Muscat: Oman's National Economy Minister, Ahmad Bin Abdul Nabi Macki has reiterated the government's commitment to continuing its major development projects.
"The government remains committed to continuing major development projects and some 937 million Omani riyals [Dh8.9 billion] is allocated for new projects in 2010," he said while delivering a keynote address on the opening day of the two-day Oman Global Investment Forum Tuesday.
"The projects include rail links between Oman's main industrial centres and GCC countries, plus ports, roads, and airports," he told 300 delegates attending the Forum, organised by the Institutional Investor Conferences at the Shangri-la's Bar Al Jizza Resort and Spa.
He stressed that the government's major focus is on developing the country's infrastructure.
"A major new port is being built at Duqm and the ports of Sohar and Salalah have been expanded," he said.
He also said that in addition to the expansion of Muscat and Salalah International airports, the government was building new airports at Sohar, Ras Al Hadd and Duqm.
Macki added that in eight years, starting from 2000, government spending increased 2.8 times to about 7.8 billion riyals.
However, the National Economy Minister said the increase in spending was in line with rising government revenues and net borrowing had been modest.
"We have kept a tight control over debt in recent years and public debt has reduced from 34 per cent of gross domestic product in 1999 to 5.6 per cent last year.
