MUSCAT -- The Sultanate will soon embrace a unified Building Code along with the rest of the GCC, the talks and the exercise of building a road map of which are currently under way. Speaking to the Observer on the sidelines of the 5th meeting of the Higher Committee on Unified GCC Building Code and the 3rd forum of the GCC Technical Committee, Saud bin Nasser al Khusaibi, Director- General, Standards and Metrology Department, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said that the Unified Building Code will benefit Oman as it is considered to be the knowledge pool of the GCC countries.
"The unified building code for GCC is sought because the counties in the region share some commonalities in the weather pattern. This new move will benefit the national building code of the Sultanate in various ways because the common Code is all about sharing the expertise with other nations in the region. This will protect the environment and the buildings of Oman". The recommendations of the meeting will be amalgamated in to the Oman's present national building code causing substantial changes to the present one. This will take place, according to Khussaibi, by early next year. This unified code will lay important guidelines for the national building policy.
"Oman is under the umbrella of GSO (Gulf Standardisation Organisation) and with the aim of standardising the national building programmes, we have recently established a National Committee for Building Code besides the legislation itself". This apex committee comprises members from the municipalities, ministry of environment, housing and other government bodies relevant to building norms. "All GCC nations have their own Building Codes congruent to their geographical and climatic conditions and Oman has some unique features to its Building Code and that's the reason we have decided to join forces with the rest in the region towards a Unified Building Code". About the present four-day conference, Khussaibi said the outcome of the meeting can impact the current building code of the country.
"We have come together and decided to have our own unified building Code that can be adapted by each member country to their national Codes and enhance the same. We are working out on the road map for the GCC Building Code and the results of the meeting will be causing substantial changes to the existing building code and we will implement it by 2015". He further said that the recommendations of the technical committees in the national building codes will be implemented in various phases. The pilot run will be next year and the rest will be implemented in the following years.
© Oman Daily Observer 2014
