DOHA: The basics of civil defence are soon to be taught in schools at all levels to spread the culture of fire safety in the country. And private companies might be allowed to set up Civil Defence training centres — an area which so far remains a government monopoly.
Also, an apex committee called the Supreme Committee for Civil Defence is to be set up that would frame general policies about fire fighting and civil defence and prepare a national disaster management plan. The planned move to allow private firms to open civil defence training centres is, arguably, part of the state’s assurances to open up most sectors under its control for private participation.
The State Cabinet yesterday approved a draft decision of the Ministry of Interior that talks of permitting 100 percent Qatari-owned businesses to own and run civil defence training centres.
“All owners of such companies must be Qatari nationals,” Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported yesterday.
The licence for a training centre for fire-fighting or civil defence is to be provided for a three-year term and renewable, with the draft decision making stipulations about how the training centres are to be monitored.
The Cabinet also approved a draft law on civil defence that seeks to make it compulsory for all engineering and building designs, whether residential, commercial, industrial or any other, to be approved by the Civil Defence Directorate of the interior ministry.
According to the draft law, which is being forwarded to the Advisory Council for review, no shop, office or industry or any other installation would be provided the licence to operate unless it has adequate fire safety system which is duly approved by the Civil Defence Directorate.
The owners of such facilities will be required to carry out regular maintenance of fire safety systems as stipulated in the law.
The Cabinet approved another draft decision of the interior ministry which carries with it a list of civil defence equipment and materials whose import will be banned and they could not be sold in the local market without approval from the Directorate.
The draft law, meanwhile, seeks to ask the authorities concerned to closely coordinate with the education sector regulators and make it mandatory for the basics of fire fighting and civil defence to be taught in schools at all levels.
The basics are also to be taught at the military training centres as well as religious schools, QNA adds.
The Peninsula
