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Most of the lighthouses and other navigation equipment at the ports and in waters around the country, are in good condition and the authorities are carrying out supervision at regular intervals, to ensure the safety and security of ships and other vessels entering the country’s waters, said a senior official of the Qatar Ports Management Company (Mawani Qatar). |
Informing this yesterday, CEO of Mawani Qatar Captain Abdulla al-Khanji said their company has been entrusted with the responsibility and management of all navigation aids and other equipment and that they are carrying out regular maintenance and repairing of every equipment on schedule as part of their responsibility and commitment to ensure navigation safety, including protecting the lives of people and property in the territorial waters.
“In line with the instructions of Minister of Transport HE Jassim Seif bin Ahmed al-Sulaiti, the ministry’s Marine Authority has entrusted Mawani Qatar with the management and operation of navigation aids and we are responsible both for their management and operations,” said the Mawani Qatar official.
While reiterating that their company is not sparing any effort to protect lives and property in the waters, al-Khanji said they carried out extensive survey of the territorial waters and prepared a comprehensive report covering all navigation aids, including lighthouses, buoys, guiding lights and tools to facilitate faultless movement of ships and to help them avoid dangerous and non-navigable areas.
The Mawani Qatar survey, he said, covered the navigation aids and other equipment at ports in Doha, Wakrah, Al Dhakira, Ruweis and Al Khor, coastguard port in Umm Bab, Shrao Island and other places.
“We identified and analysed the conditions of every navigation equipment and developed a maintenance action plan, repaired the damaged equipment, removed those which were invisible in the sea and did away with other obstacles that posed threat to lives and property.”
The official said their company carried out the repairing and maintenance of the equipment in the ship channel to Doha Port and Umm Bab coastguard port. In the process, new lighting lamps and batteries were installed and solar panels cleaned. New lighthouses will soon replace the existing facilities at Shrao Island.and Al Ruweis Port. Other maintenance works at the northernmost port are underway and a new green navigation buoy was recently installed at the entrance of the channel.
A new navigation buoy was recently installed in Al Dhakira and the damaged lighthouses were also repaired. Similar repairing and maintenance works were carried out at Wakrah port as well, said al-Khanji.
He also informed that sea divers were deployed to search for the navigation lighthouses lost in the seabed. A new hotline is now operating round the clock at Doha Port’s watchtower. Similarly a 24-hour control and emergency room is also in place.Captain al-Khanji said their company in collaboration with international organisations has updated the existing mandatory equipment at the ports to meet the requirements stipulated by the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA).
Replying to a query, al-Khanji said discussions are at the highest level to put in place new laws to monitor and regulate the use of hi-tech water scooters in the sea.
Director of Marine Transport at Ministry of Business and Trade (MBT) Nasser Misad Saed Qadar also spoke.