What is the development we seek in a country!

On my way to a place in North Al Sharqiyah Governorate, along a new road, one of my Arab friends was impressed by the road that was built across the mountains. Investments in infrastructure development in the Sultanate are appreciated by everyone. I found myself reminiscing about old days. I remembered an young lad coming from Al Sharqiyah to study in one of the newest education facilities at that time — the Sultan Qaboos University.

I remembered how my weekly round trip to Muscat, and the road that was full of curves.

I went deeper into my memory, remembering those accidents I witnessed on that road, and how development transformed it, aided by investments from oil returns, since the beginning of the renaissance age.

The renaissance age developed the most important infrastructure in the country — the roads. The chat between my friend and me covered many luxurious things in the life of an Omani citizen.

No one can realise it, except for those who were in Oman during the old times, like me.

There are generations that don’t know where we were, they also don’t realise how we reached this state of prosperity and blessings.

They don’t know how the wise administration ran this country, which had almost no resources, and worked to ensure that our generations and the coming generations have a great life, a life full of modern amenities and great culture, and how God blessed us, so that we progressed from hard life to a luxurious one.

This luxury made us forget our way, and also made us forget how we even reached here.

At a time when the development in our country is witnessing outstanding progress in many fields, in each governorate in the Sultanate, some people don’t like this development and the public services offered as a part of the country’s commitment towards her citizens to provide them with a decent life.

Some only search for such development where money comes into their pockets, which represents a big misunderstanding about what development is and what is its nature.

This make us ask what type of development we are searching for! Are we looking for a comprehensive development that provides services in diverse fields? Or, should we ignore these aspects and look for monetary resources, so as to increase the money flow into our pockets?

There are countries that give the employees higher pay and advantages, even though there is no development. This is a paradox that those who get the advantages are the government employees, while the comprehensive development is meant to benefit the citizens.

The road that saves your life is higher on the list of priorities than our pockets, that is the thing that will reach you safely to your job, studies, or the project you invest in, the project that will benefit your children, or the health centre that provide services in your area protecting your and your family’s health.

To sum up, all developmental projects will open horizons to a future that will have permanent luxury, creating a better future for our children.

As for the development of pockets, and its support, we can learn important lessons from some countries that were rich.

They were very keen to boost the salaries, now we see their hospitals lacking equipment, their schools that are far from being called a school, and the bad state of roads which cause accidents.

Look around you, look at countries where people escape and sail through seas to migrate and get drowned, just searching for a good life.

Sustainable development is the only thing that will open the doors for continuous growth.