A Snapshot of RICS Activities in Oman

A lot has been going on in Oman during March and I would like to highlight a few key snippets which I am sure will be of interest to you. RICS was represented at OREX that took place during the middle of March at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre. An important milestone was signing of the International Fire Safety Standards (IFSS) by Asim Zadjali, Chairperson of the Oman Real Estate Association (ORA). This is a key step in the internationalization of Oman’s real estate standards and endorsement of ORA as a key professional institution in Oman. In addition, as part of the 3 day conference, Jordan D’Gama – Head of Insights, Strategy and Success for RICS Middle East presented a topic on the importance of standards in the Real Estate industry.

To enable more Member engagement and leverage the presence of Mairead Hughes (Partner Development, RICS) and Jordan in Muscat, an informal coffee evening for Members was organized at the Intercontinental Hotel. Whilst there was no formal agenda, it was good to put faces to names and present an opportunity to meet newly qualified Members. As a Board, Member engagement remains the foremost item on our strategic plan and we hope to organize CPD/ formal in-person events in the coming months, so watch this space!

Amongst other things, we are working with the Oman Tenders Board to support development of a price index, introducing International Valuation Standards (IVS) into the law that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning (MoHUP) is writing and on-boarding the first batch of Omani Real Estate Professionals from PDO into the RISE program as part of their professional career ladder.

We welcome our Members to join sub-committees for some of our key sectors such as Construction, Valuation and Facility Management and actively support the Board to mature our strategic plan.