A few days ago the Muscat Governorate enjoyed the celebration of Muscat Festival 2007 for a whole month. The annual outstanding, colourful, cultural, tourist and trading event with amazing activities was held at different venues. A great assemblage of people gathering at each venue such as visitors, venders, shoppers, entertainers, officials, etc gathered at each venue. The Royal Oman Police were present at every venue providing different services, and deployed sufficient personnel, equipment and vehicles to ensure security and stability.

Preparations were planned by ROP before the beginning of the festival in coordination with Muscat Municipality. ROP officials made inspection visits to the venues to suggest security, safety and traffic requirements bearing in mind the observations and remarks of the former events.

At each venue, ROP provided security, traffic, civil defence, helicopters, and ambulance services, and deployed personnel to patrol the area, and a temporary police station was established to deal with security cases, as well as cases of lost property, and lost children. It approved the allocation and installation of stalls, and watched the exhibitors’ properties, and checked their adherence to safety requirements.

Other services ROP provided for the festival included emigration, customs and awareness. The Directorate General of Passports and Residence issued visas for participants and visitors coming from abroad.

At the seaside functions, ROP provided security, civil defence, patrolling, rescuing and ambulance services to respond to emergencies. The Directorate General of Customs formed a special team for the prompt clearance of goods and cargos imported for the festival.
ROP disseminated information about its various activities through the mass media. It also participated with exhibitions of traffic, civil defence, Ambulance Division, and drugs. The traffic exhibition was outstanding in highlighting the implications of road accidents in a bid to warn the public against speeding and reckless driving.