DOHA: The Qatar Ports Management Company (Mawani Qatar) has developed regular detection and maintenance plans for navigation aids to ensure they meet international standards and specifications.
Following directives of the Minister of Transport H E Jassem bin Saif bin Ahmad Al Sulaiti, the Marine Authority at the ministry has entrusted the firm with the management and operation of aids. The company conducted a survey and presented a comprehensive report on all aids, such as lighthouses, buoys, guiding lights and tools that help ship captains use the right channels and avoid dangerous and non-navigable areas.
The report included aids related to Doha Port, Coastguard Port in Umm Bab, Al Wakra Port, Shrao Island, Al Dhakhira Port, Al Ruwais, Al Khor and others to identify their condition, develop a maintenance action plan, repair the damaged ones, remove the drowned ones and navigation obstacles that pose a threat to lives and property and prepare a study to develop the marine aid system.
The survey found that most of 192 aids in ports are in good condition. Doha Port has the highest number (59) of such aids, followed by Al Ruwais (32), Al Khor (30) and Dakhira (15). All 16 aids in Al Wakra Port are under maintenance.
The company has carried out maintenance work on all aids of Doha Port Channel and Umm Bab Port. Lighting lamps and batteries were increased and solar panels cleaned. A new complete navigation lighthouse was manufactured and prepared for installation to replace the old, decaying one in Shrao Island.
Decaying lighthouses were removed and maintenance works for remaining buoys in Al Ruwais Port were postponed temporarily. A green navigation buoy was installed at the entrance of the channel. Site coordinates were made for all aids at the entrance of the port and the marine channel.
A navigation buoy (danger marker) was installed in Al Dhakhira while the damaged navigation lighthouses were checked.
In Al Wakra Port, the lights of navigation lighthouses were replaced by new ones while some parts of other navigation lights were replaced and solar panels cleaned, checked and washed. The firm has assigned a hotline round- the-clock through the watchtower in Doha Port. It prepared and equipped a control and emergency room operating 24-hour.
Ther Peninsula
