A man rides a jet ski in Marsa Matruh, 500 km north of Cairo, Egypt, 25 August 2020. EPA
A man rides a jet ski in Marsa Matruh, 500 km north of Cairo, Egypt, 25 August 2020. EPA
A man rides a jet ski in Marsa Matruh, 500 km north of Cairo, Egypt, 25 August 2020. EPA
A man rides a jet ski in Marsa Matruh, 500 km north of Cairo, Egypt, 25 August 2020. EPA

Egypt’s Red Sea region to enforce long ignored ban on 'dangerous' jet skis


Kamal Tabikha
  • English
  • Arabic

Egypt’s Red Sea province, home to some of the country’s most popular beaches, announced on Monday that it would start implementing a ban on jet skis.

Red Sea province governor Amr Hanafy said the decision to ban jet skis was first announced in 1992, but people at the time did not take it seriously and continued using them. The ban was reintroduced in 2010, but it was still not upheld.

Mr Hanafy said the decision will now be strictly implemented due mostly to safety concerns on account of the often serious and gruesome accidents involving jet skis.

On July 26, a man died at a resort on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast when a jet ski collided with an inflatable boat he was in with his family. The man’s wife, son and daughter were seriously injured and taken to hospital for treatment. They are now in the ICU, according to a Facebook post from his daughter.

The jet ski that caused the accident was being driven by an unsupervised 15-year-old girl, who has since been arrested.

Speaking to Min Masr, a popular talk show in Egypt, Mr Hanafy said that his province, on the shores of the Red Sea, has noticed an increase in the private use of jet skis.

He said he will not wait for an incident similar to the one on the north coast before the ban is implemented in the Red Sea area, emphasising that anyone who is seen with a jet ski will have it confiscated immediately.

Mr Hanafi added that all jet skis in the Red Sea area were privately owned as there are no rental shops anymore following the 2010 ban. He added that the province has stopped issuing jet ski licences and those who take them into the water do so illegally.

He urged people to seek different forms of entertainment when they visit the country’s beaches.

Hassan Ahmed, who works for Sea Waves watersport centre in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada, told The National that all the shops in the area stopped renting jet skis to tourists in 2010 after concerns from officials about damage to local nature reserves and the fragile ecosystem.

"It's not just Hurghada, it's Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Marsa Allam. You won't find any jet ski rides on offer anywhere in the Red Sea," Mr Ahmed said.

The Zego 300-speed boat. Photo: Zego Sports Boat
The Zego 300-speed boat. Photo: Zego Sports Boat

"The ban caused a stir when it happened. We were told at the time that the border guards were concerned about the use of such a high-speed vehicle in the Red Sea. We were also told that because jet skis have internal motors that work under the boat, they were killing the reefs and the fish. So we stopped offering rides."

However, he said because there was still a lot of interest from tourists for jet ski rides local dive centres started offering "zego boat" rides, which he said was a safer alternative.

"Zegos are small and safe. They are sort of like a mini-speed boat. They're popular with families and children ... Also their motor is external so they are not damaging to the reefs and the marine life and the fastest one has a maximum speed of 40 kilometres per hour," he said.

"The slowest jet ski, by comparison, has a maximum speed of 60, but most can reach speeds of 120. This is why they are unsafe and somewhat difficult to control if you don't know what you're doing."

The%20specs
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Muguruza's singles career in stats

WTA titles 3

Prize money US$11,128,219 (Dh40,873,133.82)

Wins / losses 293 / 149

57%20Seconds
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rusty%20Cundieff%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJosh%20Hutcherson%2C%20Morgan%20Freeman%2C%20Greg%20Germann%2C%20Lovie%20Simone%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2%2F5%0D%3Cbr%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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The specs

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Power: Combined output 920hp

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Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic

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How to become a Boglehead

Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.

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•   Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.

•   Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.

•   Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scoreline:

Liverpool 5

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Huddersfield 0

The story in numbers

18

This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens

450,000

More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps

1.5 million

There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m

73

The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association

18,000

The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme

77,400

The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study

4,926

This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

Updated: August 02, 2022, 1:00 PM`