Muttrah Souq set to get vital safety system
Better safety plan will help Souq shopkeepers insure their businesses from natural hazards
MUSCAT: Historic Muttrah Souq will have security guards and a revamped fire safety plan, allowing shopkeepers there to insure their businesses, officials have revealed.
Night security guards and a fire control system will be deployed in the 200-year-old market by early 2017, according to Dr Ibrahim Al Rahbi, Director General of Muscat Municipality at Greater Muttrah.
“We have floated the tender and we are expecting a fire con- trol system to be installed three months from now,” Al Rahbi said.
This is a sigh of relief to some 1,000 shopkeepers who ply their trade inside the traditional marketplace. The Souq is one of the oldest markets in Oman and it attracts thousands of tourists every year. But shop-owners have been stuck in a limbo for years as insurance companies refuse to cover the shops citing lack of safety.
The Times of Oman reported earlier this year that brokers in Oman confirmed that the Souq is a major headache and that insurance companies are reluctant to provide cover. In February, a shop manager in Muttrah Souq lost goods worth OMR200,000 in a fire that engulfed his shop.
He said his firm was denied insurance and that many others like him are totally unprotected. But that is expected to change with plans to allocate security guards at night to watch over the place.
“A team of officials from different departments visited the Souq following the newspaper’s report to solve the problem,” Al Rahbi explained. In addition to safety updates, the municipality pledged to rebuild the rest rooms within the Souq and decorate the entire market in a major makeover.
Al Rahbi also added that a tourist kiosk will be placed near the entrance so visitors can get maps and information about the historic attraction.
“It will be supervised by Muscat Municipality and the Ministry of Tourism and it will be located near the taxi stop overlooking the sea,” Al Rahbi said. Mohammed Ashraf, a shopkeeper in Muttrah Souq for the last 20 years, welcomed the news.