Dubai Municipality sets conditions for erecting Ramadan tents

Dubai: Dubai Municipality's Planning Department has set conditions for erecting Ramadan tents, which must be licensed by the municipality after ensuring their safety.

All establishments and people wishing to erect Ramadan tents must submit an application to the municipality, which coordinates with civil defence departments to inspect safety conditions and precautionary measures before approval.

Failure to get the municipality and civil defence approval is a violation of the law and owners who do so will be subject to prosecution in case of any accident or fire.

Engineer Dawood Al Hajeri, Director of the Planning Department, said Civil Defence approval followed by a temporary Ramadan permit from the department are required, and owners must clean the location of their tents and not leave anything behind by the end of the permit period.

They should also observe safety conditions to protect lives and property from fires, he said, noting that tents have different conditions depending on their sizes, type, material used and purpose.

All tents should have flexibility in their space, width and height, and must be safe for visitors.

Air-conditioners must be at least 1.5 meters away from the tent, and cooled air should be pumped through a hose into the tent. Light bulbs must be at least 40cm away from the tent's fabric, and no smoking of any kind is allowed inside closed tents.

Electrical cords must be contained in plastic hoses, an automatic electrical circuit breaker must be installed and electrical loads must be monitored.

Each air-conditioning machine must be provided with its own electrical circuit breaker.

The tent's interior decorations, especially fabrics, must be sprayed with a flame resistant liquid, and a distance of 4 meters must be kept between one tent and the other, and between tents and any other building.

The number and width of regular and emergency exits must be in line with precaution and safety requirements, and a sufficient number of fire extinguishers in appropriate sizes must be provided, along with buckets of sand inside the tent.

As for restaurant and event tents, the allocation of tables and seats must allow visitors to exit quickly in case of an emergency.

Emergency exits must be marked clearly in Arabic and English in a fluorescent colour that can be seen in the dark.

The tent fabric and material must be fire-proof and flame resistant, while tent structures should be solid and must not collapse due to heat or extreme wind.

Each tent should also have an employee provided by the tent-erection company who is well trained on emergency procedures and has a means of direct contact with Civil Defence. They should have knowledge on how to operate fire extinguishers and water hoses, as well as evacuation procedures.