Oman to get water taxi service

Muscat: The Sultanate of Oman will get water taxi services with a new decision issued to regulate water taxi services on Sunday. The rules require the provision of safety and rescue equipment and special jackets for children, in addition to a number of other requirements and fines of up to OMR 1,000 in case of violation.

The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology issued a ministerial decision No. 33/2022 issuing a regulation regulating marine fare units (water taxis)

The decision said: "An administrative fine of OMR 1,000 shall be imposed on the operator for each violation of the provisions of Articles No. (2) and (8) of these regulations. The fine shall be doubled in the event of repeated violations during the validity period of the navigation license."

The Maritime Authority may suspend the navigational license for a period of (30) days in the event of repeating the commission of any of the violations stipulated in these regulations during the validity period of the navigational license. It may also cancel the navigation license permanently, in the event of a repetition of any of the stipulated violations.

The text of Article (8) states that the operator must abide by the following:

1: Providing a technically qualified crew licensed by the Maritime Authority.
2: Follow up on weather forecasts and warnings issued by the competent authorities, and stop work in dangerous weather conditions.
3: Follow up and implement the instructions issued by the maritime authority.
4: Providing the best available technologies to provide the service to the beneficiaries
5: Using an effective communication system with its marine fare units (water taxis).
6: Preparing the mooring sites of the marine units affiliated with him or that work under his management to ensure the safety of their users and ease of access to them.

The technical requirements for marine fare units included a number of requirements, including navigation and communication equipment, safety and rescue equipment, and fire detection and extinguishing equipment.