NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
Minimum standards for labour camps
ABU DHABI - JUNE 09: Labour camps will have to meet new minimum requirements, including restrictions on the number of workers per room, under new regulations passed yesterday.
As of September, municipalities will deny permits to new camps that fail to comply with the Manual of the General Criteria for the Workers’ Accommodation, according to a Cabinet decision announced yesterday.
Companies with existing camps will have five years to upgrade existing accommodation to the new standards.
The manual, produced by the Ministry of Labour, sets out guidelines covering everything from health and safety and building materials to air-conditioning, personal space and bathroom facilities.
Each camp must have a medical clinic “with full services” and with medical practitioners available 24 hours a day, including on religious and national holidays. No more than 10 workers can live in a room.
The decision shows the government’s commitment to “stamp out negative practices” that damage public interests and “derail the government plans to enhance human rights in general and workers’ rights in particular”, said Humaid bin Deemas, the director of the ministry.
“This is not the first initiative of the government, and certainly will not be the last.”
Mr Deemas said the ministry would try to ensure that companies did not take advantage of the five-year grace period, which he said had been granted “taking into account the requirements and challenges of the labour market and the current environment”.
“The ministry will make sure that the grace period and the gradual implementation will not be at the expense of workers and their rights,” he said.
Labour conditions have come under scrutiny in recent years and the country has faced pressure to raise standards following criticism by foreign media and human rights organisations. A BBC documentary in March claimed that workers on some construction projects in Dubai were working in “inhumane conditions”.
The new guidelines supersede a similar set of minimum standards announced by Dubai Municipality in July 2007 that gave companies three years to improve conditions.
Municipal inspectors had already been carrying out random checks and fining those not complying with their standards but the new national regulations give companies five years to comply.
The Dubai Municipality said it would be happy to enforce the new regulations, which it said are little changed from its own.
“The federal authority has issued the rule and the local authority will be happy to ensure it is implemented,” said Salem bin Mesmar, the city’s assistant director general for health, safety and environment control.
“Many camps already have these standards. However, there are some others who are still to comply.”
Whereas Dubai said each workers must have 40 square feet (3.7 square metres) in personal space, the new guidelines reduce that to three metres.
According to the new rules, a bathroom with two toilets must be provided for every eight people.
A shower area and laundry area should also be provided for every eight people.
A kitchen “conforming to recognised public health standards” should be in every camp. All buildings must be brick or concrete and be at a “safe distance” from pollution and noise.
Buildings should occupy a maximum of 65 per cent of the complex leaving the rest for parking, recreation, walkways and green space.
A shop and TV room should be on site.
Dubai buses may be privatised
DUBAI - JUNE 09: Transport chiefs are considering privatising Dubai’s public bus system.
Mohammed al Hashimi, the director of the planning and business development department at the Roads and Transport Authority’s (RTA) public transport agency, said privatising the bus network was under review.
Mr al Hashimi said the RTA wanted to get the public transport system correct before any decisions were made. The main objective of the RTA according to Mr al Hashimi was first to provide a service for the city.
“We have to set our targets and objectives and [know] what we exactly need from this. If it [privatising] is serving the future of Dubai and its needs we will go for it, and if not we should be careful of it,” he said.
The RTA estimate its fleet of 1,800 buses will make 4.5 million trips along 140 routes carrying 109.5 million passengers this year.
By the end of 2010, there will be 2,100 buses in service across the city, said Mr al Hashimi. They will carry more than 120 million passengers in that year.
He said the RTA had conducted a study on the number of buses required for the city and used European cities as a benchmark.
“We also had our own model [study] and we don’t need additional buses. By 2020, the population will be around 3.5 million people, and 2,100 buses is a good number to serve this.”
The RTA has previously opted to allow private firms to run transport services.
There are five private taxi operators in Dubai that are regulated by the RTA.
The air conditioned bus shelters are run in a public-private partnership. The RTA owns the land but the shelters are being built and operated by private companies.
Dubai tests bus routes to Metro stations
DUBAI - JUNE 09: With three months to go before the launch of the Metro, transport officials are testing feeder bus routes designed to make it easier for residents to use the new rail system.
On September 9, the first phase of the Metro, the Red Line, will open for business, carrying passengers the length of Sheikh Zayed Road from Rashidiya to Jebel Ali.
To serve it, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) aims to put an extra 778 buses on the roads.
Mohammed al Hashimi, the director of planning and business development at the RTA’s Public Transport Agency, said yesterday that the feeder routes, whose numbers would be prefixed with F, were being introduced in stages. “We have already launched three routes serving Ibn Battuta Mall. The F43, F46 and F53 are covering Discovery Gardens, the Green Community, Dubai Lagoons and Dubai Industrial City.”
The launch of the 52km Red Line of the Dh15.5 billion (US$4.2bn) driverless Metro project will be followed next March by that of the 22km Green Line.
The 41 Red Line feeder routes will include 10 modified existing ones, with buses running on average every 10 minutes.
The city currently has 1,300 buses; by the end of this year the RTA plans to have 1,800, rising to 2,100 in another year.
“We will start our feeder services by mid-June to capture demand and make them familiar for people to get used to the feeder service,” said Mr al Hashimi. The feeder buses will be the same colour and type as those already running on the 80 existing routes.
During the trial phase, the buses will carry passengers to stops near the Metro stations, such as Ibn Battuta Mall. Each station will be served by an average of three to four routes.
The RTA is also trying to get all its buses prepared for the Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) system, which Mr al Hashimi said was slightly behind schedule.
The first new buses are expected to be delivered by the end of July and they will have to be reconfigured to use AFC.
The AFC system will enable people with a prepaid card to travel by Metro, bus and the abra water taxis.
“We are operating 35 routes by AFC and our target is to have by the end of July all our urban routes using AFC.” He said the RTA was adding 15 to 20 routes a month to the AFC system, leaving a possible surplus of 15 by the deadline.
“For July, we have to push more by the last month. This is our plan but we are a little bit delayed, because of some problems with the installations of the equipment, but by the end of July we have to have the AFC.”
Plans were also in place to provide a bus stop at Jebel Ali station for coaches serving Abu Dhabi.
“In the future we will connect Jebel Ali Metro stations for the buses to go to Abu Dhabi. That is not now but maybe by the middle of 2010,” Mr al Hashimi added.
Another challenge was to attract 30 per cent of the city’s population on to public transport.
“There will be 1,500 additional bus shelters to facilitate the feeder services to attract people to use the buses.
“The maximum walking distance will not exceed 500 metres.”