Once I met a businessman, and asked him why you did not invest in the country, pat came the reply: ‘to be saved from the tongues of the people’. This reply shocked me. I still feel embarrassed because of this. He had actually talked about the people around us who do not have any work except talking about others and snooping in the life of their families. This is why it is always preferred and advised to keep distance from such abusive groups. I told him that he was right, as the reputation of a person is very important.
We should be pleased about the projects starting here and there and do not get influenced by what people talk. We should avoid poking our nose into the life of others and their families and how they created wealth and other petty issues.
Because of such behaviour, many of us prefer to keep our money in banks and do not invest. This is why, according to the statistics of the Central Bank of Oman, the total bank deposits have reached to RO 22 billion.
We have money in other forms including assets and investments and we do not put them to use in our own country. If this money had been invested in projects of our country, it could have been a boost for its economy and development.
When we talk about foreign investment which pushes the wheel of our economy and development, we keep an eagle eye on it as if the investor would take the projects on his head and leave the country after completing his work. We do not value the billions of Omani Riyals being injected into our national economy on long term basis.
When the government realised that the investment in the tourism sector was at snail pace, it set up Omran to work as its investment arm in the area.
There are also many other sectors which are attractive for investments such as real estate, retail etc which have huge long term and short term returns. But we are neither investing in this sector nor allowing others do so.
Omran is attracting investments in the tourism sector under government guarantees as a way to support the sector. But when it comes to a foreign investor, we poke our nose into his personal life, to his investments and analyse his personality.
This should not be our practice at all. They already face many difficulties when they plan to invest here.
For example, if an investor wants to put in money in marine sector, they have to contact 22 government organisations to get a licence for the project. What we would say about it? There are many examples of investments getting choked in the bottlenecks of procedures for approvals and licences.
One of the proposed projects in Ras Al Hadd in the Wilayat of Sur is still waiting for clearance from one agency or the other since a long time. Such projects are kept waiting even for petty issues.
We talk all sorts of things about the investors without pity on them and without knowing the problem.
The problems are with us, who work in government organisations, who do not show seriousness and sense of responsibility in our individual behaviour and practices towards the investment whatever is its value. We sometimes even ignore the fact that they add value to our national economy and create jobs for our youth.
We should do a self assessment and introspection so that we can become more welcoming for investors and open our hearts wider for them for a better future.
ali.matani2@gmail.com
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