Making camps over high pressure gas lines puts campers’ lives at risk
Desert camp sites at risk in Bahrain are relocated
MANAMA, January 2, 2015
Dozens of desert camp sites in the Sakhir, Bahrain camping grounds have been relocated by officials over health and safety fears.
More than 70 camp sites have been moved so far this season, after tents were pitched too close to high pressure pipelines, oil wells and hazardous gas zones, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
The GDN previously reported that the minimum safe distance from high pressure gas lines, which have the potential to blow a truck 10 metres into the air, was 50 metres whereas there is a 200-metre exclusion zone around oil wells.
Camping Service Centre head Mohammad Ebrahim Sisi told the GDN that 1,087 camp sites had been registered so far, with space left for an additional 700 to 800 sites.
"We have moved 74 camp sites to date that have been in violation of the assigned camp grounds," he said.
"Those people near oil wells and high pressure pipes have been relocated.
"We are intensifying inspections and will certainly move if necessary - but overall this year there have been far less violations compared to last year."
A rush of 400 new registrations for camp sites is expected to occur over the coming weeks, Sisi said.
"Towards the end of January we usually see the largest rush of campers coming in," he asserted.
"Around 400 new registrations are expected to come in three weeks' time, so we are preparing for that.
"We expect that the number of sound violations will increase when that happens, but this year we have inspections three times a day so that no one will have their sleep disturbed by loud music."
Sisi added that there were a number of campers violating traffic laws with quad bikes and explained that the Camping Service Committee was discussing the implementation of new regulations regarding these vehicles.
"These type of bikes are meant to be driven off road and although we are working closely with the traffic directorate, it is a recurring problem," he said.
"They are also ridden around at nights and are poorly lit, making them a hazard to other drivers as no one can see them clearly during nights.
"The committee is now working on a proposal to only allow registered quads on the camping grounds.
"The move will ensure that the riders would carry high visibility identification tags on their bikes so that people could easily report violators - those without such tags would be stopped immediately by the traffic police.
"This idea is still on cards, however, and it will probably be implemented during the next camping season," he added.
The kingdom's camping season runs annually from November to March. - TradeArabia News Service