Dubai FNC member wants limits on boat ownership

Blue-collar expatriates should be prohibited from boat ownership, said Hamad Al Rahhoomi.

ABU DHABI // Blue-collar expatriates should not be allowed to buy boats in the country, an FNC member said on Tuesday.

Hamad Al Rahoomi (Dubai) criticised easy boat-licensing requirements in the country and called on Dr Abdullah Al Nuaimi, Minister of Public Works and chairman of the National Transport Authority to ban low income workers from buying boats.

He said that the Ministry of Labour does not allow those who earn less than Dh3,000 a month to sponsor their partners, so how could someone earning so little buy a boat?

He said it was reasonable for a manager to buy a boat for half a million dirhams, but not for a worker to spend Dh20,000 on a boat.

The member alleged that many workers who buy boats compete with Emirati fishermen and rent out their boats for tourist rides.

“If an accident happens tomorrow and we lose tourists, then we are [in trouble],” he said.

He said boat owners should have a reasonable income and fulfil a number of requirements, including knowing how to swim. He added that boat owners who fish should be limited in the quantity of their catch.

Mr Al Rahoomi called on the minister to send the law governing licensing of boats back to the FNC for amendment, adding that the matter was particularly sensitive as smuggling could also be involved.

“After boat owners leave the mina, the sea is open to them,” he warned the minister.

Dr Al Nuaimi, however, said he believed the law was comprehensive. He said such requirements could be introduced to the bylaws: the rules on how to execute the law. He asked the member to offer suggestions.

“No doubt law amendments would take a long time, lets work on the” bylaws, he said. “We in the government are working on these points gradually.”