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Muscat: A rental law, to be introduced soon in Oman, will not only introduce a seven per cent annual rent cap but also bar property owners from issuing eviction orders on tenants, according to Khalil Bin Abdullah Al Khonji, a member of the government-formed rent committee.
"The rent committee formed by the government has recommended major changes in the rental law in the country in order to control rising rentals," Al Khonji, who is a member of the Rent Committee and also Chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), told Gulf News on Sunday.
He revealed that the committee has suggested to the government a minimum tenancy period for both residential and commercial properties.
"We have recommended a minimum four-year contract for residences and seven years for commercial premises," he said.
He added that the proposal had been sent to the higher authorities and the law would be enacted soon.
"The rent cap will soon be gazetted along with the minimum tenancy period clause," he said.
He also said the government was planning to give land to private developers to develop "affordable residential property" on the outskirts of Muscat.
Affordable
"Some private developers have already begun work on building "affordable" apartments in Rumaiz, about 75 kilometres outside Muscat, the OCCI chief said.
Al Khonji said he would neither call these houses for low-income people nor would he describe them as low-cost housing.
Also, he stressed the government would not directly interfere and provide housing. "The problem is," he pointed out, "private developers are finding land costs too high to provide affordable housing to citizens."
Therefore, the chamber head said that the government had agreed to provide land on a long lease to private developers so that they can develop affordable houses for the common man.
The chamber chairman had a meeting with local traders on Saturday to discuss rising food prices in the country. During the meeting he mooted an idea of offering nine essential commodities in one value pack.
"It doesn't have to be branded and thus it would bring down the cost for a family by 10 to 15 per cent," he said.
"We have proposed that the value pack, comprising rice, flour, sugar, pulses, oil, ghee, milk powder, tea and evaporated milk, should be sold prominently at all retail outlets," he said.
Small gesture
Al Khonji said this was just a small gesture from the private sector to help control inflation.
He also advocates the use of non-branded food items by consumers.
"I think the difference in cost would be nearly 25 per cent."
Talking about government efforts to bring down fish prices in the country, he said that suppliers should have taken stock to the interior regions a long time ago.
"Our problem is that we still don't have a centralised fish market, thus most of our stock also goes outside the country," he said.
Al Khonji, however, revealed that a 5,000-square metre centralised fish market was being planned near Mabelaah vegetable market.
Rising prices
"Once that is ready our fishermen will have a centralised outlet to market their stock," he said.
However, he fears that it will take some time for rising costs to stabilise.
"The rising prices in the region have a direct connection to high oil prices in the international market," he said.
"We eat from our port not from our own land, therefore, the rising oil prices will definitely have an impact on the cost of goods landing in our country," he said.
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