Dubai: The municipality is cracking down on residents who fail to register for a permit for tents camped out in the desert for long periods during the cooler months, and have removed 107 tents since the end of November.
The licensing rule was implemented more than one month ago in a bid to protect the desert environment.
“There are 560 recreational camps in the designated camping sites and about 400 of them have already been registered and granted a licence to be set up until the end of April 2013,” said Jaber Al Ali, head of the building inspection department at Dubai Municipality.
The designated winter camping sites are only in Wadi Al Amerdi, Wadi Al Shabak, Al Warqa, and Al Khawaneej 2.
Al Ali pointed out that it is common for Emirati families to set up recreational tents for months at a time, and as part of the awareness campaign, the municipality has set up signboards explaining the rules.
“The signboards also explain how campers should keep the area clean and not make camp fires, and we hand out rubbish bags on a regular basis to camp owners,” he said.
According to the new regulations, only Emiratis can apply for the permits, and camp owners are required to pay a Dh2,000 deposit and a fee of 22 fils a week for each square metre of campsite. The maximum size of a camp size is limited to 300 square metres, and once the camp is registered, a wooden plaque is placed outside it.
There is no need to apply for a permit for overnight stays.
Yousuf Marzouki, acting director of the buildings department at Dubai Municipality, explained that campers were initially given a three-week grace period and since then, an inspection team comprised of supervisors from the building department and health control are carrying out periodic inspections, in coordination with Dubai Police.
Inspectors are looking out for violations that are related to security, environmental and construction requirements.
