Nga urges housing action At Muscat's Habitat Day

Oct 5

Introduced as UN-Habitat Assembly president, Nga Kor Ming joins the Muscat World Habitat Day observance remotely from Malaysia. Heard through Arabic interpretation, he calls adequate housing a basic right and foundation for development, describes deprivation, informal settlements, missing water and sanitation and health risks, and urges governments to prioritize housing, cooperate with the private sector and plan inclusive, sustainable communities. He closes by calling for joint effort so people everywhere can obtain adequate housing. The imperfectly rendered statistics are not replaced with figures from his published text.

On October 5, 2026, Muscat's Urban October and World Habitat Day opening took place under the Adequate Housing for All theme and State Council chairman Abdulmalik Abdullah Al Khalili's patronage. The ceremony broadcast presents neighbourhood-planning films and performances, host Abdullah Al-Ghafri's welcome and UN housing presentations; Al-Ghafri describes a four-day exhibition. Oman TV's complete on-scene package reports 20 partnership, development and tender agreements worth over OMR1 billion and describes exhibition and conference activity. Nasser Al Siyabi reports eight neighbourhood agreements worth OMR186 million, about 1,850 housing units and roughly 600 plots. These are source descriptions of commitments and projected development, not completed housing. The opening is distinct from the September 29 preparatory announcement; its particular housing-policy statements, Scroll of Honour presentation and project decisions are indexed separately.