an opportunity for the blind and visu-ally impaired to experience differ-ent sports such as football, tennis and goal ball. The objective of the sports day was also to encourage people with a visual impairment to participate in sporting activities.

Faisal bin Ali Al Manthri, assis-tant manager Social Communica-tion, The Zubair Corporation said, “We are committed to making a

positive impact in the society and community in which we live and work. At The Zubair Corporation we always strive to bring a mean-ingful difference in the lives of all sections of people. Our company has been supporting sports and cultural events such as this one on a regular basis. We want to place on record our appreciation to Omar bin Khattab Institute for the Blind who have been working towards giving quality training for the visually impaired people. They have been truly educating, supporting and encouraging the

visually impaired members of the society we live in.”

Al Manthri said, “The Zubair Corporation identifies itself fully with the vision of the Omar bin Khattab Institute for the Blind. We want to raise people’s awareness of the need to provide more sup-port to people with challenges in Oman to enable them to integrate into the community and to also ac-cess sports. This sports event was one such opportunity to show the society that those with blindness can excel too. Our group wants to acknowledge that those with

visual challenges are an equal and important part of the community.”

Moza Al Kindi, deputy director of the Omar bin Khattab Institute for the Blind said, “The enjoy-ment and positive feedback we received from the participants at the sports day proved that we achieved our objective of creating a positive experience and oppor-tunity for the people with visual impairments who attended. We appreciate The Zubair Corpora-tion’s support of the blind and vis-ually impaired who tried to excel in spite of their challenges.”

S P O R T S D A Y

Don’t litter a beautiful

country like OMAN.

Ensure proper disposal of garbage.

PEIE acknowledges Sohar Industrial Estate as ‘best in serving investors’

MUSCAT: Sohar Industrial Es-tate was honoured as the best estate in serving investors, and Salim bin Saleh Al Kharusi as the distinguished employee in serving

investors at an event organised by Public Establishment for Indus-trial Estates (PEIE).

The event was held under the auspices of Hilal bin Hamad Al

Hasani, Chief Executive Officer of PEIE, to recognise employees and an estate for their commitment, performance and service, says a press release.

Speaking at the event, Eng. Mus-allam bin Mohammed Al Shehri, assistant chief executive officer of PEIE for Operations, emphasised that the success of institutions is measured by the results of efforts, which are the fruits of employees’ efforts. “From this perspective, PEIE pays great attention to the development and training aspects related to the employees in various disciplines at local and external levels,” Al Shehri said. “PEIE es-

tablished Human Resources De-velopment Centre to implement a variety of training activities in various fields including adminis-trative and technical programmes, and awareness lectures and semi-nars. During the past five years, around 2600 Omani employee based in PEIE, and companies and factories operating in the various estates have benefited from these training programmes,” he added.

He added that the event was held to motivate the employees to constantly deliver best efforts, raise competition spirit among them, advance the level of services offered by the industrial estates,

and highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of service delivery.

“We call upon all the employees to increase their efforts and come up with creative ideas to enhance the vision and mission of PEIE and achieve its objectives towards the advancement of the country,” Al Shehri noted.

On her part, Ibtisam Al Farooji, director of PEIE’s Communica-tion and Investor Services Cen-tre, noted that the centre has launched a competition on five-star distinctive service for the industrial estates in order to en-courage and stimulate the spirit of teamwork among the employ-

ees and to obtain highest levels of customer satisfaction.

“We have been assessing the services offered by the industri-al estates based on certain cri-teria including aspects related to how they deal with investors, use of technology, implementa-tion of tasks, internal coopera-tion between the departments of one estate, among other as-pects,” she added.

A movie was screened during the event to highlight the achieve-ments of PEIE in the field of hu-man resources development. The event also honoured a number of officials and employees at PEIE.

The event was held by PEIE to motivate the

employees to constantly deliver best efforts

and advance the level of services offered by

the industrial estates

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India face Bangladesh in Asia Cup T20 opener

MIRPUR: India enter the final phase of their preparations for next month’s World Twenty20 with the Asia Cup starting on Wednesday but a cloud of uncer-tainty over skipper Mahendra Sin-gh Dhoni’s availability threatens to disturb the side’s momentum going into the tournament-opener against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

Dhoni has suffered a muscle spasm during the team’s training session on Monday, prompting the BCCI to rush Parthiv Patel as his back-up. The skipper’s fitness is a concern going into the match against the sprightly hosts, who have built a reputation of being giant-slayers on more than one occasion.

The continental championship will be played in a Twenty20 for-mat from the usual ODI keeping the World T20 in mind and the need for the Asian teams to get some much-needed match time before the marquee event starts next month.

For India, who are considered as title contenders, a good Asia Cup performance will give them the much-needed boost going into the World T20.

While Dhoni has always stated that “revenge is a very strong word in sport”, the Indian team will be keen to get even against a strong Bangladesh side that beat them fair and square in a three-ODI se-ries at the same venue last year under hostile circumstances with a partisan crowd backing its team.

This was against the backdrop of the controversial Rohit Sharma de-cision during the quarterfinal of the 50-over World Cup in Melbourne.

The ODI series last year saw the emergence of left-arm pacer

Mustafizur Rahaman, who bam-boozled the Indian batsmen with his variations. This tournament will also give ‘Men in Blue’ an op-portunity to crack the ‘Mustafizur Code’, having failed miserably the last time round.

The Indians have started their T20 preparations in right earnest having won back-to-back series against Australia ‘Down Under’ and Sri Lanka at home.

In the six T20 internationals played this year, India have won five of them with the only defeat coming against Sri Lanka on an un-usual Pune pitch in the last series.

‘Just the doctor ordered’If India reach the finals of the Asia Cup, it will be another five T20 matches, taking the number of matches to 11 before the start of the World T20, and according to Team Director Ravi Shastri would be “just what the doctor ordered”.

The team under Dhoni has looked set in the shortest format but the real test starts with the Asia Cup as the business end of the preparations commences.

Momentum will be key from now onwards and Dhoni’s men will be keen to seize the initial advan-tage even though it won’t be easy by any means against a Bangla-desh side, which will be more than a handful on home soil.

The Indian captain has in-dicated that he will like to give game time to all the 15 players in the squad although it is the win-

ning combination that is expected to play against Bangladesh on Wednesday.

The batting order looks set with the tried and tested combination of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma at the top of the order.

Virat Kohli comes back at No. 3 after a much needed three-week break from cricket post Australia tour. India’s premier shortest for-mat specialist Suresh Raina will be at No. 4 followed by Yuvraj Singh, who is slowly coming back in his elements, since that last over six in Sydney.

Ravindra Jadeja and the big-hit-ting Hardik Pandya make it a strong top eight for India as far as batting in the T20 format is concerned.

Ravichandran Ashwin, Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah com-plete the line-up.

Bumrah, however, did not train on Monday and team sources said he is a “little under the weather and advised rest”.

The batting order may have a lean day in office here and there other-wise are in an “auto-pilot mode”.

But the Indian bowling will cer-tainly be expected to get its act to-gether on sluggish sub-continental pitches with Ashwin being the leader of the attack.

After an indifferent perfor-mance in a high scoring ODI se-ries in Australia, Ashwin found his mojo back at the start of the T20 series with 13 wickets from last six T20 games.

In the series against Sri Lanka,

he was virtually unplayable, grab-bing nine wickets in three games with career-best figures of 4/8 in the decider in Visakhapatnam.

Nehra and Bumrah make a good pace attack with one having loads of experience and ability to read match situations effortlessly, and the other with an unusual action able to rattle the batsmen bowling yorkers at will.

Focus on MustafizurWith a handsome IPL contract, Mustafizur may again intimidate the Indian batsmen with Taskin and Al Amin for support.

Not to forget the enormous experience of skipper Mashrafe Mortaza and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan. The duo on their day along with former captain Mushfiqur Rahim could tilt the scales in home team’s favour. Left-handed bats-man Soumya Sarkar, World Cup hero Mahmudullah make it a de-cent batting line-up for Bangladesh.

Squads:India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain

and wk), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bum-rah, Ajinkya Rahane, Harbhajan Singh, Bhu-vneshwar Kumar, Pawan Negi, Parthiv Patel.

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (cap-tain), Imrul Kayes, Nurul Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Nasir Hosain, Shabbir Rahaman, Mah-mudullah Riyadh, Mushfiqur Rahim (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Mustafizur Rahaman, Abu Hider, Mo-hammed Mithun, Arafat Sunny. — PTI

Mahendra Singh

Dhoni’s availability

threatens to disturb

India’s momentum

going into the

tournament-opener

against Bangladesh

in Dhaka

LET’S BEGIN: Bangladesh cricket team captain Mashrafe Mortaza, right, India cricket team captain MS Dhoni, second from right, Sri Lanka cricket team captain Lasith Malinga, left, and United Arab Emirates cricket team captain Amjad Javed, second from left, pose with the Asia Cup tournament trophy. – AP/PTI

Dominant Hochen wins second stage of TransHajar RaceMUSCAT: Austria’s Uwe Hochen Warter dominated the proceedings for the second suc-cessive day at the TransHajar Mountain Bike Race winning the second stage to stay well ahead of his competitors on Tuesday.

In the second stage, which saw the riders pass through Saih Al Dhabi via the mountains of Al Amerat to Al Hajar, there was no stopping the rider from Germa-ny-based Craft Rocky Mountain Factory as he covered the 93km race in two hours, 28 minutes and 22 seconds to retain the lead in the four-stage 321.6km race.

Hochen Warter’s nearest rivals Christian Rosvig Hogh and Jacob Lykke Grann try as they failed to catch up the leader.

Hogh as well his Danish com-patriot and Pronghorn Racing teammate Lykke Grann rode much faster than they did on Day 1, both averaging 32.5 kmph as against their speeds of 18.4 kmph in the first stage, but still had to satisfy with the second and third places respectively. On Tuesday, both clocked 2:51:18.

Hochen said: “The race was very fast, although it demanded great stamina to sustain the speed. I did not face any prob-lems, which made it easy to cross the distance and stay ahead of my competitors.”

Local rider Hatim Al Booshri of Royal Army of Oman in his com-ments said that the track was dif-ficult. “Hundred metres before the finish, I faced stiffness in my muscles, which made it difficult to finish second,” he said.

However, he said that he re-

garded it as a success to finish among the best international cy-clists and that he regarded it as a motivation to give even more during the next stages of the race. He added that this race is an op-portunity to test his endurance.

“The next two stages will de-mand even more endurance and, I’ll try my best to keep the techni-cal capabilities I showed in the first two stages”, he said.

Omani woman riderFatima Al Shaidi, an Omani woman rider, is thrilled with the experience of competing in the demanding race. “Participating in this race is a unique and out-standing experience. It is very different from other races”.

Stating that she is glad to com-pete with 20 other riders, including seven women cyclists, she added: “We are participating for the first time. But thanks to the good prepa-rations and efforts of the technical committee, all went very well.”

The 60km third stage takes place on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Saif Al Rushaidi, Head of Oman Cycling Asso-ciation (OCA), spoke about the great support that the OCA has received from both government and private sector to successfully organise of the race.

“This kind of races need spe-cial preparations and they de-mand a lot of support, in the form of equipment, cars, tents and oth-er technical tools,” he said.

Al Rushaidi expressed his gratitude to the Royal Army of Oman and the Royal Oman Police (ROP) for their support.

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Bank Muscat begins field visits to review 2016 Green Sports applicationsMUSCAT: Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services pro-vider in the Sultanate, has begun field visits by a committee to re-view and short-list 2016 Green Sports applications from sports teams for greening and infra-structure development of play-grounds across the Sultanate.

The committee will visit all the applicant fields over the next two weeks. Marking the fifth year of the unique Cor-porate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, the bank will support the development of 15 football fields in 2016 in line with the ‘Let’s Do More’ vision and partnership to promote Oman as a sporting nation.

The Green Sports initiative launched by Bank Muscat in 2012 has gained momentum with a total of 49 teams across the Sultanate benefiting from it till date, of whom 19 teams have received funding for natural or synthetic greening, desalina-tion equipment, and floodlights.

The football fields developed as part of the Green Sports initi-ative are also serving as a meet-ing place for children and youth to be engaged in gainful activi-ties. The fields are used to host various activities such as Ram-adan nights, group weddings and other celebrations. Such community activities are help-ing children and youth develop strong positive character traits.

Bank Muscat is committed to its ‘Let’s Do More’ vision for the economy, community and environment and is proud to have led the way in contributing to sustainable development in Oman with various initiatives. As the nation’s leading financial institution, Bank Muscat aims to provide the momentum for youth to excel in all arenas and thereby contribute to the devel-opment and progress of Oman.

G O G R E E NAustralia close in on victory

CHRISTCHURCH: Joe Burns and Usman Khawaja reduced Aus-tralia’s victory target to 131 runs with nine wickets in hand at the end of the fourth day of the sec-ond Test against New Zealand at Hagley Oval on Tuesday.

Burns was on 27, while Khawaja was 19 not out with Australia 70 for one after being set 201 runs to win the match and series 2-0.

They had earlier dismissed the hosts in their second innings for 335 after tea. David Warner was the only wicket to fall when he was caught down the leg side by BJ Watling from Neil Wagner for 22, though New Zealand needed to ask for a review to determine the ball had glanced his gloves.

Jackson Bird grabbed his first five-wicket haul to help wrap up

New Zealand’s second innings af-ter tea that had been characterised by stubborn middle and lower-or-der resistance.

Bird, who had grabbed three quick wickets after lunch, includ-ing the key scalp of Kane Wil-liamson (97), bowled Matt Henry for 66 — his first half century and highest score — then had Trent Boult caught for a duck to finish with 5-59.

“It was nice to take some wick-ets when the team needed it af-ter lunch but I feel like I’ve been pretty inconsistent with the way I’ve bowled in the series which is disappointing,” Bird told reporters.

“But it was nice ...to put us in a pretty good position to win the

game tomorrow and win the series.”James Pattinson finished with

4-77, but had the most important wicket in the final session on Tues-day when he dismissed Watling for 46 after the wicketkeeper had combined with Henry in a crucial 118-run partnership.

Until their eighth-wicket stand, the hosts had been in danger of be-ing dismissed with a lead of only about 100 after Bird had broken a 102-run partnership between Wil-liamson and Corey Anderson (40) that had got their side into credit.

The pair batted through a heat-ed first session in which Australia dropped two catches, had two re-views turned down and an lbw de-cision overturned.

The second review, just before lunch and against Williamson, prompted a petulant outburst from captain Steve Smith and Josh Hazlewood, with the tall fast bowler likely to face further sanc-tions after microphones picked up his expletive-laden rant.

New Zealand had begun the day on 121 for four, 14 runs in arrears of Australia’s 505, but their stub-born resistance ensured the match would enter a fifth and final day.

The target also appeared com-petitive though not overly chal-lenging on a good batting surface and Australia should seal victory to reclaim the number one rank-ing in test cricket, though Ander-son said his side would make it

tough for the visitors. “Any total you’re going to have to chase in the fourth innings is always going to be a tough total regardless of what it is,” the all-rounder said. “It would have been nice to get a cou-ple more poles (wickets) this even-ing. Hopefully tomorrow we can go bang bang and then potentially run through them.” - Reuters

Jackson Bird, who

had grabbed three

quick wickets after

lunch, including key

scalp of Williamson

(97), bowled Henry

for 66 — his first

half century and

highest score — then

had Boult caught for

a duck to finish

with 5-59

New Zealand 1st innings: 370 (B. Mc-Cullum 145, C. Anderson 72, B. Watling 58) Australia 1st innings: 505 (J. Burns 170, S. Smith 138, A. Voges 60; N. Wagner 6-106) New Zealand 2nd innings:T. Latham c Nevill b Pattinson 39 M. Guptill c Nevill b Pattinson 0 K. Williamson b Bird 97 H. Nicholls c Smith b Pattinson 2 B. McCullum c Warner b Hazlewood 25 C. Anderson b Bird 40 B. Watling c Burns b Pattinson 46 T. Southee c Smith b Bird 0 M. Henry b Bird 66 N. Wagner not out 3 T. Boult c Pattinson b Bird 0 Extras (b-2, lb-14, nb-1) 17 Total (all out, 111.1 overs) 335 Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-66, 3-72, 4-105, 5-207, 6-210, 7-210, 8-328, 9-335, 10-335Bowling: J. Hazlewood 34-11-92-1, J. Pattinson 26-8-77-4, J. Bird 17.1-5-59-5, N. Lyon 17-3-42-0, M. Marsh 17-4-49-0 (nb-1) Australia 2nd innings: J. Burns not out 27 D. Warner c Watling b Wagner 22 U. Khawaja not out 19 Extras (nb-2) 2 Total (for 1 wickets, 20 overs) 70 Fall of wickets: 1-49 Bowling: T. Boult 7-0-30-0, T. Southee 2-1-9-0, M. Henry 4-1-17-0 (nb-1), N. Wag-ner 6-0-13-1 (nb-1), C. Anderson 1-0-1-0Umpires: Richard Kettleborough and Ranmore Martinesz TV umpire: Richard Illingworth Match referee: Chris Broad

S C O R E B O A R D

FIVE STAR: Australia’s Jackson Bird holds up the ball after his first five wicket bag on the fourth day of the second international cricket test match at Hagley Park Oval in Christchurch, New Zealand. – AP/PTI

Don’t exit. Mikel tells HiddinkLONDON: Midfielder John Obi Mikel wants interim manager Guus Hiddink to extend his stay at Chelsea beyond the current season, despite the Dutchman confirming his intention to leave the club in May.

Hiddink replaced Jose Mour-inho in December and has lost just once in 13 games in all com-petitions with the same squad that suffered their worst start to a league season since 1978 un-der the Portuguese. “Obviously, definitely I want him to stay,” Mikel, who has featured in 11 games for Hiddink after falling out of favour under Mourinho, told British media. — Reuters

F O O T B A L L

C3

SPORTSW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Will vote for candidate whose manifesto matches with OFA’s vision: Sayyid Khalid

MUSCAT: Oman Football As-sociation (OFA) will vote for a candidate, whose electoral programme is most in line with Oman’s vision.

This was announced on Tues-day by OFA chairman Sayyid Khalid bin Hamad Al Busaidi in a statement issued from Zurich where he is attending the FIFA Extraordinary Congress.

The new Fifa president will be elected on February 26.

“The OFA delegation’s attend-ance of the FIFA Congress is a natural step in the framework of OFA’s commitment to fulfill its obligations towards the FIFA, proceeding from our common responsibility along with the rest of the member associations, for making the right decisions in or-der to safeguard football and en-sure its continuous success and development, especially in light of our strong relations and inter-ests with the FIFA and its mem-bers,” wrote Sayyid Khalid.

“Next Friday’s FIFA Congress is one of the most important meet-ings in the last few years, in view of the significant items on its agenda, be it the election of the new FIFA President, or the proposed statu-tory changes according to the rec-ommendation of the committees charged of studying these reforms following the recent FIFA corrup-tion case,” he added.

“Over the last few weeks, we have been following up the electoral campaigns of the five candidates for FIFA presidency and we will be voting accord-ing to our own considerations. We give paramount importance to the adoption by the FIFA of a clear, objective and pragmatic approach during the four com-

ing years, which ensures its unity and cohesion as an association concerned with the development of the game and the protection of member associations’ rights. We will vote for the candidate whose electoral programme is most in line with our vision.”

Adding on the OFA chairman said: “During our stay in Swit-zerland, we will hold discussions and consultations during meet-ings with the heads of other FIFA member associations in order to align our thoughts for the elec-tions and the reforms.

“A competitive debate between the five candidates would have been useful, allowing the voters a better understanding of the can-didates’ opinions about crucial issues to FIFA, member associa-tions, as well as millions of football fans around the world, relating to the development of football and cohesion of FIFA and its member associations. Given the current ambiguity of some candidates’ proposals, the voters’ choice could be guided more by emotion than by the required objectivity and realistic perspective.”

F I F A P O L L S

CLEAR OBJECTIVE: Sayyid

Khalid bin Hamad Al Busaidi

Pakistan ‘dream’ to build on Super League success

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s inau-gural national cricket league has been an unexpected success, even though all the matches have been played in the United Arab Emir-ates due to security risks.

Since the Pakistan Super League (PSL) was announced last September, the country’s cricket board has sold five franchises for $93 million and attracted players from 11 different countries.

They include big names like West Indies batsman Chris Gayle and former internationals Kumar

Sangakkara of Sri Lanka and Eng-land’s Kevin Pietersen. The biggest surprise, however, has been the re-sponse from Pakistan’s public.

Since matches began in the UAE on February 4, national television viewing figures have been higher than for the 2015 World Cup, with 55 percent of Pakistan’s TV-watching public tuning into the tournament at peak times.

Tuesday’s championship match between Islamabad United and Quetta Gladiators in Dubai is ex-pected to attract similar figures. The match is sold out.

“Big businesses have bought the franchises, millions of peo-ple have tuned in even though the matches aren’t in Pakistan, and

our own young cricketers are get-ting a chance to rub shoulders with giants,” PSL chief Najam Sethi said. “This is the most extraordi-nary moment for Pakistani cricket since we were exiled from the international game.”

Home soilIt is still unclear when the PSL will be able to stage its first match on home soil. Pakistan has been forced to play designated ‘home’ matches primarily in the United Arab Emir-ates since 2009 when the Sri Lan-kan team was ambushed by mili-tants while travelling from their hotel to Lahore’s Gaddafi stadium for a Test match.

Many see PSL as a turning-

point, not just for the country’s cash-strapped cricket board but also for young cricketers who have missed out on opportunities to in-teract with and learn from leading international players.

Among those who have bought the franchise are Habib Bank Lim-ited, the country’s biggest bank, Haier Group, a major electronics and home appliances company, and Qatar Oil.

If all goes according to plan, PSL will generate revenues of approxi-mately $50 million, according to cricket board estimates. A 10-year forecast sees the board making profits of $50-60 million.

Given the size of Pakistan’s po-tential market of 180 million peo-ple, cricket experts say it is possible to imagine the PSL becoming one of the world’s biggest cricket leagues.

Despite the success of PSL’s first season, the real test for the cricket board will be if it can permanently bring the game back home.

Pakistan Cricket Board officials said before the season that the rul-ing body approached over a hun-dred cricketers to ask them if they would be willing to play on Paki-stani soil. Not one of them agreed.

“Next year, we hope to have at least the opening and closing PSL matches on Pakistani soil,” PSL Chairman Sethi said. “That is the dream.” - Reuters

Since matches began

in the UAE, national

TV viewing figures

have been higher

than for the 2015

World Cup, with 55

percent of Pakistan’s

public tuning in at

peak times

EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT: Islamabad United’s Mohammed Irfan

takes a selfie after one of their wins in Pakistan Super League.

Prince Ali calls for delay in FIFA vote, appeals to CAS

LONDON: FIFA presidential candidate Prince Ali Bin Al Hus-sein has appealed to sport’s high-est tribunal over his request for transparent voting booths and independent scrutineers at Fri-day’s election for the head of the global soccer body.

Prince Ali’s lawyers said they had requested a suspension to the election — setting up legal race to resolve the issue before the vote can take place. Ali, whose request for transparent booths was reject-ed last week by FIFA, is unhappy

with the arrangements for a vote expected to set a new tone of trans-parency for an organisation mired in the past in secret dealings.

“As a consequence, we are now seeking provisional measures be-fore CAS to suspend the coming election on Friday 26th of Febru-ary,” his lawyers said.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) did not address the the request for a delay in its state-ment, but said it would decide on a request by Ali for “provisional measures” by Thursday. - Reuters

F O O T B A L L

C4

SPORTSW E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Bank Monaco maintain slender lead at SATT

MUSCAT: EFG Bank Monaco, the defending champions of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour (SATT), clung on to the narrowest of leads after 24 hours at sea in the longest and toughest stage of the event.

The crew sailing aboard EFG Bank Monaco had a slim half-a-mile advantage over second-placed as the halfway stage of the 280nm sprint from Doha to Khas-ab in Oman, neared.

The nine international crews set sail from Doha’s The Pearl-Qatar on Monday in fresh 10-15 knot winds on the third leg of five that make up the sailing adven-ture around the Arabian Gulf. EFG Bank Monaco went into the leg as the in-form team having won the second offshore stage from Abu Dhabi to Doha and the Doha In-

Port Race series to see them top the overall rankings.

The fleet has so far encoun-tered steady breeze but the wind is forecast to become lighter and more fickle, which will make hold-ing onto any lead trickier for EFG Monaco’s French skipper Sidney Gavignet and his men in the sec-ond half of the leg. Gavignet has led his team to tour victories in 2014 and 2015 — and if he is successful in defending his crown this year he will become the first skipper ever to win three editions of EFG Sail-ing Arabia — The Tour.

Behind EFG Bank Monaco an epic tussle was on Tuesday ensu-ing between Omani crews Almouj, Muscat and Renaissance Services, and Kuwaiti-backed Team Zain. Almouj, Muscat, led by French-man Nico Lunven, had a half-mile

advantage over their rivals, while Renaissance Services and Team Zain were neck and neck. All three teams were within a mile of EFG Bank Monaco.

Leg 3 of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour is the longest and tough-est of the event, comprising three days and two nights at sea in little comfort on 30ft racing yachts.

Gilles Chiorri, race director of Sailing Arabia – The Tour, said the first 24 hours of leg 3 had been in-tense for the crews.

“There was no let-up overnight for the teams as they engaged in tactical manoeuvres to cover their closest rivals,” he said. “As well as playing the wind shifts, the teams also had to navigate around nu-merous forbidden zones and the constant commercial traffic in the Gulf. With such a demanding game

being played there is little chance for rest onboard.

“Even though the wind has dropped to 10 knots from the south east, all crew members are on the rail to generate the maximum power possible from their Farr 30 yachts. Sleeping sitting on the rail is not feasible, so crew are sharing their stories of previous editions of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour, and the “fast and furious” downwind legs we have sailed in years past.”

The ETA for the leading boats into Khasab is Wednesday after-noon. The crews will then have just a few hours to overcome their exhaustion before they take to the water once more for leg 4, a 140nm sprint to Sohar. The final leg of EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour starts from Sohar on February 28 bound for Muscat.

The crew sailing

aboard EFG Bank

Monaco had a

slim half-a-mile

advantage over

second-placed as the

halfway stage of the

280nm sprint from

Doha to Khasab in

Oman, nearedTOUGH LEG: The first 24 hours of third leg from Doha to Khasab was very challenging for all teams

taking part in the EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour. – Supplied photo

Abdullah-Younis pair retains doubles crown at ISC Open

MUSCAT: Abdullah Al Barwani and Younis Al Rawahi retained the junior doubles title at the ISC/Muscat Pharmacy Open Junior Tennis Tournament organised by the Indian Social Club (ISC) Oman.

In the final, the top seeded Om-ani duo overcame stiff resistance in the second set before outplay-ing the second seeded team of

Subash Pillai and Yash Tanna 6-1, 7-5. Abdullah and Younis swept through the first set as if a storm had hit Subash and Yash who failed to put up any resistance.

Subash and Yash, however, made a positive start to the sec-ond set breaking Younis in the first game and went on to take a 3-1 lead. A keen tussle followed as both ex-

changed break until 5-all. Abdullah then held for the crucial 6-5.

Subash was serving to save the match as Abdullah and Younis went all out to gain match point. Subash and Yash saved four matchpoints before running out of luck and Abdullah and You-nis claimed victory to retain the junior doubles title.

T E N N I S

JUNIOR DOUBLES: Younis Al Rawahi, right, and Abdullah Al Barwani pose for a photo along with

runners-up Subash Pillai, second left, and Yash Tanna. – Supplied photo

Ashok and Gautam triumph at Muscat Bridge League MUSCAT: Ashok Sardiwal and Gautam Mukherji emerged the winners of the Pairs Bridge Tour-nament organised by Muscat Bridge League (MLB) here recent-ly. The tournament, organised at Dr Nasser Lamki’s residence, attracted 28 players, including a number of all-ladies pairs.

The event was played under full Howell format with each of the 14 pairs playing two boards against all the other pairs making it a per-fectly balanced tournament.

Ashok Sardiwal and Gautam Mukherji took the top honours with an excellent score of 66 per-cent. All ladies’ pairs of Neeta Kh-imji and Sadhana Gupta played extremely well to clinch second place with a score of 61 percent.

Meanwhile, the seasoned pair of Rita and Subodh Agarwal set-tled for third place with 57 per-cent score. Their podium posi-

tion was significant since they are planning to leave Oman for good.

There was a tie for the fourth position between the pair of Pei-Lee Wang and Roos Moes and the fancied duo of Anurag Pandey and Abdi Naffar. They were tied at 54.6 percent. But the latter got the fourth prize on a head-to-head tie-break. Pei-Lee and Roos, however, won the best mixed pair prize.

The prize for the best ladies’ pair went to Kim and Doria. The other pairs to score over 50 per-cent were Asoke Das-Sumant Pa-jankar, Joginder Sing-Dr Nasser Lamki and Ranga Gorur-Venki Ramachandran.

The MLB thanked Dr & Mrs Lamki for their hospitality while expressing their pleasure in see-ing Joginder Singh, on visit of Oman, play in the tournament.

The next MLB tournament is scheduled for March.

P A I R S T O U R N A M E N T

SUCCESSFUL EVENT: Some of the participants pose for a group

photo after the conclusion of the Pairs Bridge Tournament

organised by Muscat Bridge League. – Supplied photo

FOR THE LOVE OF LONDONWWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

LeisureSECTIONC L I F E S T Y L E W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

From the descending air-craft, I saw the Thames flowing along in its un-hurried journey, as the

grey light of a winter’s morning un-covered the city’s silhouette in the vanishing darkness through which we had flown.

Cold winds would rise up and sweep through the bare trees and frosted landscapes of London’s parks. There would be rain almost every day, but I cared not as I hap-pily set out to rediscover London.The city’s magnetic appeal is best encapsulated in iconic monuments such as Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Pal-ace, and the London Eye. The capi-tal’s stately architecture speaks of empire, of the nation’s enduring pride in past glories. And new mon-uments such as the spiralling glass ‘gherkin’ stand testament to the city’s continuing sophistication.

The Wedding ReceptionI had come for an Omani wedding reception at the Mandarin Ori-ental — and there could not have been a better start to my sojourn in London. The exclusive entrance hall was glittering with candles in a garden-like showering of roses. At the top of a grand staircase, a band was playing romantic and charmingly hip music. This was harbinger to a grand, yet intimate reception, dinner, and dance — as magical an evening as one could desire, with the best and most bril-liant speech a loving father could give the bride.

Harrods and the V&ABilled as the world’s most famous department store, Harrods is as glamorous as ever. After marvel-ling at the astonishing array of luxurious things on display, I had smoked duck breast with rhubarb and cucumber chutney in Har-rod’s elegant Georgian restaurant which presents gourmet cuisine in a sumptuous atmosphere.

Next I went to the nearby Vic-toria and Albert (V&A) Museum to see the fabulous Al Thani jew-els, a royal collection from India presented in illustrated historical context. Imperial in size and pris-tine in quality, turban brooches with diamonds, rubies and emer-alds in exquisitely crafted settings made onlookers dream of being a Maharaja.

History through PortraitsA red double-decker bus took me seamlessly from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery where British his-tory unfolds through the faces of the men and women who reigned, fought wars, strove mightily for significant causes, wrote great lit-erature, created memorable works of art, or were notable for some other reason. There you meander through the centuries, while, from the protection of their immortal-ised moments of glory, defeat or reflection, heroes and villains look you out nobly, engagingly or indif-ferently. One feels how fleeting life is and the importance of worth-while human endeavour.

Tate Britain, Monet to MatisseAt the Tate Britain, I drowned in the richly coloured romantic imag-inings of painters like Rossetti and Millais, drifted into the mists of

Turner’s seascapes, and admired Constable’s naturalistic clouds. It is said that a meteorologist could forecast the weather by observing the clouds in a Constable painting.

After walking through the lovely gardens in Regent’s Park where bright yellow daffodils and delicate snowdrops had already emerged out of the cold earth, I went to the Royal Academy of Arts to see Painting the Modern Garden — Monet to Matisse. This exhibi-tion offers more than a rapturous experience of beauty — from the shimmering light and floating in-spiration of Monet’s water lilies to the modernistic, flattened flowers of Kandinsky, and Matisse’s bold bouquets — it sketches the emer-gence of modern art and provides a scholarly treatise on horticulture.

Phantom and FlightStill going strong thirty years after the premiere, the fabled musical Phantom of the Opera proved to be as good as its reputation. Beau-tifully sung to powerful music and impressively staged, this en-thralling mystery offers a magical experience of theatre at its best. My last day in London was action-packed in a thrilling tour by private car through the gorgeous panorama of historic architecture, covering everything of interest. Among the highlights were The Wallace Col-lection, tea at the Savoy, and an art installation at St James Church, Piccadilly. Titled Flight, the exhibi-tion by Arabella Dorman featured an inflated raft used by refugees who made it to Lesbos. It was sus-pended from the ceiling along with dangling life jackets, including one of a child. Near the altar are sculpt-ed figures lamenting the loss of hu-man life. Set in a place of prayers and hope, the art makes a powerful impression. I arrived back home in Muscat enriched by my experi-ence of London and grateful for the peaceful life with which we are blessed in our sunny city.

Blakemore Hyde Park 30 Leinster Gardens Westmin-ster, London W2 3AN, minutes from Paddington Station. Twenty minute walk to Harrods and the V&A Museum.Four Stars, homey, nice staff, good service, reasonably priced at OMR67 per night.

Haymarket 1 Suffolk Place (200m from Trafalgar Sq), Westminster, London, SW1Y 4HX.Five stars, elegant, in the heart of London, OMR184 per night.Superior amenities and services, excellent location.

The Pelham15 Cromwell Place, Knights-bridge, London SW7 2LABoutique hotel with old world charm and all amenities, very reasonable for a 5 star facility (OMR125).

All three hotels have free Wi-Fi and good restaurants

The BrumusAn elegant and chic, yet friendly,

restaurant in the Haymarket Hotel very near Trafalgar Square (see Haymarket Hotel above).Conversations are low key, in keeping with the refined atmos-phere — offers a restful change from, and is hardly any more expensive than, the many other restaurants in the area which tend to be noisy and crowded .An excellent three-course gourmet pre-theatre dinner for 20 GDP.

The Halepi18 Leister Terrace, neighbour-hood restaurant, a couple of blocks from the Blakemore Hotel (see above). Good Mediterrane-an-style food, generous home-cooked servings, excellent lamb; Friendly ‘Mom and Pop’ place – not quiet, lively, frequented mainly by Arab clientele, including young families. Afternoon Tea at the Dorchester (53 Park Lane — overlooking Hyde Park)Old world elegance in the grand Promenade Lobby with live piano music, graceful palms and freshly cut flowers. Re-gal service and exquisite food with traditional, extremely tiny cucumber sandwiches and scrumptious bite-sized scones with pure Cornish cream and homemade jam, feather-light pistachio macaroons, and rich chocolate brownies. Of the many teas from which to choose, lemongrass and the Dorchester blend of fine black teas are the most popular.

Thames Foyer at the Savoy (near the British Museum and the Royal Opera House)The Thames Foyer is full of light from a grand glass dome beneath which a pianist plays classical pieces in a winter-garden gazebo. The décor is a contemporary interpretation of

the old Edwardian style in pale antique green and cream. Crisp linen table cloths and fine silver. The tea is traditional and similar to that of the Dorchester, but with unique specialties from the Savoy’s Executive Pastry Chef.

Les Miserables — Based on the famous novel by Victor Hugo about injustice, rebellion and redemption, this is longest-run-ning and most popular musi-cal in London is at the Queens Theatre (51 Shaftsbury Ave, West End, in Westminster).

Phantom of the Opera — Famous musical, mystery and love story at Her Majesty’s Theatre near Trafalgar Square.

Billy Elliot — Long running mu-sical and comedy about a boy who loves ballet at the Victoria Palace Theatre (West End, opposite Victoria Station).

Lion King— Dramatic Disney musical about a Lion on an epic journey to become King of the Pridelands at the Lyceum Theatre (West End, Wellington Street just off the Strand).

Thriller — A Michael Jackson spectacular at the Lyric Theatre (West End, 27 Shaftsbury Ave, Westminster).

Hotels

Restaurants & Tea Rooms

Popular Shows

London’s magnetic

appeal is best encapsulated

in iconic monuments such

as Big Ben, the Tower

Bridge, Trafalgar Square,

Buckingham Palace, and

the London Eye.

A sojourn through a glorious

city where history collides with art,

fashion, and food.

Story Patricia Groves

FIND-IT-ALLC6 W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Dhuhr 12.25pmAsr 3.44pmMaghrib 6.12pmIsha 7.22pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 5.18am

PRAYER TIMINGS

CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman

SHATTIDeadPool (Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi) 12+Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin3:00, 7:15, 9:30 & 11:45PMHail, Caesar! (Comedy | Mystery) 12+Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney7:15PMCriminal Activities (Crime| Drama) 12+Cast: Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, John Travolta3:00, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:45PMEl Americano - 3D (Animation| Action) PGCast: Edward James Olmos, Rico Rodriguez3:30 & 5:30PMPride & Prejudice & Zombies (Action) 18+Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston5:00 & 11:30PMThe Finest Hour - 3D (Action) PG12Cast: Christopher Whitelaw, Caleb Casey5:00 & 9:30PM

MUSCAT GRAND MALLDeadPool – 2D (12+) Action | Adventure Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin2:45, 5:45, 9:00, 11:30 PMGold Class – 3:30, 8:45, 11:00 PMCriminal Activities – 2D (TBC) Crime| Drama | Thriller |Cast: Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens, John Travolta12:30, 9:45, 11:45PMGold Class – 6:30PMPadre De Familia – 2D (12+) Tagalog| Thriller |Cast: Nora Aunor, Coco Martin, Julia Montes5:15PMHail, Caesar! – 2D (12+) Comedy | Mystery |Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney7:45PMEl Americano – 3D (TBC) AnimationVoice Overs: Edward James Olmos, Rico Rodriguez.2:00PM

Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Road Chip - 2D (Animation) (PG) Cast: Jason Lee, Jesica Ahlberg12:00, 4:00, 7:00 PM

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DeadPool-2D (Action, Adventure) (12+)

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DeadPool-2D (Action) (12+)-VIP LOUNGE

3:30, 6:30, 8:45, 11:00PM

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3:00, 7:45, 11:15PM Black Track-2D (Drama, Thriller) (15+)

Cast:Adrien Brody, Sam Neill, Robin McLeay5:15, 11:30PM Neerja-2D (Biographical)(PG12)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Sabana Azmi3:30, 6:30, 9:00PM El Americano-3D (Animation, Action) (PG)Voice Overs: Edward James Olmos, Rico Rodriguez, Cheech Marin2:30, 5:45PM

AZAIBA DeadPool (2D) (Action|Sci-Fi) (12+) Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin

4:30, 7:15, 11:45 PM

Fitoor (2D) (Romance| Drama) (12+)

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3:00, 9:15 PM

Ghayal Once Again (2D) (Action) (PG12)

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3:30, 6:30PM

Neerja (2D) (Biographical) (PG12)

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5:00PM

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4:30, 11:30PM

El Americano – 3D (Animation/Action) (PG)

Cast: Edward James Olmos, Rico Rodriguez

4:30, 11:30PM

The Finest Hours – 3D (Action/Drama)

Cast: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster

11:30PM; (PG12)

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6:30PM; (PG12)

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies – 2D (18+)

Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston

5:00, 11:45PM

Fitoor – 2D (Romantic/Drama) (12+)

Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Tabu

7:15PM

Neerja– 2D (Biographical) (Hindi) (PG12)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Sabana Azmi

2:45, 9:15PM

Miruthan– 2D (Action/Romance) (15+)Cast: Jayam Ravi, Lakshmi Menon, Kali Venkat7:15PM

Mansoon Mangoes – 2D (Comedy) (PG)Cast: Fahadah Fasil, Vijay Raaz, Vinay Forrt

8:45PM

BURAIMIDeadPool (Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi) (12+) Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Moreno Baccarin3:30, 9:15, 11:30PMCriminal Activities (Crime | Drama) (TBC) Cast: John Travolta, Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens5:15,7:30,9:30PMNeerja ( Biographical ) ( PG12 ) Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Sabana Azmi3:15, 7:15, 11:15PMMansoon Mangoes (Comedy) (PG) Cast: Fahadh Fasil, Vijay Raaz, Vinay Forrt9:00PM El Americano - 3D (Animation) (TBC) 3:30, 5.30PMBacktrack (Drama, Thriller) 15+Cast: Adrien Brody, Sam Neill, Robin McLeavy

5:35, 7:00, 11:45PM

SALALAHEl Americano (3D) (PG) (Animation| Action)

5:00PMEl Americano (2D) (PG) (Animation| Action )

11:15AM

DeadPool (2D) (12+) (Action | Adventure)

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin

11:30AM, 2:00, 6:45, 9:00, 11:45PM

Hail, Caesar (2D) (12+) (Comedy | Mystery)

Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney

5:15PM

Criminal Activities (2D) (12+) (Crime)

11:45AM, 1:15, 9:50, 11:15PM

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (2D) (18+)

Cast: Lily James, Sam Riley, Jack Huston

3:15, 11:45PM

Neerja (2D) (PG12) (Hindi | Biographical)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Sabana Azmi

2:30,9:15PM Mansoon Mangoes (2D) (PG) (Malayalam) Cast: Fahadah Fasil, Vijay Raaz, Vinay Forrt7:15PM Fitoor (2D) (12+) (Hindi | Romantic| Drama) Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor / Katrina Kaif / Tabu4:15PM Miruthan (2D) (TBC) (Tamil) (Action)Cast Jayam Ravi, Lakshmi Menon, 7:00PM

CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW

ROYAL OMAN POLICE

Emergencies and inquiries: 9999

General Directorate of

Passport and Residence 24569603

Directorate General

of Customs 24521109

Traffic violations inquiries 24510228

Public Relations Admin 24560099

EMBASSIES IN OMAN

Afghanistan 24698 791/4

Algeria 24605 593

Bahrain 24 605 074/133

Bangladesh 24 698 660

Brazil 24640100

Brunei 24 603533

China 24 696782

Cyprus 24 699815

Egypt 24 600 982/411

France 24681 800

Germany 24835000

India 24684500

Indonesia 2469 1050

Iran 24 696 944/7

Iraq 24603642

Italy 24693727

Japan 24 601 028

Jordan 24692760/1/3

Kazakhstan 24 692418

Kenya 24 697664

South Korea 24 691490

Kuwait 24 699628

Lebanon 24 693208

Libya 24603466

Malaysia 24698329/643

Morocco 24696152/3

Nepal 24696177

Netherlands 24603706

Pakistan 24603439

Palestine 24601312

Philippines 24605335

Qatar 24 691 153/2/4

Russia 24602894

Saudi Arabia 24601705

Senegal 24694139

Somalia 24697977

South Africa 24647300

Spain 24691101

Sri Lanka 24697841/2

Sudan 24697875

Switzerland 24603267

Syria 24697904

Tanzania 24601 174

Thailand 24 602684/5

Tunisia 24603486

Turkey 24697050/1/2

UAE 24400000

United Kingdom 24609000

United States 24643400

Yemen 24600815

PHARMACIES

Round the clock

Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24782666

Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542

Salalah 23291635;

Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585

Muscat Region

Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766

Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691

Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740

Muscat, Al Hail South 24537080

Dhofar Region

Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,

Salalah 23291635

HOSPITALS

Al Amal Medical & Health Care

Centre 24485052

Atlas Hospital

Ruwi 24811743/

Ghubra 24504000

Al Musafir Specialised

Medical Clinic 24706453

Hatat Polyclinic LLC,

Ruwi 24563641

Azaiba 24499269

Sohar 2683006

Al Raffah Hospital 24618900/1/2

Al Massaraat Clinic &

Laboratory 24566435

Al Makook Medical

Coordinance Centre 24499434

Apollo Medical Centre,

Hamriya 24787766, 24787780

Capital Polyclinic 24707549

Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic,

Ruwi 24799760/1/2

Capital Clinic, Seeb 24420740

Ceregem National Raak 24485633

Dr Harub’s Clinic 24563217

Elixir Health Centre 24565802

Emirates Medical Centre 24604540

1st Chiropractic Centre 24472274

Lifeline Hospital Salalah 23212340

International Medical

Centre LLC 24794501/2/3/4/5

Kims Oman Hospital 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency 24760123

Lama Polyclinic, Sohar 26751128

MBD 24799077

Al Khuwair 24478818

Magrabi Eye and

Ear Hospital 24568870

Muscat Private Hospital 24583600

Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment

Centre, Al Khuwair 24477666

Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC 22004000

AIRLINE OFFICES

Muscat Airport Flight information

(24 hours) 24519456/24519223

Aeroflot 24704455

Air Arabia 24700828

Air France 24562153

Air India 24799801

Air New Zealand 24700732

Biman Bangladesh Airlines 24701128

British Airways 24568777

Cathay Pacific 24789818

Egypt Air 24794113

Emirates Air 24404400

Ethiopian Airlines 24660313

Gulf Air 80072424

Indian 24791914

Iran Air 24787423

Japan Airlines 24704455

Jazeera Airways 23294848

Jet Airways 24787248

Kenya Airways 24660300

KML Royal Dutch Airlines 24566737

Kuwait Airways 24701262

LOT Polish Airlines 24796387

Lufthansa 24796692

Malaysian Airlines 24560796

Middle East Airlines 24796680

Oman Air 24531111

Pakistan International

Airlines 24792471

Qatar Airways 24771900

Qantas 24559941

Royal Jordanian 24796693

Saudi Arabian Airlines 24789485

Singapore Airlines 24791233

Shaheen Air 24816565

SriLankan Airlines 24784545

Swiss International

Airlines 24796692

Thai Airways 24705934

LISTINGS

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)

15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily

15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily

15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily

06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily

08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily

13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily

16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily

16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily

14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily

08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily

14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)

06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily

06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily

10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily

10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily

19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily

06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily

13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur

13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur

15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily

15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily

07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily

07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)

05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily

05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily

05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)

07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily

07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily

13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri

13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily

13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily

17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)

07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)

06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily

06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)

15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily

15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (ROUTE 55)

06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily

14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)

12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily

12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)

07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily

10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily

10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily

19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)

06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)

15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)

07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily

07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily

13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri

13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri

15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily

15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)

16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily

16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily

16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

@RUWI @AZAIBA

Neerja (Action / Biography) –PG12Cast : Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi3.30, 6.30, 9.30PM

Ishq Forever (2D) (Romance) (TBC) Cast: Denzil Smith, Ruhi Singh6:30, 11:15PM

BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking

24540855

Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

Criminal Activities (Crime / Drama / Thriller)

Cast: Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens,John Travolta

4.00, 8.00, 10.00. & 11.55PM

CP No: 331 (12+)

Hail, Caesar! (Comedy / Mystery)

Cast: Josh Brolin, George Clooney

4.30, 6.00 & 11.55PM

CP No: 332 (12+)

Neerja (Hindi / Biography / Drama)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi

2.00, 7.00. & 9.30PM

CP No: 333 (PG12)

Navy Seals: The Battle of New Orleans (Action / Horror)

2.00PM, CP No : 322 (15+)

Cast: Ed Quinn, Michael Dudikoff, Rick Fox

STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776

Website: www.isurf.co.om

Pavaada (Mal) (Drama\Comedy)

Cast: Prithviraj Sukumaran & Miya George

3:30, 9:30PM Cinema Main, 6.30PM Cinema 2

Miruthan (Tamil) (Act\Romance)

Cast: Jayam Ravi & Lakshmi Menon

3:30 & 9:30 PM Cinema -2, 6.30PM Cinema Main

Monsoon Mangoes (Mal) (Com)

Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Vinay Forrt & Iswaya Menon

3:45, 6:45 & 9:45 PM Cinema - 3

Neerja (Hindi) (Act\ Drama)

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Uday Chopra

3:45, 6:45 & 9:45PM Cinema -4

NEXT CHANGE: Action Hero Biju (Mal); Kanithan (Tamil); Aarthu Sinam (Tamil)Programmes are subject to change

@Shatti

Criminal Activities (Crime | Drama) (12+) Cast: John Travolta, Michael Pitt, Dan Stevens3:00, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:45PM

WEATHER

270

Maximum

180

Minimum

TEMPERATURE

75-40%RELATIVE HUMIDITY

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and

parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to

extra@timesofoman.com

SWOSTI RESHMI SAHOO February 24, 2002

SHASHANK C. B.February 24, 2006

HANSEL JOJO February 23, 2010

MANAS February 24, 2005

WITH LOVE

LIFESTYLEC7W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Why do you love gardening?I love nature and plants from childhood. It keeps you healthy, active, and happy. Moreover, I can use my leisure time for something which gives double benefits as it makes us happy and also gives us healthy or-ganic vegetables.

How did you get into it?In my school days I used to sow seeds in small containers and enjoy its growth curiously. I took care of each leaf by watering, cleaning leaves, taking care of getting enough light, and protect-ing from insects. When I grew up I started planting plenty of indoor plants and arranged it all over my house and later started roof gardening. I have cultivated various kinds of vegetables in wooden boxes in the roof garden.

How can one get into the passion of gardening?To get into the passion of garden-ing, the first and foremost thing is you should have an interest, ready to work hard at initial stage, must love nature and plants, and must be inquisitive to gain knowledge about fertilisers, seeds, and the process of growing it. You should also be prepared to spend some money as well, if you like to get into this hobby.

What’s your pro-tip on gardening?Before you start gardening, make sure that the soil is soft, fertile and not rocky. Make sure proper natural light and oxygen is avail-able and you should know about the favourable season at which you can sow or plant a particular seed or plant. For example, for indoor plants take sweet soil and mix with peat moss (ratio is 1:3). Before sowing or planting, wet the soil completely. Make sure that neither it is kept in dark nor in direct sunlight. Water should not be excess because it damages the roots which you can notice by the colour of the leaves and if it is not taken care of, the plant will die in a few days.

Contact info/resources for becoming a gardener in OmanI recommend ‘Al Jars Nursery’ (Abdul Azez Chowdhry: + 968 9850 1520) which is in Azaiba on the November 23 Street. They sell plants, seeds, fertilisers, tools, and equipment as well. -shafeeq@timesofoman.com

Gardening has double benefits: It makes you happy and gives you healthy organic vegetables

THE HOBBYISTMohammed Shakeel Ahmed

Hobby: Gardening

HAPPY & HEALTHY

Photography: Jun Estrada

LIFESTYLEC8 W E D N E S DAY, F E B RUA RY 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Whether you’re a new business owner or an employee look-ing to take your career to the next

level, it’s definitely a competitive en-vironment. How can you differentiate yourself from the millions of others?

Developing a purpose and setting goals to accomplish that purpose is the key to success, says Per Wickstrom, founder of Best Drug Rehabilitation in the US, and successful business leader.

“As an individual, you have a unique and fresh perspective, so it’s important to let that shine through.”Wickstrom offers his proven tips for setting yourself apart from the rest to reach your business and career goals:

1. GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITYNever underestimate the power of giving back to your surrounding community. The local community is what helps your business grow, and giving back is immensely rewarding and valuable. From volunteer days to donation drives, there are hundreds of ways for you and your business to give back to the community.

2. TELL YOUR UNIQUE STORYAll successful people have role mod-els and mentors from which they draw inspiration and knowledge, but it’s important to continue to develop your own individual style and view-point. How did you get where you are today? Don’t be afraid to be your dy-namic and complex self.

3. CONTINUE TO LEARNCommit to learning something new each and every day. To be innovating and create new products and services, you need to stay on top of the trends and news in your industry. Keep an open mind and always be ready to ab-sorb as much information as you can. Being flexible and adaptable are some of the most valuable assets.

4. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKESOf course you’ll never make it to the top without learning from your many mistakes along the way. There are very few “overnight successes” in the world, and it’s likely you’ll spend years working towards your greatest accomplishments. When you experi-ence a setback, don’t let it overwhelm your rational thinking. Instead, let it fuel your motivation on the road to achieving your goals.

5. KEEP PRODUCTIVITY TOP OF MINDWhen collaborating with others, meetings can be both incredibly pro-ductive or a complete waste of time. Keep your meetings and brainstorm sessions compelling and energetic without letting them run too long. Put away your smartphone and other devices to focus on the task at hand.

6. FOCUS ON YOUR PASSIONSuccessful entrepreneurs and busi-ness leaders are not successful be-cause they let money drive them. In-stead, they focus on their passion and spend time working on a vision that pulls them forward. While this in-volves a bit of risk, every successful person must take that leap in order to develop their goals and dreams. When you visualise your success, it means you believe what you want is more than possible. —BPT

For more information and tips on success from Per Wickstrom, visit perwickstom.com.

6 Ways to Be

a ClassApart

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

W E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

RENT D2

*Classified 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: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

D2 W E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

DAILY GUIDE

Luxury flat for rent in Bareeq Al Shatti building

Spacious 2 BHK with sea view,

split A/Cs, fixed wardrobes,

kitchen appliance.

Near Opera Gallery.

Rent RO.900/- negotiable.

Contact - 94084335 / 96920789

Shop for rent Honda road, Ruwi.

Contact: 99481931

Flats for rent 2BHK sitting room,

3 bathrooms, kitchen, big balcony

split A/C Wadi AL Kabir 300/-

R.O. Contact: 99324402

Single bedroom flats behind Ger-

man embassy nearer to Al Nahdha

hospital. Contact: 99203954

One bedroom flat with two toilets

required near Al Falaj Rex road area.

Contact: 98411825/96245923

Flats in Darsait. 94051789-

97201688

Flats in Wadi Kabir. 94051789-

97201688

Fully Furnished apartments in

Boucher (35). 94051789-97201688

New building office for rent

Muttrah 2nd floor. Contact:

99364735/24714791/95729711

2 Bedroom ground floor apart-

ment with sitting & 2 baths + big

kitchen close to Indian School near

to Maya supermarket Wadi Kabir.

Contact: 98011224

Single room with A/C & WIFI

having separate entrance for

non –cooking Indian execu-

tive, near Rawasco, AL Khu-

wair rent 130/- (W& E). Contact

92888691/95397442/97201100

2BHK split A/C 200/- Monthly

& 1BHK spilt A/C 150/- monthly

new building good location Barka

Market. Contact: 99342661

2BHK split A/C 320/- monthly & 1

BHK split A/C 250/- Ghobrah south

near Grand mosque.

Contact: 99342661

3BHK in Qurum P.D.O high 350/-

Monthly. Contact: 99342661

Flats in Muttrah. 94051789-

97201688

Offices in Ghala. 94051789-

97201688

Brand new villas in Al Ansab.

94051789-97201688

2BR, 2 bath, kitchen, yard with AC

separate entrance Al Khuwair near

Ibis hotel PDC only bet R.O 300/-.

Contact: 97056443

Offices & Showrooms in Muttrah.

94051789-97201688

Duplex villa in Qurum 29.

94051789-97201688

Offices & Showrooms in

Al Khoud.94051789-97201688

Spacious well maintained 2BHK

in Rex Road from 1st May.

Contact 92227165

For rent and investment Land

industrial shops in Rusayl.

Contact: 99323957 / 95490842

1 BHK flat with split A.C, balcony

near Wadi Adai signal.

Contact: 95042855

2 bedrooms flat for rent in Azaiba

with split ac. 300/ monthly.

Contact- 92447365

Full furniture room for rent for

family monthly 200/- .

Contact: 99251975

Flats in Qurum. Contact

94051789-97201688

Office space 350 Sqm, C.B.D.

Contact: 99024730

Wadi Kabir new building 2 bed-

rooms rent. Contact: 99313274

For rent in Misfah near Oman

cement 600sqm shed.

Contact: 96177220

2 BHK flat behind Nesto hyper-

market with split A/C R.O 220/.

Contact 91642157/97653524

2BHK Darsait R.O 300/-.

Contact: 92144045/7799175

1BHK Wadi Kabeer R.O 210/-.

Contact: 92144045/97799175

1.2 BHK Mumtaz R.O 250/- , 300/-.

Contact: 92144045 /97799175

2BHK AL Khuwair R.O 350/-.

Contact 92144045/97799175

Flats, 3 Rooms & AC, kitchen, hall,

in Al Mabela South, rent RO. 250/-

Contact - 99377290

Shops for rent in Al Amerat on the

main road (express) opposite to

Mosque and a supermarket

Al Ehsan. Contact: 96434269

2 BHK flat for rent Darsait near

Muscat Pharmacy, ISM.

Contact: 95158570

One / two B/R , RES / Comm flat

near Bank Muscat Bausher directly

from owner. Contact: 92158031

3 Rooms, 2 Toilets Flat for Rent.

18 November Street. Near Mars Hy-

permarket and The Chedi. Ghobrah

-Good for Commercial or Residential

use. OMR 295/- month.

Call 94477222

2 BHK fully furnished flat at Ruwi

MBD area. Contact – 93211557 /

24814853

We have 2BHK office, flats for

rent in Ghobrah, Azaiba, Ghala Al

Khuwair prime location. Contact:

93782735/99208033

We have 1BHK, 2 BHK Flats in

Mabela 7 new building. Contact:

93782735 /99208033

Flat in Wadi Al Kabir 2 bedrooms,

1 living room, 1 family hall, kitchen &

3 bathrooms. Contact: 99277787

We have staff accommodation for

rent in Bousher 30 to 40 people can

stay commercial building. Contact:

93782735 /99208033

Modern and spacious 4 bedroom

twin villa for rent in Azaiba north

behind Nov 18st with detached

maids room. Contact 99317349

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 D3

FLATS FOR RENT

CONTACT :

93202733

1 BHK and 2BHK Flats

with Split ACs -

Opp. to MOD -

Near Lulu Darsait

FOR RENT

FOR RENT

FOR SALE

FOR SALE

WAREHOUSE AVAILABLE FOR RENT

IN BALADIA SANAYAH AMIRAT

(Floor area 600sqmtrs and mezzanine of 500sqmtrs)

1100sqmts fully cover warehouse

Please contact: G.S.M

99417229/92621039

Running shop with paint machine for sale in kadra

- - 260 Square meters- Warehouse facility

BUILDING MATERIAL SHOP FOR SALE

9322 3382 or mail to cs@mpesllc.com

Land for sale in a very excel-

lent location on the first line of

a common area of November 18

1892 adjacent to the company’s

life required 300 meters of the RO.

Contact: 96262686

Shop for sale in Al Khoudh.

Contact: 92820541

Shop for sale near Oman House,

Muttrah. Contact 99024362.

Porta cabin for sale in Misfah.

Contact: 99442438 / 96578789

Tailoring shop for sale Al Khuwair.

Contact: 96500940

Well established coffee shop / res-

taurant prime location at AL Khoud.

Contact: 92188777/98700760

An optical outlet for sunglasses

and frames in a big hypermarket in

Ruwi with goods and scratch less

furniture with (or without) stock.

Contact: 98010203

Commercial flats of 3 & 2 BHK

in Al Ghobra North 18 Nov street

RO.650/- & 450/- # 91776665

600 M2 showroom or office in

Bousher in front of Dolphin com-

plex. RO.3.5 per m2. #91776665

Brand new villas in Al Ansab.

Contact - 94051789-97201688

Flats in WadiKabir. Contact - 94051789-97201688

Fully Furnished apartments in

Boucher (35) #- 94051789-97201688

2BHK Ghobrah R.O 325/-.

Contact: 92144045/97799175

5 BHK villa Qurum R.O 700/-.

Contact 92144045/97799175

2 Bedroom centrally air condi-

tioned flat in CBD Prime location.

Contact: 24714625/91173997

1BHK Darsait I.S.D R.O 225/-.

Contact: 92144045/97799175

Flat, 1 bedroom, kitchen, toilet in

AL Khuwair family bachelors

R.O 160/-. Contact: 95154331

One flat with split unit A/CS, two

bedroom, sitting room and kitchen

Al-Ghobrah south, stadium side,

RO.315/- Contact - 99310551

(Said)

Al Ansab on main road, 8 rooms,

8 toilets, kitchen & store room.

Contact Owner: 96354553

Ghobrah. Big bedroom, bathroom,

huge terrace. Non-cooking Indian

female/male - Manager/Sr. Exec.

Vegetarian non-drinkers only.

Contact 99283938

Shop Ruwi Rex Road. Contact: 95443207

2BHK /3 BHK OPP Star Cinema.

Contact: 92926199

1BHK Flat with spilt A/C near

star cinema 210/-. Contact:

99358589/95570288 /97079146 Sharing room rent near City

Centre Seeb. Contact: 99037669

Flat for rent south Al Mabela.

Contact: 95331177/95230355

Shop (rent 250/ 400) commercial

/ Residential building 1& 2 bed flat

(flat rent 350+ 250) available in

Wadi Kabir (Near Lulu) one bed flat

200/- Wadi Al Kabir (near Toyota.

Contact: 92325212 /99451168

2 Bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, car

park R.O 200/- & 1 bedroom,

kitchen, toilet R.O 140 in

Al Khuwair. Contact: 95154331

1 Bed room, sharing K& T, R.O 100,

2 bedrooms , sharing K& T R.O

200/- in AL Khuwair. # 95154331

Luxury villa of 5 BHK in Al

Khuwair 33 RO.650/- Contact –

91776665

House in Amerat near to Makah

hypermarket with 3 room+ 5

toilet+ hall+ living room+ kitchen.

Contact 98885055/ 92744168

Villa 2bedroom, 1 sitting room,

small hall, Kitchen & 2 bath-

room behind Sultan center south

Mawalah 300/- O.R. Contact:

92757673 /99388138

Warehouse at Wadikabir - total

area 3500 sqm - covered ware-

house (500sqm), office,

accommodation (1000sqm), open

area (2000sqm) please contact:

99273774 - 99202278

Flats for rent at Mawaleh near

Omantel main office opposite Lulu

bandar comprises 3 rooms,

2 toilets and one kitchen OMR

250/- Per month. Contact:

93131497 or 99203435

Shop for rent near Al Nahdha Hos-

pital. #97380548 / 99680499

1/2/3 bedrooms flats at Al Hail

including utilities bills 92817777

1B/R apartment executive fully

furnished at AL Khuwair 33 & 5

B/R villa unfurnished at Madinat

Al Ilam & 5 B/R villa furnished at

Madinat Al Ilam. Contact: Atlas

Real Estate & rent a car LLC 24834

888/99249069/92888376/94617

563 Email: info@alshahiintl.com

Flats for rent in Ruwi Mumtaz

area 2 bedroom. Contact:

91409667/24291500

Flat for rent in Al Hail

south 2 bedroom. Contact:

91409667/24291500

Commercial office at prime

location in Azaiba for rent. 171sq.

mtr. Contact: - 91398925

2 BHK Flats for rent, Muttrah near

Oman house S/ AC.

Contact: 97007934 / 92629232

Brand new 4 BHK villa in Al Fai

compound Al Khoud. RO.475/-

Contact – 91776665

Villa of 3 BHK and sitting area in

Al Ghobra North. RO.525/-

Contact – 91776665

Luxury and brand new semi

furnished 2 BHK flat in Remalbow-

sher. RO.550/- Contact – 91776665

Mini Furnished Apartment in

Qurum.# 94051789-97201688

Spacious 1 BHK flat in Al Wattaya

with all split A/C’s and parking.

RO.300/-Contact – 91776665

Offices & Showrooms in Al Khoud. # 94051789-97201688

Offices & Showrooms in Muttrah.

Contact - 94051789-97201688

Flats in Darsait. Contact -

94051789-97201688

Offices in Qurum opposite City

Center. Contact 94051789-

97201688

Small business for sale in

reputable shopping center.

Contact 97207440

Very good furnished space for

sale in a busy hypermarket in

Ruwi. Contact: 98010203 Marble factory for sale

location Misfah. Contact:

99489453/99838439

Luxury Apartments in Bousher

(35). 95056808-97201688

Almost new beach/ garden lounge

chairs /bar stools/ counter. Photos

can be sent 95865457

Single colorful Bed and Sofa

for Sale at Al Khuwair. Contact

92881849 /

What`s up No 97290565

Dental clinic for sale in Seeb.

Contact: 96404090

HD Scaffoldings, Shuttering

Jacks, Wooden Planks, Shuttering

wood assorted, Tower hoist (lift),

Concrete Mixer, Bending Machine,

Steel Fabrication Machinery

(Searing/Cutting, lathe & Welding)

including tools for immediate sale:

Contact 99273774/ 99202278

Space for printing press available

at wadikabir with or without

machinery. Contact 99328430

Villas in Al Khoud. 95056808-

97201688

Concrete Batching Plant for sale

A good running condition,

UK Pemat Mixer, 50CBM

Per hour production

capacity Plant for sale.

Interested parties may please call

Mr Mateen - 92892209Sreejith - 99478263

Contd on PG 6

Contact : 24 70 30 60

FOR RENT RUWI :

Ware House - 630 M2

SPACIOUS -2 B H K FLATS

& 1 B H K

CBD: SHOWROOM & OFFICE-

Mezz.fl oor

SCRAP COMPANYFOR SALE OR RENT

(BARKA)An excellent Grade 1 Scrap

available with compound

in Barka Industrial Area.Contact:

24707088, 98283896

1 No. Prado VX 8 SPL A/T (model 2008) KM: 350694

Colour: white pearl (petrol)

1 No. Corolla 1.8 XLI PWR A/T (model 2008) KM: 245071)

Colour: super white

desbyrne@omantel.net.om

FOR SALE

Villa is composed of 5 bedrooms

and sitting toilets and 5 living

room, kitchen and Seeb (North

Al Hail). Contact: 91130875

For rent 1 B/R Apartment Execu-

tive Fully Furnished @ Al Khuwair

33, 5 B/R Villa – Unfurnished @

Madinat Al Ilam 5 B/R Villa – }

Furnished @ Madinat Al Ilam

Please Contact: Atlas Real Estate

& Rent A Car LLC24834888/

99249069 / 92888376/94617563

/ Email: info@alshahiintl.com

DAILY GUIDED4 W E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED

SITUATION WANTEDSIT. WANTED

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

DRIVER

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

ADMIN

ADMIN

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

DRAUGHTSMAN

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

Required urgently a Legal Consultant/ Lawyer for reputed

law firm in Sohar, Muscat. Can-

didates should have 5-7 years

experience as a Legal Consultant/

Lawyer with good knowledge of

Computer & should be fluent in

English both written & spoken.

Email C V to shejaanil66@gmail.

com or Contact 99153620

between 8am to 1pm & 2pm to

5.30 pm on Sunday to Thursday

MBA Finance Indian lady 23

yrs currently on visit visa family

resident Oman seeking opportunity

for career enhancement in suitable

firms ready to join immediately.

Contact: 99872664 /92651331

Part Time Accounting, Accounts

Finalization as per IFRS, Audit

Preparation, Project Report, Training

for Accountants, Internal Audit,

Accounting System for New

Companies, Contact: 96975454,

email:ibfc.gcc@gmail.com

Indian male good experienced in

Accounts, ERP Tally 9 & Admin in

India & Oman, presently on visit

visa, looking for suitable placement.

Contact 94834687

Contact -91262604Email: chillapalli76@gmail.com

Wanted female GP, female

Gynecologist, female Staff

Nurse, female X- Ray Technician

With MOH license for Al Saadi

Specialized Medical Centre

in Musanna.

DOMESTIC HELP

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

24 Male/Indian/MBA finance

fresher /B.com seeking opportuni-

ties in corporate finance/Banking

.Immediately available.

Contact: 93990638

Email: sachu0318@gmail.com

Experienced Accountant seeks

suitable placement. NOC available.

Contact: 96902860

Indian male M.com with 7 years

of experience in running own busi-

ness , seeking for job currently on

visit visa. Contact : 91089088

CA with 16 years experience in

finance / audit, seeking suitable

senior position and available for im-

mediate joining. Contact: 96320588

MBA male 7 Years GCC exp ac-

counts & admin. Valid Omani driving

license. Quick books n tally software.

Contact - 96763275

Indian male, 22 yrs B.SC gradu-

ate having computer knowledge

and valid Oman driving license

presently in Oman seeks suitable

placements in accounting field or

office. Contact: 92508069

Chief Accountant 25 years expe-

rienced looking for part/full time

accountant job.

Contact: 95598477/98803439

Sri Lankan Male, Holder of Di-

ploma in Management Accounting

and Student of Chartered institute

of Management Accountants

(CIMA). Have 3years accounting

experience I am available at

Muscat on VISIT VISA

GSM: 90660764 E-

mail:insafali92@gmail.com

Indian male 40 yrs knows M.S Of-

fice excel & Tally 2 yrs experience

in account & 2 yrs experience in

marketing valid D/L seeks suitable

placement in marketing.

Contact: 92409891

Email: danoman@yahoo.co.in

MBA finance with total experi-

ence of 4 years in finance opera-

tions (management information

system) sales / Marketing and

retail currently 3 month on visit

visa. Contact: +968 99739330 /

+968 91966020

Email: faiz.faisal3@gmail.com

M.com (finance) post gradu-

ate having 3 years experience in

processing, accounting customer

care with multinational companies

seeking suitable placement in

Oman. Contact: 92794845 Email:

sowas.peer@gmail.com

Egyptian Sr. Accountant / chief

accountant / accounts manager

with more than 10 years experi-

ence in construction have Oman

valid driver license on transfer

visa. Contact: 96131088

Finance Manager with 20 years

of experience in EPC contractors

looking for a suitable position

NOC/ visa transferable.

Contact: 93245973

Chartered Accountant - Indian

with 8 yrs + Exp in Finance/Ac-

counts/Auditing in Oman & UAE.

Seeking suitable position in Mus-

cat/Dubai and available immedi-

ately for joining. NOC Available,

urgent available till 29th Feb in

Oman. Contact #: 98707434

Email: casmart007@gmail.com

Indian Male 28, M. Com with 3 yr

Oman exp in Accounts with valid

D/L on visit Visa available to join

immediately. GSM: 94744575.

Email:sidharth673@gmail.com

Indian female accountant having

more than 8 years of experience in

Oman. Can handle accounts inde-

pendently up to finalization. Good

knowledge of tally ERP9 and MS

Office seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 91229415

Account Assistant, experienced,

BBA, M.COM, logistics diploma,

can work in current visa ph:

98269281

MBA in finance having 3 years

experience in India looking for job

as accountant. Cashier or store

keeping living in Oman in visit

visa. Contact: 99181193

Internal Auditor Presently in

Oman & having 2 years of Gulf

experience and 7+ experience in

accounts & Auditing with valid

GCC driving license looking for an

opportunity in Oman,Qatar,UAE.

Contact +968 99356707

Indian male 7 years Oman exp,

Tally ERP 9, Accounting, Inventory

Controller/Asset Supervisor & IT

Supports seeking suitable job. NOC

available. B.Com, PGDCA, location So-

har, having Oman D/L, #98317698.

Email: sukuanilkumar@gmail.com

Indian male 25 B.Com (graduate)

2 years experience as accountant

in country club India with ERP ora-

cle r12, tally knowledge. On visit

visa immediately available.

Email: shabi.hyd@gmail.com

Contact- 9042-1161

Indian male accountant B.com,

M.com with 7 years experience

including gulf on tourist visa.

Contact: 91651695

Email: danishpa2005@gmail.com

Accounting Services for small/

medium Businesses. Accounting

from Data Entry to preparation

of P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash flow

and complete reports for auditing

Contact: 99679247

Part time up to finalization.

Contact: 91126314

Indian female accountant 8 years

exp in Oman. Contact: 93726921

Accounts finance Indian male

35 years B.com MBA (F)

7 years experience tally ERP9

valid Oman D/L family visa.

Contact: 93257426/95230114

Email: sibigeorgep@gmail.com

Urgently required female person to work at the retail shop for imme-

diate appointment.Housemaid with

release may apply. For enquirers

please Whatsapp: 95907300

Required Salesman, Tailor and Barber. Contact: 96964767 Building material company look-ing for a Marketer with experi-

ence. Contact: 95342240 &

send CV to Email:

venice.decoration@gmail.com

Required Smart, dynamic Sales & Marketing Executive having 2-3

years sales experience in building

materials for Omani branded prod-

uct. Omani Driving License and NOC

is must. Apply with photograph to

E-mail: jobdsint@gmail.com.

Software company is recruiting

minimum 2-3 years experienced

Female Tele Sales Executive. Interested candidates are requested

to send their resume to-

omanerpsales@gmail.com

Wanted Marketing Personnel for Construction Company,

visa available. Contact: 95286741

Experienced Graduates/MBAs with pleasing personality, excel-

lent communication skills and

own car for sales & marketing with

leading media enterprise.

jobs@interacoman.com

Required experienced Plumber with knowledge in copper, G. I pipe

and U.P.V.C Drainage work

& Electrician knowledge in cable

tray, trunking, cable termina-

tion works. Contact: 24505708 /

92830203 Email:

excelgrd123@gmail.com

Need master cutter, tailor for

tailor shop. Contact: 99825211

Account & finance exp 7 years

experience must have experi-

ence of service industry in billing

department with full knowledge

of accounts , valid Omani driving

license. Send your CV to email

address: info@albatnapp.com

QHSSE ADVISOR - Interna-

tional Oilfield Services Company

requires a NEBOSH qualified

QHSSE Advisor (Omani National)

to ensure continual improvement

in our Muscat base. Main duties

to include Journey Management,

supporting implementation of

policies and procedures, mentor-

ing staff, training coordination,

reporting, audit & inspection and

risk assessment. Submit CV to

me-job@interwell.com

Looking for a part-time cook-cum-housemaid in Azaiba.

Call 92450197.

Looking for full-time Housemaid - please call 99385119.

Required Cleaners & office boys. Contact 24707833

Looking for Indian or Bangla-deshi cook and Porata, Chapatti, maker for restaurant at Misfah.

Contact: 95212017

CATERING

MANAGER/SUPERVI.

MISCELLANEOUS

MEP Engineer minimum Diploma

5 years experience in building

construction and with driving

license. Contact- Fax- 24478522 /

Email – gh1.careers@gmail.com

Décor Company looking for an Engineer or Technician deco-

rated with experience. Contact:

95342240 & send CV to Email:

venice.decoration@gmail.com

Reputed company in Muscat

invites application for the following vacancies Admin Omani, good

communication skill in English &

Sales graduate, valid Oman driving

license. Kindly send CV at Email:

infooman@orchidinternational.ae

Required candidates for following

posts: Accountant, Storekeeper, Foreman Building Maintenance, Van-salesman (water), Helpers. Candidates with Omani driving

license preferred.

Contact 99273774/99202278

Part or full time Driver Required

call us 91120552

Required a driver (light driver).

Contact: 92392979

ENGINEER

Urgently required Midwifery fe-male Nurse 5 years experience with

60%prometric first preference to lo-

cal release or local visit please Bring

complete CV. Contact: 99376848

/99648532

Wanted orthodontist and female nurses for dental clinic muscat.

ph:93756082.

email:dentmax25@gmail.com

REQUIRED PROJECT MANAGER

FDuqm/Oman

20+ years experience preferably in Oman/ GCC with valid D/L

and transferable visa, computer literate. Send CV to Email :

omanproject2011@gmail.com

URGENTLY REQUIRED Muscat based Modular Kitchen

Company is looking for Sales & M E

Factory In charge

Must have minimum 2 years experience,

valid Omani D/ L and NOC Mob: 98989162, Email:

omansales2016@gmail.com

Required Civil Draftsman full time / part time. Contact:

99334706

MEP DRAFTMEN Required with 4

to 5 Years Oman Experience. Mail

your CV @ trustllc@yahoo.com

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

8 years of intensive Oman experi-

ence in procurement & supply chain

management looking for suitable

placement. Contact: 97755488

15 years of working experience

in Business development in Oman

& UAE & UK , marketing plans and

strategies & importing firewoks for

festivals & preparing government

tenders , Operations and logistics ,

importing and international busi-

ness trading , CNC engineering &

industrial areas , I have dual na-

tionality (I can travel abroad easily

without needing visa, for finalizing

business trading NOC available.

Contact: 94123939

Egyptian woman resident in Muscat

bachelor in business administration

has an experience in the executive

secretarial, HR and all the adminis-

tration tasks very good in computer

skills, looking for a job in a company.

Contact: 97221126

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

Office Co-Ordinator / Sales Co-

ordinator / Executive Secretary / HR

Assistant with 20 + years Experience

in Oman in IT Industry seeking urgent

suitable placement in any industry.

Contact GSM: 92538485 / 95585282,

Email: lina_fds@hotmail.com

BBA Mare administration officer

with admin, Accounts purchase

experience valid Noc.

Contact 91329571

Indian Male, B.Com, MBA with 3

years GCC experience seeks Admin-

istration job in Muscat. Valid Oman

& UAE D/L available. Visit visa & can

join immediately. Contact: 00968

98896847 mail: tssavad@gmail.com

Indian male 32 yrs with 9 yrs

experience in MIS & Administra-

tion good knowledge of MS .Office

currently on visit visa looking

for suitable position.

Contact 99815835 Email:

rinumohan.842@gmail.com

Young Omani male have experi-

ence 12 years as P.R.O , Clerk helper

supervisor Admin supervisor , H.R

Manager have diploma in H.S.E, IT

and P.D.O license looking for H.R

position or P.R.O license . Looking for

H.R position or P.R.O part time or full

time. Contact: 95933288

Required Construction Forman Oman Driving License required, 2+

years’ Experience 93246786

Urgently wanted the following

staff for reputed Aluminium Com-

pany in Ghala Sales Manager & Factory Foreman. Please contact

– 96404166 / mail CV to –

mansoormohd2011@gmail.com

SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED

28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com -

Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/

India experience looking for a

suitable placement. #90187483

shobinkarikkan1987@gmail.com

Sri Lankan male 5yrs experienced

in Sales & Accounts, seeking

suitable position with NOC &

DL.Contact:93369940

Indian male MBA (F) with 6 years

of experience as accountant pro-

ficiency in A/C software like tally,

focus, Sap (FICO) seeking suitable

placement. Contact: 98665219

Email: abdulhameed1527@gmail.com

Accounts part time services

available to handle all accounts up

to finalization, on Monthly basis

finalization and consulting works.

Contact: 96247295

Indian Male Accountant 10yrs

Exp. in OMAN Retail &

Furniture Co. (Release Available)

GSM.92564955

Jordanian, Senior accountant, 15

yrs experience in Oman finance &

accountant. Contact: 92881223

Accounting Assistant, BBA

M.Com, tally, peach tree, can work

on current visa ph: 98269281

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with

13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman in

manufacturing, trading & contract-

ing Cos, capable of handling all

accounting, finance, banking, L/C,

import, export & finalization seeks

placement. NOC Available.

Call+968-98932752,

mail:jjohnmuscat@hotmail.com

Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in

commerce, overall 5 yrs exp in ac-

counts/ finance field. On visit visa.

Immediately available. #92836216

/ muhammad.tausif623@gmail.com

Indian female (25) M.com Finance,

3 yrs, exp in accounts / finance

seeks suitable position in corpo-

rate finance / Banking / consulting

purchase coordination / Admin now

in family visa. Contact: 96953705

Email: prapullasuvarna@gamil.com

Looking for Sales & Marketing Executive to represent one of

India’s leading builder, Real Es-

tate Experience - 2 Years Driving

License (Optional) please send CV

to Xpatindian.oman@gmail.com

Urgently Required Steel Fabri-cated Products Salesman with

an experience in steel fabrication,

MUST have Oman driving license,

and immediately join. Apply,

fax 00968–24605955, emails

sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com,

sbeoman@yahoo.com

Required male / female Market-ing person for man power Supply

Company with minimum 3 years

experience with valid GCC / Oman

driving license.

Contact: 97158893 / 94148972.

Kindly send CV at

Email: rastllcmuscat@gmail.com

Indian male, B.Com with 6 years

experience as an Accountant,

looking for suitable placement.

Mob: 93903458 ,

Email : Akkandyrijesh@gmail.com

22 years experience in Oman for

accountants seeks suitable place-

ment. Contact: 99615920

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com

Finance-Indian with 7 years expe-

rience in Finance & Accounts up to

finalization. Currently employed in

Oman. Having D/L & NOC.

Mob: 94122464,

Email: cammk13@gmail.com

Indian female 25 yrs, MBA HR &

Marketing, with one and half years

experience as accountant and

6 months experience in teaching,

now on a visit visa, seeking suit-

able position. Contact: 99624044,

mail: np.neethu1@gmail.com.

Indian male 34 Yrs, Dual MBA

Finance and marketing with IT

skills, 7+ yrs of experience, Look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact : 94879615,Email-

sajan_chacko1981@yahoo.com

Young 24, ACCA affiliate,

Advanced diploma in Accounting

and Business, seeking suitable

placement in Accounts, Finance or

audit With valid driving license.

Contact - 92430152,

Email - rau_dey@yahoo.com

Required Part- time Executive Secretary with Driving License,

capable of self-drafting letters

with financial & legal back ground.

Contact: 95634747

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Wanted Nurse for a dental centre in

capital area. Interested may contact

– 93431024 or send CV to –

drasyanaseem@gmail.com

Required General Practitioner doctor to open branches in Oman.

Contact 98116480

Required gynecologist GEN: practitioner lady lab Technician and pharmacologist immediately

for a clinic in Suwaiq.

Contact 95081010

Email: umchealthcare@gmail.com

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 D5

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

DRIVER

ADMIN

CATERING

DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

ENGG. / TECH./MECH.

Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp

looking job. Contact: 99531802

Finance / Project/Program Manager Professional

Country Exposure Canada &

Canadian, In Person Interview on Sundays

Contact No: 97203531, +923352855176

Autocad Drafting, part time/

full time, 2D & 3D, Architectural,

Structural, MEP, Shop drawing ,

experienced. Ph: 90189070

AutoCAD draftsman experience 2

years. Contact: 93738335 /95809393

Email: mammoosing@gmail.com

Autocad D/MAN, experienced,

2D & 3D, ARCH, Structural, Revit,

Interior Dwg PH: 93837973

Interior Designer 3 years

experience, AutoCAD 2D & 3D

Max & Photoshop.

Contact number: 99025312

DOMESTIC HELP

Indian male, 22 Chemical Engineer

residing in Oman looking for suitable

placement. Contact: 92379181

Indian Male, 24, B.Tech with electri-

cal & electronics & PG Diploma in Au-

tomation & Scada with 2 years KSEB

experience is looking for a suitable

position. Contact 95340253

HSE Engineer (BE Mech + Dip in

Safety+ NEBOSH + OSHA), 10 yrs

exp, NOC Available, seeking suit-

able placement: Mob: 97061817;

email:jayanammu1977@gmail.com

Indian male senior electrical engi-

neer 10yrs experience in all kinds of

LV, HV works residential commercial

infrastructure looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 93676607

Indian male Electrical Engineer, 7 years experience, valid GCC driv-

ing license, NOC available looking

for suitable job. Contact: 96137008

Email: joshuaruarkfernandez@gmail.

com

B.SC civil Engineer, road construc-

tion field with 13 years experience

in Oman. Contact: 92200485

Indian Electronics Engineer female

24 M.Tech 9Communication) Engi-

neer and signal processing) with C,C

++ & matlab programming skills 7 1

year exp in teaching. Seeking suit-

able jobs, now on visit visa.

Contact – 91310557/

Email: aswanimidhun12@gmail.com

Electrical diploma Engineer with

1.5 years experience in AutoCAD

designing for LV constructions and

diesel generator maintenance look-

ing actively for job in Oman.

Contact: 92171858/90595609

Email: nelsondas213@gmail.com

BE – EEE Engineer looking for

suitable job experience in plant

electrical utility maintenance

transformers Plc drive panel

control wiring on crane A/R

Compressor ETC now on visit visa.

Contact: 90628814/93872441 Sudanese civil Engineer three

years experience with NOC.

Contact: 96297316

Email: abdallakoty22@gmail.com Diploma in Mechanical 75% B. E

mechanical 75% 5 years Sresen-

thil Engineer Company production

planning designing.

Contact: +919003112305

Email: prabugn28@gmail.com

Aeronautical Engineer 1 year

experience aviation industry/

experience in quality assuring

and technical service in air India

express looking for suitable posi-

tion in aviation industry / fluent

in English . Contact: 9474563

/95128200

Email: fhcpaero@gmail.com

B. SC Building & architectural En-gineer male 26 having 2 years of

experience in architectural design-

ing & construction supervision of

building projects currently on visit

visa seeking suitable position in

Muscat. Contact: 95626378 Email:

waqasbashir65@yahoo.com

Mechanical Engineer (male) with

2 years experience in project &

production field seeking suitable

jobs now on visit visa.

Contact: 94823009/94223483

Email: jisso.joseph@outlook.com

Structural Engineer, 8 yrs expe-

rienced in flat slab, post tensioned

& slab-beam multi story building

design & supervision with driving

license. Contact: 98256860

Civil Engineer having 7 years

experience in construction field,

looking job in suite international

company with Oman driving

license. Contact: 91800277

Young Electrical and Electron-

ics Engineer Indian B.Tech male

24 seeking job presently in Oman

having one year experience in

design and estimation of Ht and Lt

Projects. Contact: 968 94851525

Email: rabeehbinrahman@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer B.Tech with

4 years experience in India

available in visit visa looking

for suitable placement. Contact:

94741401/97239852 Email:

sobinthomask05@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) with

QA / QC piping Engineering (ASNT)

level 2 (UT, RT, MPT, LRT) with

experience QC Inspector in a expan-

sion project of a refinery. Currently

on visiting working for suitable job.

Contact: 00968 97697944

Email: arskpo7@gmail.com

Project Engineer (Civil) Indian Male

11 years in Building Construction.

Visa release & D/L available.

Contact: 93836362/94605415,

mathan.civil04@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer (B.Tech) with

2 and half years experience Indian

male 24 years in visit visa. Contact:

96620482 / + 919605423272

Email: bijumonps@gmail.com

Telecom Engineer, Indian, M.Tech

(Communication System) 2 years

exp O& M of Ericsson BSC, RNC

equipments seeking suitable job,

presently on visit visa.

Contact: 968 93615443

Email: shabnaspk@gmail.com

Indian male Electrical Engineer with MBA (Mktg) having 4 and half

years experience in technical com-

mercial and marketing fields with

valid GCC D/L, NOC available seeking

placement. Contact: + 968 96547828

Email: deva0234@gmail.com

Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp

seeks suitable position ina reputed

company. NOC available.

Contact – 96789711

Procurement Engineer (27 years

single male with Oman Driving Li-

cense) having 7 years experience

(UAE 2, Oman 3) with expertise in

MEP, Water, Electromechanical,

Instrumentation seeking suitable

placements. Contact 95852033,

mail: hemal1988@gmail.com

MANAGER

MEDICAL B.S.C, MSC (IT) 7.4, 1 year Al

Eassa Al Dayssi L.L.C in Bahrain,

4 years Asma computers system

engineer, Chennai 32 age. Content:

+918608247116

Email: samad3301@gmail.com

IT 8 yrs + GCC experience DW/

Business intelligence Sap oracle

data analyst informatica Qlik view

immediately available D/L.

Contact: 94504554

Email: shijasj@gmail.com

Indian male 3 years experience

in IT as Linux Administrator and

1 year experience in Amazon

EC2 cloud at Wipro technologies

looking for suitable placement.

Contact: 92889678

Email: amalpathikal@gmail.com

Male 24 from, India B.SC Comput-

er science with 2 years of network-

ing and IT help desk support expe-

rience and a Cisco certified, came

to Oman on visit seeking a suitable

placement. Contact: 96910605

Indian male 25 years BSC (C.S)

with basic hardware and software

knowledge seeks suitable place-

ment now on visit visa.

Contact: 92319677

Email: ismabsc@gmail.com

Indian female, B.Tech graduate,

with one and half years experience

as ‘web developer’ interested in

web development and has experi-

ence working in HTML, CSS, Boot-

strap, JavaScript and Photoshop.

Contact : 9592 7075, e-mail id:

mariarosejacob90@gmail.com Indian Male, IT System Engineer

having 4 yrs of experience in sys-

tem administration.CCNA,MCSE,

Linux. Looking for suitable job.

Contact :91272867

SAP / ABAP certified, Indian female

(30 yrs), BCA, MCA, ASP.Net certified

having 1.5 yrs of experience seeking

placement. # 99109121

Email: ashamaryphilp@gmail.com

Indian female 28 years, MCA,

B.com, 3 years experience in the

field of computer hardware, ERP

software and windows network-

ing where planning, implementing

and troubleshooting with multiple

platform of OS Microsoft XP /7/8

on visit visa. Contact: 95089170

Email: anjuretnakar@gmail.com

LOGISTICS

IT

Light driver for job experience

K.S.A & Oman 9 years.

Contact: 94297563

Looking for job driver K.S.A

7 years & Oman 5 years education

H.S.C. Contact: 93940319

L/V driving license experience

4 years in Oman 27 years old.

Contact: 99454890

Pakistani male light vehicle

driver looking for job.

Contact: 97690766

Bangladeshi male light vehicle

driver looking for job.

Contact: 95601163

Can with driving 3 years

experience per time job.

Contact: 92041902

Needed light driver job urgently.

Contact: 94085449

Light driver with car.

Contact: 96379697

Driver with car 2015 model,

speak British English.

Contact: 94039796

Wanted driver. Contact:

91025698

Pakistani light driver looking

for job with 5 years experience.

Contact: 92617293

Looking for job car driver.

Contact: 98388947

Looking for job as office boy. Contact: 94640906 Email:

angelchowdhury515@gamil.com

Indian House maid looking for

part time full time job perfect in

baby care, mother care, cooking,

cleaning etc. Contact 93675855

Housemaid (overseas)

Indian family looking for job.

Contact 99531802

Indian Male, 36 years, over 16

years’ Stores, Logistics and Import

Export, experience with US based

MNC, seeks suitable placement.

Mob: 9822 6568

Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian

male 24 years with 1+years Indian

experience,(Certified in Staad

Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).

Looking for a Suitable position.

Available In Sultanate of Oman

(Muscat) on Visit Visa.

Contact: 92835952. E-mail:

mohammedamair.bin@gmail.com

Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience in

designing, assembling, commis-

sioning execution etc having valid

GCC license too looking for a suit-

able. Contact: 00968-98052942

Email: azamjeelani78@gmail.com

Electrical Testing Engineer (B.Tech) having 7 yrs Gulf expe-

rience expertise in testing pre-

commissioning commissioning of

electrical systems, currently on visit

visa seeks suitable job in Muscat.

Contact: 90188231

Civil Engineer 8 years experience

in Oman as a project engineer for

governmental & private projects.

Contact – 90164912

Indian male, Mechanical

Engineer having 1year experi-

ence, on visit visa looking for

suitable job. Contact:97416564,

Email:jovinmathias@gmail.com

Civil Engineer 8 years experience

Structural buildings marine. Availa-

ble NOC release. Contact: 92451323.

Email: zubairali134@yahoo.com

Electrical Engineer 4.5 years

experience oil & gas water projects

& subseries. Contact: 99525856

Mechanical Engineer 7 years

experience 4 years in pipe line

projects NOC is available.

Contact: 91117089

Indian male 23 years B.E in me-

chanical fresher and have CSWIP

certification on visit visa seeking

employment foe mechanical jobs

as entry level. Contact 98422072

Email Id: j-joel92@yahoo.com

Mechtronics Engineer, Indian

male 2 yrs exp in industrial auto-

mation & maintenance, seeking

suitable job. Presently on visiting

visa. Contact – 97315735 /

jithinm717@gmail.com

Omani HSE supervisor. Email:

jeebal3000@gmail.com

Sudanese Civil engineer - 4 years

experience – 98093544

Mechanical quantity surveyor (India male 25 years ) having

3 years experience in India I

Can do any sort of works look-

ing for a suitable placement.

Contact: 94864680 Email:

m.mohamedazik@gmail.com

Indian male 25 yrs, B.E in Electri-

cal & Electronics,4 and half years

experience in Procurement/

Electrical purchase. Looking for

suitable placement in oman.

contact:vvselvambe@gmail.com,

+91 9894049078.

Electronics and Communication

Engineer (B.E) - Indian male-

looking for full time job. Corporate

experience (2 years) -

GSM 92916894;

Email: salu.mn555@gmail.com

Civil Engineer (B-Tech) 2 year

Indian experience

Contact 90493674 email-

inayathhussainshaik@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer Indian male

30 years, having 5 years of experi-

ence in industrial automation and

utility maintenance in India (MRF

Tyres) holding valid Oman D/L.

Contact: 92789995 Email:

akhilabrahamlktr@gmail.com

Indian Electrical Engineer Btech,

female 24 seeking job, presently

in oman having 2 year experience

in design and estimation of Ht &Lt

projects. Contact 968 97436557,

Mail id : sibinanoop1@gmail.com

The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 15

Years Inside and outside Oman

following activities: tenders& real

estate& construction & marketing

projects& investments &

transportation & Marine services&

companies management& develop

business. Contact: :- 92385033

Indian male 40 yrs degree and

diploma in logistics , having 16 yrs

experience 6 yrs GCC , including

Oman in storekeeping and material

management seeking suitable place-

ment NOC available. #98966849

Operations & Accounts Manager

Indian male , 18 years experience in

Oman finance, purchase, transport,

sales Admin & H.R looking for Sr.

Position. Contact: 99889396 Email:

srjobsinoman@yahoo.com

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: naushers@yahoo.com

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian female 29 yrs LLB, 6 yrs ex-

perience in Litigation Legal Counsel.

Looking for full time jobs.

Contact 96079342

Indian female, Law Degree, with 3

years experience seeking suitable

placement. Contact 91467937.

Email sajithapp@yahoo.com

A lady entrepreneur with BF Tech

1st Class (Fashion Technology)

since 2006 in Kerala like to make

change for better. Specialized in

designing, Production Management,

Fashion Art, Grading, Surface orna-

mentation, Garment Construction.

Email: prettyjinu08@gmail.com

Mobile: +919539397097.

Bangladeshi male, University

M.Com, Working as an Accountant

& Administrator in Oman; search-

ing better job. Phone: 94864966

Email: sunrisetoiqbal@gmail.com

A Filipina lady having experience

in call center, airline booking and

reservations, secretarial and real

estate is now looking for a job in

any fields. Contact: 93839304

Indian female on visit MBA

(International Business- Market-

ing & Logistics), BE (Computers &

Science Engg.) Trained in SAP-BI/

BW with 1 year experience

seeking for job Contact: 90228586

Email:fathimasha16@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer with 18 years

exp in UAE. Contact: 98148034

Email: shassalih66@gmail.com

Indian female (22) BE Computer

Science & pursuing MBA in sym-

biosis, looking for a job in HR & IT

with 2 years experience in IT field.

Contact: 92649477 / 96043223

Civil Engineer 6 yrs Exp in Oman

with license. Contact: 98975518

Bachelor Civil Engineer 6 Years

in Oman experience Valid Driving

License seeks suitable placement

Phone 97619722

Email – golamrob@yahoo.com

Indian female, 31 yrs, 7 yrs expe-

rienced as AutoCAD civil drafts-

man (2 yrs experience in Oman)

currently in Oman seeks suitable.

Contact 96789441

Email: simi5304@gmail.com

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

Mechanical Engineer with 3 Yrs

experience in international Oil

& Gas company looking for job

Contacts: Tel: 90164236 Email:

mustafaoshi-62@hotmail.com

Diploma in Mechanical Eng piping system in AutoCAD work,

21+ years experience with Driving

license. Contact: 95267113

Email: rkakkaryil@gmail.com

Indian Male 23 years B.Tech

Civil having 2 years experience in

quantity survey and site manage-

ment looking for suitable place-

ment. Contact:- 95042656

Civil Engineer (BE) having total

5 years experience in building

construction looking for a suitable

placement. D/L available

Contact# 94450270

Civil Engineer 5 Years exp 2 years

in Oman as QS. Seeking for part

time job as QS. Contact- 91507508

Mechanical Engineer M.Tech

2 years experience HVAC design

& site Engg revit MEP Auto CAD.

Contact: 90150913 Email:

mahmanmechengg@yahoo.im

7 Yrs Exp. PM in Mech. Engg in

the field of Building Const. Oil &

Gas Seeking Job.94625598

Road and Construction Engineer with 5 years exp in Oman.

Contact: 97667113

Sudanese Telecom Engineer, 5 years experience, 3 years in

Oman PMP certificate.

Contact: 93391008 Email:

momen.awadallam@gmail.com

Hospitality/Hotel/ Restaurants

Dynamic result oriented hospital-

ity professional with 20 years of

international exp. MBA in Hotel

Management, specializing in Ho-

tel/Restaurant start ups, concepts

& Franchise development with

proven records. Seeking for Chal-

lenging positions in reputed groups

as GM/COO/CEO/Business Head.

(NOC available) Contact: 96059470

Indian male hotel management

graduate above 12 yrs experience

in hospitality looking placement

GCC driving license and release

available. Contact: 94525463

HOSPITALITY

Indian female MBA in health care

service, BSN with MOH license

looking for a job in hospital.

Contact: 94876041

Doctor couple MOH license holders

25 years experience required job in

clinic. Contact: 92893243

1Year exp, orthodontist, looking

for job, prefers Barka, ready to give

exam. Contact -94369280

Indian male Orthodontist & female

BDS Prometric dataflow completed

looking suitable post.

Contact 90377433

Male GP Doctor with NOC 6 yrs

experience in Oman for perm/locum

job. Contact : 97746074

Indian Bsc Female Nurse with

6.5 years exp, 4 years in KSA.

Passed Oman Pro Metric with 69%,

completed data flow. Presently in

Muscat in visit visa looking for a

suitable placement.

Contact 94744900, 94742834,

jincyalphonese@gmail.com

An experienced Sudanese female Dentist with MOH license look-

ing for job. Contact 96436517

/97396088

A Female Postgraduate with over 5

years of working experience in HR/

Business Development/Banking/

Admin/Coordinative/Secretarial

duties seeks a suitable placement.

Contact 99357522/92800281

26/Pakistani Male/MBA-HR

having 2 years of experience in

HR with MN Insurance Company

and banking industry is currently

in OMAN on VISIT VISA & looking

for a suitable job in HR, ADMIN or

FINANCE.

Email ahmadraja010@gmail.com

GSM 91716268/93228785

Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+

experience in Administration/HR,

Customer Support, Office Coordina-

tor with good Computer skill, Now

on Visit Visa,looking for suitable

position.Contact: 90196235

Indian male MBA 33yrs having 10

yrs of exp seeking full time suitable

placement in Administration/ HR/

Operations/ Coordination/ Logistics.

Holding valid D/L. Contact 99054786

Indian male MBA- UK 18 yrs Gulf

exp in Administration/ HR & Pub-

lic relationship. Fluent in Arabic/

English with D/L.

Looking for suitable position.

Contact - 99897280

MEP Engineer 5 years exp in Gulf

driving license NOC.

Contact 97838220

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: anusreeg1991@gmail.com

EXPERT ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE F

HR& CRM, appraise IT system for

Contact: Tel - 96500729

Sri Lankan Engineer (27 Years

old) – B.Sc Engineering (Hon)

Mining / Geotechnical Presently

in Muscat, 1.5 years experience.

Contact 91295802 /

acmfaslan123@gmail.com

Graduate, computer literate, expe-

rienced in sales, credit control, ac-

counts, Omani D/L , seeks suitable

placement. Gsm 98805474

MBA with 18 years of experience in

Procurement, 2 years in Sohar, Oman

driving license with vehicle, looking

for suitable position.M:94047501,

ahmed16071974@gmail.com

The Business Development Man-

ager, Iraqi, Experience 15 Years

Inside and outside Oman follow-

ing activities: construction(Very

strong and qualified to bringing

business for civil work Or any

type of the construction work for

many million per year with a good

experience in pricing and collect

payment and cash management of

the company & marketing projects

& investments& tenders & real

estate. Contact 92385033

DAILY GUIDED6 W E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

GOOD NEWS

GOOD NEWS

SITUATION WANTED

Ayurvedic treatment for joint

pain, backache, paralysis, mas-

sage, steambath, obesity, spondy-

litis. Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic,

18 November Street, Azaiba.

Contact: 99639695 / 97397320

SALES / MARKETING

MISCELLANEOUS

Sri Lankan lady experienced in

key accounts, Market Demand

planning & Communications,

Brand/Sales in multinationals

seeks placement in Muscat.

Contact 98250829

Indian sales marketing profession-

al highly experienced in business

development in ME India and Africa

seeks suitable placement.

Contact: 97897611

MBA graduate having 6 years exp

in Sales & Marketing, 4 years with

PEPSI, India, having international

driving license permit seeks suitable

placement. Contact : 95308167,

Email : samir.pag@gmail.com

Indian male, Graduate, experi-

enced Sales person (FMCG) with

valid UAE driving license, on visit

seeks suitable position. Contact

92419491 / 94881950,

Email : pranilpp76@gmail.com

Indian male with Oman driving

license & NOC looking for Sales &

marketing / purchase job fluent

English. Contact: 94742666

18 years experienced in

Shipping,ShipChandling& Marine

services. Valied GCC D/L. Languag-

es Known as English, Arabic, Hindi

& Malayalam.Now in Visit Visa.

GSM : 9053 5565

Indian male 28 years exp as sales

executive & asst accountant. With

valid Oman driving license .lan-

guages known Hindi and English.

Looking for any good job.

Contact Gsm 96175176

IT professional, B.E. in IT, CCNA,

MCSA, MCSE, 3yrs exp. in IT/

networking/server support/Indoor

sales, valid Omani D/L seeking

suitable placement in IT/Network/

Server support/Retail sales.

Contact 92607532.

Indian Female, 35years, Bach-

elor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) with

6months experience and BSc &

MA seeking position as Insurance

Coordinator or suitable positions

in pharmacy, pharmacy stores,

hospital, polyclinic & pharmaceuti-

cal companies or in front office/

administration office preferably

in hospital. Please contact on

90236481.

Indian Male, 26 years, with 7 years

of experience in Sales Field in ship-

ping company in Dubai, looking for

suitable placement. Experienced

working in safety Marine equip-

ment and well versed with MS

Office. Contact: 90182494/

manojmallya999@gmail.com

Iraqi Civil Engineer with more

than 30 years experience in (Iraq

and G.C.C) looking for a job, (N.O.C.)

is available.

Male Indian 27, working as

finance Officer having three years

Oman experience with Driving

license looking for Finance/Audit/

Accounts position. Mob:98097009,

rameesnm@gmail.com

Female Interior Designer 15

months experience design and

management skills ( 3D Max, Auto-

CAD , Photoshop, Illustrator, Coral

Draw (Basic) and Sketch up (Basic)

and well versed with M.S Office).

Email: - sasd_shirur@yahoo.com,

24789883

Indian Male, Structural Engineer

seeking for a job in Structural

design field. Having 6 yrs experi-

ence in Design field. Residing in

Muscat. syam036@gmail.com,

GSM 91176187

Mechanical Engineer (Indian

Male, 24 Years) with three years

experience, looking for suitable

job. Currently on visit visa, ready

to join immediately. # 92175441,

Email: ihabeeb24@gmail.com

Indian male with three years of

experience in IT as system admin-

istrator seeking for IT administra-

tion job placements. Presently in

Muscat on visit visa. #90664136,

email: szuheabikram@yahoo.com

Iraqi Civil Engineer with more

than 30 years experience in (Iraq

and G.C.C) looking for a job, (N.O.C.)

is available. Contact No. 96561306

iq.bgd.mnsr@gmail.com

Indian Female, 24 MA Eng. Litr

with 2 yrs experience in teach-

ing & 14 months in Administra-

tion cum Secretary, Currently

on visit visa, seeks suitable job.

Contact: 92613704/99260702

Email:rohinis2010@gmail.com

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rentals.

Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-

ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,

Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes,

Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound

Systems and spectacular lighting.

Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering

and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound &

Light. ww.tunesoman.com,

E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

SITUATION WANTEDEDUCATION/COMPUTER/WEBSITE

Karate and self defense classes

at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per

month twice a week Monday and

Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM.

CONTACT 98294551

Spoken Arabic class for Non Arabic Speakers & English

class for Malayalam Speakers in Azaiba and Ruwi

earn in two monthstion guaranteed

Tel: 95244310

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

Classes for Spoken EnglishTOEFL / GRE / GMAT / SAT

Excellent Guidance and Coaching Satisfaction Guaranteed

IELTS PREPARATION Target Band 8.0

EAGLES INSTITUTE92325542 | 93657915 | 93657917 | Email: engominst@gmail.com

MATRIMONIAL

Sunni Muslim girl, Mumbai origin,

24yrs BCA graduate from Oman,

homely with good religious value,

seeking alliance of age max 29 from

Muslim Sunni Mumbai origin family,

well settled in Oman or Middle East.

Contact: 94150040

Kerala Kottayam RC male 28 years

Civil Engineer is seeking alliance

from suitable family, preference for

BDS, Eng & bank employees. Contact

– 95035953

Indian male Roman Catholic 40yrs

divorcee working in Muscat. Seeks

suitable alliance from widow/ divor-

cee/ single.Contact: 96059801.

55 years widower looking life

partner Mangalore widows only.

Contact: 99014325

SALES / MARKETING

Indian male 31 years with over 10

years sales & marketing experience

seeking suitable placement NOC

& Oman D/L available in addition

have proficiency in Arabic language.

Contact: 95760969

Indian male (31 yrs) sales super-

visor, total 9 yrs gulf exp, 4 yrs in

Oman with valid GCC D/L with NOC,

release & transferable visa.

Contact: 94014327 Email:

praveenkotian188@gmail.com

Indian male 3 years as sales repre-

sentative looking for suitable place-

ments. Contact: 94420033

Email: ssildisking@gmail.com

Indian Male 28 MBA Marketing

with 4 years of experience in sales

with good communication skills now

available in Muscat on visit visa.

GSM 95840153

Mail akbarshareef786@gmail.com.

Indian male experience six years

Oman sales & merchandise and

marketing qualification ply two.

Contact: 98656301

Email: shafeckmk.mk3@gmail.com

Indian male 35 yrs MBA having

11 yrs experience in G.C.C includ-

ing Oman in sales and marketing of

industrial products, heavy EQPT, &

construction machinery of having

valid Oman driving license NOC avail-

able. Contact: 97296248 /91483978

Indian male with 27 years of rich

experience in sales/ marketing in

Oman with driving license and pro-

ficiency in Arabic language, seeks

suitable placement. NOC available.

Contact: 96725458

Email: ranisadhu@yahoo.com

Indian male MBA marketing 3 yrs

exp with D/L available.

Contact: 98904200

Email: haris.hameedali@gmail.com

Indian Male 34 yrs, having 5 yrs

FMCG experience as sales executive

and sales supervisor with valid GCC

driving License Contact- 92536979

Male 38 yrs Graduate 07 years

experience indoor / outdoor

electronic field with D/License &

NOC available (as per new rule).

Contact: 92453375

Indian male, MBA Marketing

having 2.5 years Sales experience

immediately looking for a suitable

position. Contact: 91415145,

Email: shariqs88@gmail.com

Sudanese B.S.C Business admin-

istration experience 8 years sales

management purchases H.R market-

ing. Contact: 96112453

B.Com male 2 yrs experience in

sales Computer knowledge, seek-

ing suitable placement.

Contact: 98371144

email: nabilnazar22@gmail.com

Indian male UK- MBA (International

Business) having 2 years UK exp

with full UK D/L, now on visiting visa.

Seeking suitable jobs. #96446013 /

mmmidhun777@gmail.com

Sales Engineer (M.Eng) Canada

five + years Oman market experi-

ence with leading brands with D/L.

Contact: 93985140

Email: jbom628@gmail.com

Indian male pluming sanitary

ware & building materials experi-

ence in outdoor sales (9 years)

experience with D/L UAE valid

visit visa. Contact: 98723456

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

SKILLED / UNSKILLED

Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fitter

gulf & Indian exp looking job.

Contact: 95175192

A dynamic professional, female, MBA, 8 yrs MNC exp in

purchase,secretary,sales coordi-

nation, office assistant, logistics,

petty cash, stock, dispatch, project

management, documentation,

residing in oman with valid NOC

from current company, looking for

suitable job, ready to join immedi-

ately. Contact- phone:-94157662

Email: shiji4123@gmail.com,

Lady Secretary / Sales Co-co-

ordinator 12 years experience in

Oman in reputed companies, seek

immediate Employment.

Call: 95244761

Indian male AUTO CAD Draughts-

man (civil) 8 years experience, seek-

ing for part time job.#- 99070584 /

email: remluvp@gmail.com

Diploma (Electrical Engineering) from Government polytechnic.

Age 27 years, 6 years Experience

in troubleshooting and managing

and Technical in substation as a

Electrical Engineer. Seek suitable

placement. Contact - 92995899, MBA (F), B.COM. Indian female

having knowledge of accounts

with Tally looking for full or part

time job. Presently on family visit

visa. Contact: - 96259171. Email: -

bhumicapandya@gmail.com

BS in Civil Engineering Experience: 3 Year (Road Projects)

Omani license: 9 Years.

Contact: 97427701

Email: hassanrvc1989@gmail.com

Indian Male, total 8+years gulf

experience in Document Controller

/ Coordinator / Secretary. Looking

suitable position. Local release

available. CONTACT: 94524259

EMAIL: madhuppnair@yahoo.com

Mechanical Engineer (Indian

Male, 24 Years) with three years

experience, looking for suitable job.

Currently on visit visa, ready to join

immediately. Contact 92175441,

Email: ihabeeb24@gmail.com

Indian female, holds LLB

& Masters in business

administration(MBA),2 yrs oman

experience as HR & Admin, seeks

suitable placement in jobs @ SO-

HAR. Contact: 96541959

IT professional, B.E. in IT, CCNA,

MCSA, MCSE, 3yrs exp. in IT/

networking/server support, valid

Omani D/L seeking suitable place-

ment in IT/Network/Server sup-

port. Contact 92607532.

Indian male 23 years Diploma in

Mechatronic having 3years experi-

ence in production and mainte-

nance department looking for suit-

able placement #+919597008904

(sachin.valappil92@gmail.com)

Indian Male, 26 years, with 7

years of experience in Sales Field

in shipping company in Dubai,

looking for suitable placement.

Experienced working in safety

Marine equipment and well versed

with MS Office. # 90182494

MANAGER

Egyptian male finance manager

7 years experience release avail-

able. Contact: 95539923

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

Genuine Ayurvedic treatments

& massage, Ayurvedic clinic at

AL Khuwair. Contact: 24478618 /

97263637 / 93309131

FOR SALE

NRI

BUYING

Bobcat available for rent.

Contact 97623299

Buying cars for cash.Contact:

90202090

Kovai properties by shakthe

builders premium villas at vel-

lalore, 39 lakhs onwards. Luxury

villas at Pattanam, 60 lakhs

onwards garden villas surrounded

by natural beauty at pollachi Con-

tact: - CBE Shakthe Builders LLP

Mariappan +91 9363216709

rajesh +91 9447783839

email - cbesbllb@gmail.com

New 3 BHK villas in Coimbatore

Tamil Nadu for immediate sale.

Contact: 95264562

Various small / medium sized

business units for sale in

Kerala serious buyers. Contact:

9447739495/9037780820

Email: sunilpg72@gmail.com

Land Trissur Kerala 33 cents land

with 4 bedroom beautiful house &

800 SQ.FT concrete roof shed in

junction facing national highway ,

2.75 KM from Trissur town towards

Ernakulum . Best location for

auditorium flat hospital shopping

complex cinema theatre ETC. Ap-

proved ring road padding through

this junction. Price: 5.5 crores nego-

tiable. Contact: 96055304

Flat for sale Kerala Thiruvanan-

thapuram 3 bed room Flat in cy-

ber Palm (SFS) Area 1860sqf Flat

in cyber gate way, Area 1159.

Cont no +91 99-95-674657,

00968 92967614.

WANTED

Required Sub –Contractors, we have

projects. Contact - 92926630

Local man power required for one

year for construction. #99340205

IELTS Coaching (academic)

required nearby wadi Kabir area.

Please call on mobile or msg on

Whats up.

Mobile no: 92927880/99012165ACC.WANTED

SIT.WANTED

Accommodation required with

food for 1 month, bachelor for

March month. Preferably Al Ghob-

rah area. Contact: 99335742

Fire rated portacabins and steel

caravans. ContacT: 94058574

A well Established Indian

restaurant with all necessary

equipments well qualified staff

furnished party hall (capacity 150)

is up for immediate sale at MBD

area. Contact: 92978956

Steel Scrap materials for

immediate sale:

Contact 99273774/ 99202278

ACC. AVAILABLE

Spacious room semi furnished

with attached bath neat Ruwi

roundabout. Contact: 96612979

Room for rent with furniture.

Al Bustan villeage.

Contact 93687466

Single rooms with kitchen

available at Ruwi. Contact:

91214897/98049288

Spacious semi furnished room with

separate bathroom for executive

bachelor opposite OC centre Ruwi.

Call: 92273779

Room with attached bathroom and

sharing kitchen available for

Executive bachelor or small

family at wadikabir 9304 9849

Room available in Mumtaz area

1 room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen &

1 room, common bathroom. Interested

please Contact: 92680041 Mr. Altaf

DAILY GUIDEW E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6 D7

TOURS

TOURS

RENT A CAR

25 - 50 seater bus with PDO &

BP specification for monthly rent

& small car with driver. Contact

99839898

SITUATION WANTEDCARGO

TRANSPORTATION

TRANSPORTATION From Mabela to Mawaleh for school

student. Contact: 92757673

Transportation. Contact: 96248040

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

MANPOWERDRIVING

SITUATION WANT-ED

BUSINESSSITUATION WANT-

EDBUSINESS

Transportation in Muscat.

Contact: 96004045

Transportation. Contact 92015894

Transportation available Ruwi to

Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.

Contact: 91103909

ONE STOP SHOP

BUSINESS SERVICES

Contact Saleh: 96723485

Public relation services (PRO), Formation new

companies, LLC companies, investor visa, business setup,

prepare business & companies accounts, legal

services, representing you and your company.

Transportation. Contact: 99078967

MV SALE

2008 Nissan Mini Bus. Contact: 91203039

Cars for Sale - Mercedes c230

2006 R.O 3600/- Geely Gx2 2015

AT 12400 km R.O 2300/-

Contact: 97312774

2008 2ltr VW Passat, good condi-

tion, 115k km, 99659946, RO 2800

*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done

till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication. * Subject to space

availability

D8 W E D N E S D AY, F E B R UA R Y 2 4 , 2 0 1 6

DAILY GUIDE Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624

SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES

SERVICES

General cleaning etc.

Contact : 94277020

Split & window A/c servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089 /

95323517

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

All maintenance works such as

plumbing painting masonry inter-

lock fixing etc. Contact: 91278819

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

LEGAL SERVICE

L

new business in Oman, Civil, criminal cases,.service issues.

Ibrahim Al Massalhi.legal consultancySarafudheen, LLB, MBA,

L Advisor Muscat. GSM: 97351649

FURNITURE SHIFTING

Maintenance, Dismantling, Packing,

Shifting & Fixing furniture

with expert technicians.

Contact: 99041337

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of

your marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

Marble Crystallization & Grinding, Ocean Center L.L.C.

Contact: 99344723

A/C maintenance & servicing, fridge,

washing machine & dish washer re-

pairing, painting & cleaning services,

electrical & plumbing. # 99447257 /

97014234 / 24504281

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-ter-

mite treatment, general cleaning

painting,Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir

Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.

Contact: 24810137, 99450130

House shifting packing.

Contact: 99657644 /

98518013

House shifting. Contact: 99708138

Pest Control Treatments Ocean Center L.L.C.

Contact 99344723

Cleaning & Carpet Shampooing Ocean Center L.L.C.

Contact 99344723

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS-

99320217 /24788722

Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont

Maintenance services electric,

plumbing and A/C.

Contact: 96524904 / 94285064

Split A/C servicing R.O 10 only.

Contact: 94217681 / 99210141

Building maintenance. Contact: 96173326

Contact 98480070 / 94134784

LOST

Pest control & Building cleaning all kinds of pest control

Marble polishing monthly/ Y

Contact: 98814733 /98814740 Al Husn Cleaning L.L.C

MD Musa Hajee Ruhu lamin has

lost Bangladeshi Passport No. B

0857506. Finder please handover

to ROP

Original Qualifying examina-

tion certificate of main of all India

secondary examination of the

years 2007, roll no 623610 issued

by the CBSE has teen lost name

of the candidate shaimoon haque.

Contact: +968 93952538