Thursday 26 / December / 2024
Muscat: His Majesty the Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, may God preserve and protect him, kindly presides over the meeting of the Council of Ministers at Al-Baraka Al-Amer Palace.
During the meeting headed by his Majesty, The Council of Ministers approved a number of decisions. His majesty has also directed to reduce electricity and water bills by 15 percent during the months of summer.
A decision to increase the financial allocations for the housing assistance program at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning by an amount of OMR 26.4 million was also approved during the meeting. For the remaining years of the tenth five-year plan, a decision was made to establish housing units for the people of few remote villages, or to move them from their affected places of residence to safe places, or to connect public services to them, or to establish service projects in them.
His Majesty the Sultan directed the launch of an investment fund called (Oman Future Fund) with a capital of two billion Omani riyals to enhance the economic activity and to encourage the private sector to enter into partnerships or finance profitable investment projects in the sectors of economic diversification targeted by Oman Vision 2040 directing His Majesty - God bless him - by allocating a percentage of the fund's capital to stimulate the bold investment system in small, medium and emerging companies registered in the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority.
And His Majesty was keen to mitigate the expected effects on all citizens, especially those with limited income, from the increase in the value of the electricity consumption bill during the summer period. This is during the summer months, from May to the end of August 2023
His Majesty, may God preserve and protect him, also directed the extension of the payment of the job security benefit to citizens whose services have been terminated from the private sector, until the end of December 2023.
In continuation of His Majesty's interest - may God bless him - in developing and qualifying national competencies, the Council of Ministers approved strengthening the external scholarship program for the years (2023-2027) by introducing a program aimed at preparing graduates capable of playing leading roles in the economic sectors. And to encourage private higher education institutions to play their role in enriching the academic educational process.. The Council of Ministers approved the ownership of a number of private higher education institutions that meet the conditions and controls in this regard - the lands granted to them, and exempting them from the fees incurred in that.
To encourage private higher education institutions to play their role in enriching the academic educational process.. The Council of Ministers approved the ownership of a number of private higher education institutions that meet the conditions and controls in this regard - the lands granted to them, and exempting them from the fees incurred in that.
In light of the importance of achieving food security in the country and the stability of the strategic stock of basic commodities, and after the Council praised the efforts made by the concerned authorities in cooperation with farmers in various governorates to cultivate improved Omani wheat varieties through the wheat purchase subsidy program with the aim of encouraging them to expand its cultivation. The council agreed to adopt a plan to support local wheat production by about OMR 5 million until 2027, and to allocate usufruct lands in some governorates for its cultivation.
His Majesty - may God bless him - directs the concerned authorities to provide direct subsidies on fuel prices at Salalah Airport, equivalent to the fuel prices at Muscat International Airport.
With a keen interest in spreading the health umbrella and managing it in modern ways, the Council approved the establishment of a national center for women's and children's health in Sultan Haitham City, which is concerned with providing health care for them in accordance with the highest international standards, to be a scientific, research and treatment reference in the Sultanate of Oman
