what does Muscat actually need?

Muscat Municipality has agreed in a meeting headed by His Excellency Abdullah Abass that amongst its list of things that need to be done is the chance to determine the best locations to establish night markets and new commercial districts in Muscat.

While this is a much commendable move on behalf of the Municipality; it still occurs to me that there a number of matters that need to be addressed before that strategy is implemented.

One of which is - with the co-operation of the Royal Oman Police - to find a suitable answer for the ever growing number of vehicles that run on Omani roads and the increased number of fatalities that happen due to recklessness of the drivers for various reasons, and last but not least, the bottleneck situations that we still find ourselves in despite the road alterations and expansions along with future flyover additions.

Besides that issue; why does Muscat need to have night markets?

It might seem like a wonderful idea from a tourism perspective but taking a look at it more broadly you'll find that its just an implementation of an idea of having something like an open-air complex that strides from one end to another in one commercial area.

And the last thing Oman needs is another commercial centre (read: Dubai). Most of the tourists that come over to Oman look for the nature, the quite atmosphere and the relaxing getaway from the town buzz, and what is being done right now is a policy of destroying that image particularly in the environment sense of things (please read post - theweek: In The Name of Development).

There is a fine line between development and crossing the border, that much must be said.

If there is going to be a development here in Muscat, then why not create a natural park with something that a person can come to learn from while having a stroll and buy cultural items on the way. It pleases both the young and the old in whichever angle you may look at it.

Why is there always a need to make another income moneymaker at the price of losing out on something that is oh so more than priceless?