CAYC Saved - British Ambassador raises issue with HM

After years of intimidation, inducements, eviction notices, ancient deeds and legal wrangling in multiple courts, it seems a bit of common sense and a lot of wasta has done the trick for CAYC.

The embattled Yacht club had a meeting with The British Ambassador, Dr Noel Joseph Guckian OBE, a couple of weeks ago. The Ambassador lives in his gorgeous official residence on the cliff/ridge above CAYC and the Marina.



Photo: The British Ambassador's residence above The Marina and CAYC, ripped from Rougetete


I think its safe to assume he wasn't too pleased at the grand designs of the Ministry of Tourism for the CAYC's quiet little bay either.




Well, it seems last week, the Ambassador had an audience with HM Sultan Qaboos, and mentioned the CAYC problem, in between discussing important matters of state and topics of mutual interest.

Presto.

File Photo: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. HM signed the original deed of gift for the CAYC land.

As a result, CAYC is saved (at least for now), as long as they do some improvements and tidy up a bit.

Victory. Thanks to HM. It was that simple all along. What's crazy is that it always seems to take a personal intervention by HM to have common sense win the day.

CAYC are continuing their court cases until the rescue is confirmed and legal. Which may seem cautionary, but is sensible. MoT's grand design may well be shelved, but it won't be scrapped. They'll be back in a couple of years I'd bet.

Muscat Confidential has always been a big fan of CAYC. It's the only such club in Oman and has long been a haven for middle class locals and expats alike, who don't have military or PDO club access and want a simple, reasonably priced place to have a boat and take the family.

The 'plan' of the Ministry of Tourism to give them, in exchange, some crappy spare land at the Aviation Club near Seeb showed how little they pretend to know about tourism. The Aviation club is on the straight flat endless muddy beaches that stretch from the Crown Plaza to... Al Sawadi, and where there is nowhere pretty to sail/boat to, nowhere to snorkle, just bare sand-bottomed ocean. It is totally unlike their current protected bay, replete with rocks, good sand, Cat Island, and the sailing paradise of BK right next door. That's of course why the Tourist development would be in CAYC's bay and not at Aviation Club in the first place! LOL.

So well done Dr. Guckian.

And apologies to His Majesty on behalf of the Minister of Tourism for having had to waste your time on petty stuff like this, when you've got a country to run and everything. I guess good help really is hard to find, as they say. One might remind the Minister and her OMRAN Development arm that they seem to have an awful lot of suspended and abortive Integrated Tourist/Resident developments already on their plate...

Perhaps they could pull their finger out and invest their time and energy getting those current project done before abusing their power trying to steal other people's land for yet another development?

The Week hacked, Crime on the rise, Minister of Higher Education caught giving wastafarians state scholarships

The Dragon is now back in Oman, and found it has pleasantly cooled down since I left!

Crime on the rise
But meanwhile Muscat seems to be enduring a big increase in crime of late (not reported in the rose-tinted media, obviously). Al Ghubra, Azaiba and Al Khuwair especially are experiencing house break-ins, car vandalism and car thefts. I've also been informed of organised gang rapes again happening in Oman.



So, take care not to leave your doors open, even during the day. The teenaged thieves will try to enter to steal car keys, wallets, handbags, etc.

And women - especially Asian and Subcontinent ladies - should take extra care when walking alone, particularly in and around Azaiba beach and Ghubra. It seems gangs of young Omani men are again getting the idea that they can rape vulnerable women and get away with it.

Anyone noticing anything suspicious should note the car reg. number, take a photo, and inform the ROP, who do take these things seriously if pushed.


A few tidbits:

Omani Minister of Higher [thx Muscati!] Education Scholarship scandal
After being on the Arabic sablas for a couple of weeks, the recently leaked documents of the Ministry of Education scholarship scandle are being discussed on Oman Forum. I would post the state audit documents here, but after the recent Ali Zuwaidi internet trial, I'm a little wary of publishing leaked Government documents!

I note Muscati [Oman Forum administrator and grandee of the Omani internet] also removed the names of the lucky wastafarians who got the scholarships... Article 61-phobia is not uncommon in the Omani bloggosphere!

What I find most interesting is that the arabic posts have been left up by the authorities. This is itself generating conspiracy theories about who and why the documents - from a State Audit investigation - were leaked at all, and why action seems absent. Its probably just that everyone's on holiday...

What's clear (if the documents are true, and they seem authentic) is that the children of several senior Omani Government officials were given scholarships paid by the Omani state to attend University overseas, despite not qualifying for them on their own merits. Tsk tsk. It'll be interesting to see where this ends up.


Muscat Mag The Week website 'Hacked'
Earlier this week local free-mag 'The Week' had their website hacked by an Iranian anti-Arab hacker.

Pro-Iran hacker vandalises Oman tabloid's website
By Sunil K. Vaidya, Bureau Chief
Published: August 15, 2009, 22:30

Muscat: The website of a Muscat-based weekly tabloid - The Week - was hacked on Saturday by DarkLOrd - a hacker who claims to be an Iranian.

The hacker "took over" The Week, published by the Apex Press and Publishing placing a message that spewed venom at Arabs as well as the world in general. DarkLOrd also threatened bloodshed in his message.

"We noticed at around 8am that our site was hacked and within a couple of hours we restored the site," Mohana Prabhakar, the Apex Press and Publishing CEO, told Gulf News on Saturday.
...

Personally I just wish The Week would stop publishing all these photos of Omani body-building narcissists wearing nothing but a teeny-tiny pair of budgie smugglers. Presumably the jaguar-loving editor Mohana Prabhakar (newly promoted to Apex CEO!) approves of the scantily clad muscle-bound bodies...


Meanwhile...In glorious Dubai,
the cracks are again starting to show, and its not just the collapsing of almost completed buildings.


Photo: New Dubai building for rent or sale, as is where is...

Residents of Emaar's development 'The Springs' were finding their man-made "lakes" becoming stagnant fetid algae ponds.



In response, enviromentally friendly Emaar seem to have had the lakes dosed with large quanities of sodium hypochlorite, and leaving the containers lying around as well. In the process the muppets put so much bleach in the water the poor ducks and birds have been slowly and painfully killed by chemical burns and poisoning. Emaar, of course, responded with the standard Gulf 'we have excellent rules and so by definition we didn't do anything incorrectly' non-answer.

Stale waters: Acid lake at The Springs

The mysterious deaths of a number of birds on the banks of man-made lakes in The Springs have raised fears among residents that a toxic chemical may have got into the water.

People living there say they noticed ducks losing their feathers, unable to fly or walk, with bloodshot eyes and swelling around their heads a week ago. They said they had seen the bodies of “dozens” of dead birds scattered in and around the lakes.

...
In a statement, a spokesman for Emaar Properties said the lakes undergo regular inspections by maintenance teams led by limnologists. “As per best practice, low doses of algaecides are periodically used to reduce the yearly natural growth of algae. These algaecides are environmentally friendly and used in doses that do not affect fish or birds.”

No animal fatalities have been seen over the last couple of years, due to the use of the algaecides, the statement said.

“Emaar has stringent measures in place to ensure adequate and timely maintenance of the lakes in compliance with Dubai Municipality requirements. We are looking into recent activity at our community lakes.”

LOL.