Oman Government powerless to stop continuing carnage on roads. And who's the lucky winner of tickets to Snow Patrol?

Photo: Multiple deaths in Oman are a daily occurance. [Oman Observer]

Amid the continual boosterism to Oman's tourism sector that abounds in the press of late, the recent tragic death of 7 people in a head-on crash made even the international news.

Six Indians, Omani killed in road accident (Khaleej Times)
5 March 2012MUSCAT - Seven people — six Indians and an Omani — were killed in a horrific road accident in Bahla, near Nizwa in the interior Dhakhliya governorate, on Sunday.

Another Omani sustained serious injuries in the head-on collision between two pick-up vans and was taken to hospital, police said. He was in intensive care in critical condition. One of the vehicles caught fire due to the impact of the crash.

By my calculations if you drive on Oman's roads you have on average a roughly 0.1% chance of dying, every year. Of course, the actual odds for a young Omani male must be much, much higher I'd guess.

About 1 in a thousand people in Oman are killed per year (note, you have to correct official figures for children and deaths reported post the scene). How's that for an Oman cultural experience, tourists? Maybe we could sell guided tours from the cruise liners to go see a few genuine Omani funerals?

But never fear, The Council of Ministers are aware of the problem folks.

Oman urges people to abide by traffic rules (Khaleej Times)
5 March 2012 MUSCAT - The unabated rise in traffic deaths and injuries has prompted Oman’s cabinet to appeal for cooperation among all sections of the society to address the grave issue.

Expressing its “deep sorrow” over mounting road accidents, the Council of Ministers, at a meeting here, called upon “everyone to abide by traffic rules and regulations to save the lives of citizens, expatriates and visitors.”

It underlined the importance of participation by the public and private sectors in an annual competition the country organises to spread awareness about traffic safety and to “enhance the culture of safe use of roads and means of transportation.”
...

Ahh yes, the ever popular 'King Canute' method of fixing a problem*.

In this case they are using the mild version of Canute - just tell people to "obey the rules and drive carefully please". The 'Advanced Canute' - seen elsewhere in Omani government - would make it illegal to die on the roads, along with signs along roads warning people that if they die it's their own fault.

Hey, a conference to discuss the problem would be awesome. Maybe an International conference. And an investigation and a report from the relevant departments, naturally. And some posters, and events to educate the public.

None of this will work.

The nice thing about this problem is that it's very hard to not count dead bodies. In the short-term, if you have the money, the King Canute method works against unemployment, for instance. But as more people die on the roads the bodies can't be swept under the carpet**. Oman is going to either have to get serious about it, or admit the failings of current policy. Unless high road deaths are the secret official policy - afterall, it helps lower the unemployment rate, increases GDP per person, and is good for increasing the car sales of Bahwan et al.

If only the outcome of other aspects of Government policy were so transparent.



Meanwhile,
HM re-re-shuffles cabinet of Ministers

Royal Decree No 11/ 2012 appoints Ali bin Masoud bin Ali al Sunaidy as Minister of Commerce and Industry; Shaikh Saad bin Mohammed bin Said al Mardhouf al Saadi as Minister of Sports Affairs; Shaikh Abdulmalik bin Abdullah bin Ali al Khalili as Minister of Justice; Sayyid Mohammed bin Sultan bin Hamoud al Busaidy as Minister of State and Governor of Dhofar; Ahmed bin Nasser bin Hamad al Mehrzi as Minister of Tourism; and Dr Abdulmunim bin Mansour bin Said al Hasani as Minister of Information.

Interesting. We only just had a new Minister of Tourism appointed. Soon I'll publish an investigative report on the goings on at the Ministry of Tourism and it's development arm, OMRAN. I wonder if the replacement is related?

More interesting was the formation of a new super "Supreme Judicial Council", reporting to HM directly and with all decisions needing HM approval, to administer the courts seperately from the Ministry of Justice. This helps to increase the independence of the bench, and finally separates the Government department responsible for prosecution from that of administering justice. That's great news.


Contest for Snow Patrol tickets - Winner!!
Our competition for the free 'pit pass' tickets to see Snow Patrol was won by "Al", who will be at the front seeing the awesome band's first Middle East gig. Thanks to HiFM and Alive Oman.




Al dodged the security, and Mission Impossible-style sent me some great pics of the scene at Blue City in Al Sawadi. This will get me on to finishing part 3 of the saga, as long anticipated! (But if you still have any pics, or are driving past Al Sawadi resort, send them to me! Just give date and if you want photo credit or not.)

There are still a few tickets I think for the show on Sunday the 11th March at the InterCon gardens. But you'd better be quick. You can get them from the Bose store in Qurum, Al Ghazal Pub at the InterCon, or the MQ box office for Alive Oman. They cost RO 25 or RO 50 for the Fan Pit.


* This common metaphor is a bit unfair to ol' Canute. He was trying to show his fawning staff that he was not almighty, so he instructed the tide back, and thus demonstrated he was powerless.

** As blogged about ad nauseum, the ROP do their best to make the number as small as they can already, by only reporting those killed at the scene, and not counting later deaths in hospital nor counting children.

MSM hits lowest point this year despite Government intervention

As predicted, despite the exhortations from the Government and the spending of Pension Funds, today the MSM hit a new record low for the year, closing at 8638.98 after falling all day. In just the past 3 months the market has fallen 28% from its record high of 12,164.54.

Will we now see the start of Phase 3 of the campaign to save face and calm the small investors?

Phase 1 was The Chairman of the Omani Chamber of Commerce Al Khonji in the press on August 17th saying all was OK, that the market was undervalued [index at ~10400], and people should take advice from their brokers (and buy).

Phase 2 was getting the Minister of Commerce HE Maqbool Bin Ali Bin Sultan to tell the Pension Fund managers to buy shares as the market plunge was not justified [index now at 8740], and (more tellingly), getting the press to inform the public that that’s what he had done before the market re-opened this week. And have the papers report the resulting ‘surge’ in the market (Good old times of Oman).

Phase 3 is now to make sure everyone knows its also happening elsewhere (but worse), and that its not the Government’s fault [index now at 8640]. Is this why we saw articles today about how the whole GCC is in the hole, that it’s the fault of the Global economy and foreigners? And this classic from the razor sharp Times of Oman News Desk, about how the Oman economy is not just booming, but (and I quote) "the reality is even bigger, better and sweeter"? (see below). Oh oh. If the Times is telling me how totally and utterly fantastic everything is for Omani Real Estate, things must be really bad.

[Readers please note, there is absolutely no connection what-so-ever between the observation that this article pumping investment in Oman real estate only happened to appear in the Times, and to the fact that the son of the paper's editor is Chairman of Blue City, a massive and hugely adventurous Real Estate speculation project thats reportedly in trouble meeting sales targets before even building phase 1. Editorial independence and hard hitting opinions are a cornerstone of The Times unquestioned editorial integrity.]

Actually, for some key stocks the market is now looking to be at a reasonable level. The last 3 months have seen some so-called Omani Bluechips dropping a long way:
Bank Muscat down 32%
National Bank of Oman down 41%
Galfar down 35%
Rennaisance down 19%

Of course they may get even cheaper over the next few weeks… But if there’s another 10% drop the market must be getting close to bottom. My pick would be Bank Muscat, if you’re willing to believe the oil price will stay high and there won’t be a credit crunch in Oman given the very high level of personal indebtedness… Hmmm.

Times of Oman (Editors Choice!): Hot property!

Times News Service
Tuesday, September 09, 2008 11:46:50 PM Oman Time
MUSCAT — While there is general talk of economic boom in Oman, the reality is even bigger, better and sweeter. Take the real estate sector for instance. With residential properties emerging as the highest income-yielding investment in the Sultanate, there are bound to be massive investments in real estate by both domestic as well as international investors.

According to a leading solution provider to real estate sector, the Omani real estate market is expected to continue its rapid growth well into the future, with analysts predicting that the value of demand will top RO8 billion by 2010.
...

Oman Tribune 1

Gulf stocks face more turbulence
KUWAIT CITY Stock markets in Gulf states are increasingly jittery because of global economic uncertainty and shaky investor confidence and could face a roller-coaster ride ahead, economists said on Tuesday.

Five of the region’s seven stock markets are in the red, shedding more than $120 billion since the start of 2008 despite the listing of a large number of new companies. The seven – including two in the UAE – now have a combined capitalisation of $995 billion.

“Global and domestic factors are impacting the markets, making them fluctuate sharply and become unpredictable... A slide in oil prices in recent months has compounded the impact,” Saudi economist Abdulwahab Abu Dahesh said.

“Gulf investors are less optimistic about the future despite a huge oil windfall. They are uncertain about the extent to which the troubles of the global economy will affect domestic economies,” Abu Dahesh said.

After making a remarkable comeback in 2007 from a two-year correction, the Saudi and Dubai markets have been leading the way down this year. The two markets have so far lost 25 per cent each this year, followed by Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange which has shed 8.4 per cent while Bahrain and Oman have dropped 5.1 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.
...

Oman Tribune 2

Stocks fall; Russian market plunges 7.5%
LONDON European stock markets closed lower and Russia’s benchmark RTS share index plunged 7.5 per cent on Tuesday as US economic worries joined falling commodity prices and political concerns closer to home over Georgia in hammering stocks.

The RTS fell below 1,400 points for the first time since early 2006 to close at 1,395. The MICEX index shed 9.08 per cent at 1,158 points.

London’s FTSE 100 index down 0.56 per cent at 5,415.60 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 index lost 1.08 percent to 4,293.34 points and in Frankfurt the DAX shed 0.48 percent to 6,233.41 points.
...