(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: As many as 1,000 mooring fields will be built at the harbours of Al Wakrah, Al Khor, Al Zakhira and Al Ruwais to accommodate private boats.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications yesterday announced that it had started implementing a project to build private boats mooring fields at all harbors across the country.
Work has begun at all harbours simultaneously and the project is planned to be completed within 18 months, said a statement.
The Ministry has assigned the project to the Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar), which will carry it out in collaboration with private sector companies.
The project comes within the Ministry's strategy for planning and developing the marine transport sector. The goal is provide some 1,000 moorings in accordance with latest global standards and systems at the harbors of Al Wakra, Al Khor, Al Zakhira and Al Ruwais, through direct coordination with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment's Fisheries Department, which is concerned with harbour affairs.
'The project is one great, right solution providing moorings for private boaters, particularly following a considerable rise in the number of private boats registered lately by the Ministry, said Dr Saleh Fetais Al Marri, Director Maritime Transport Planning and Licensing and General Supervisor of Maritime Transport Affairs at MoTC.
He said the project aims to regulate private boats mooring operations within modern anchoring spaces constructed with world-class standards and specifications to fulfill private boaters' needs and expectations.
It also aims to keep the boats safe from dangerous weather events such as storms and high waves, provide smoother private boats movement and preserve people's belongings. It also supports the private sector in a way that helps boost Qatar's economic development, Al Marri added.
Dr Al Marri said the project's most important feature is the optimized use of the potential of Qatar's harbors and establishments, aiming to reduce cost, observe environmental and sustainability standards and codes and apply the world's best practices in terms of project designing and execution.
He said there are 436 mooring slips at Al Wakra Harbor, 324 at Al Ruwais Harbor, 200 at Al Khor Harbor and 28 at Al Zakhira Harbor. Planning of these mooring slips has taken into consideration all sizes of boats, which means each mooring slip can accommodate more than one boat and part of the project is to increase the number of moorings in the future.
Marine Fishing Harbors Section Head at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment Hamad Murshid Al Muraikhi said the project contributes to serving many private boat owners and reduce burden on the fishing harbours.
Upon project completion, the current fishing harbours will be cleared from private boats, mooring fields be reorganized and redistributed and new services be provided and this would help fulfil fishermen's desire that fishing harbours should not be exclusive to only ships and boats that have a license from the Ministry of Municipality and Environment's Fisheries Department.
Environment standards and codes have been observed in the project, aiming to preserve the environment and marine living resources, Al Muraikhi said stressed that allocating mooring fields for private boaters will not be at the same harbors where fishermen's ships and boats operate, but adjacent to them.
Eng. Nabil Alkhaldi, Engineering Director at Mwani Qatar said the mooring fields project stands as one of the major public-private partnerships in Qatar as the private sector plays a key role in its implementation based on the considerable attention the country places to enhancing and bolstering private sector's role and contribution to developmental projects countrywide. The project implementation plan has been endorsed by the bodies concerned and the plan is to complete and deliver the project in roughly a year and a half, he said.
'Al Zakhira Harbor's mooring fields are to be completed and delivered in 10 months, Al Khor Harbor's mooring fields in 14 months and Al Wakra and Al Ruwais mooring fields in 18 months, he added.
Project works include constructing mooring slips at a length of 22 meters for boats and at a length of 10 metres for cruisers, as well as groynes for which we use sustainable, eco-friendly materials, Alkhaldi noted.
Implementing an eco-friendly project had been in the centre of attention of all stakeholders and parties involved in the project, using eco-friendly materials and techniques that help preserve the environment and living marine resources, Alkhaldi said.
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