Media ININ Economy We Trust
Media in Abu Dhabi 08-05-2019 / WAM /
The Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi organized a meeting of strategic partners in the maritime transport sector in 2019 in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Diab bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
The meeting was attended by HE Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and HE Falah Al Ahbabi, Head of Urban Planning and Municipalities in Abu Dhabi, HE Saif Mohammed Al Hajri, Head of Economic Development Department, Abu Dhabi Maj. Gen. Fares Al-Mazrouei, Commander-in-Chief of Abu Dhabi Police and a number of officials.
Captain Seif Rashed Al Muhairi, Acting Director of the Maritime Transport Sector in the Department of Transport, gave a detailed presentation on the reality of the local maritime transport sector, highlighting some of the data and statistics showing that the contribution of ports to the GDP of Abu Dhabi is 24 billion dirhams.
The Emirate of Abu Dhabi owns 215 islands and 37 marine channels. The emirate attracted about 360,000 tourists by sea during the year. The number of pleasure boats registered in the Passing / 9045 / boat, along / 3500 / water bike.
He stressed that the forum is part of the efforts to build successful and sustainable partnerships that reflect the vision of wise leadership and contribute to local development, achieve added value to the private sector and improve the quality of services provided in the maritime transport sector.
The tasks assigned to this sector include the legislation, regulation, supervision and preparation of a comprehensive strategy for all marine activities and affairs in the Emirate’s waters, maritime means, navigational aids, ports, waterways, facilities, berths.
The Maritime Transport Sector aims at establishing safe and orderly water corridors and infrastructure, improving the logistic performance of the Emirate, developing public water transport, and developing Abu Dhabi to become a global maritime tourism destination.
In his speech, Al-Muhairi discussed the reality of the local maritime transport sector and the strategic plan for developing this sector in cooperation with the strategic partners.
It also tackled the most important developments, achievements, opportunities and challenges, reinforcing the efforts to establish an advanced infrastructure and an integrated and sustainable maritime industry based on a clear and transparent legislative base, following the highest standards of environment and safety, providing safe transport and maritime services to customers and enhancing trade and tourism navigation to support the economy. And the overall development witnessed by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
He pointed out that the maritime transport sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has witnessed a remarkable development in recent years in the infrastructure, legislative, regulatory, and this forum is only an opportunity to continue the process of development and modernization in cooperation with the strategic partners involved and in partnership with the private sector.
He pointed out that the maritime transport sector in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi holds promising opportunities in light of the developments in various fields such as development, regulation, logistics, technical and investment, which is an important source of economic diversification and sustainable development in the emirate.
He stressed the importance of the strategic relationship between the department and the strategic partners and the joint cooperation to achieve the objectives of the development plan for the maritime transport sector. He pointed out that the department held 76 coordination meetings with government and private entities during March and April, and discussed with the representatives of the partners in the legislation and policies that support the development of working mechanisms to contribute to the achievement of common objectives.
The Executive Director of the Maritime Transport Sector informed the attendees of a number of initiatives that the sector will implement during the coming period in cooperation with the strategic partners, which will provide a lot of opportunities for the private sector, including improving and updating the marine accidents inventory mechanism, identifying causes and solutions, and the preparation of a plan for the preparation of waterways in the internal waters of the Emirate, the removal of abandoned and neglected marine means, the updating of navigational maps of the emirate’s water, the organization of berths in Mussaffah, the development of the Dhafra area as a logistics center, as well as the development of innovative intelligent solutions to improve the logistics chain, develop coastal shipping, license shipping lines for public transport, develop marine stations in different areas, and encourage the private sector to invest in General shipping.
The new initiatives also included the intention of the maritime transport sector to renew the terms of the Dalma Island in modern and fast terms, to connect the tourist islands with a sea transport network, to establish international yachts, to develop the Dalma Island as a local and international yacht center and to promote marine environmental tourism and the preparation of a list of waterways and infrastructure decisions, which will provide 75 new services to customers, in addition to raising the rates of localization of jobs in the maritime transport sector, and update the maritime sector plan for crises and emergencies and business continuity with the establishment of database d The maritime sector.
The forum witnessed a panel discussion on a number of topics related to legislation and development policies in the maritime transport sector and the challenges facing Al Qata
