Dubai will ban shisha in residential areas

People in Dubai’s residential areas will soon be able to breathe better away from the harmful smoke of shisha when authorities issue new rules forcing cafes either to stop this service or move out, press reports said on Tuesday.

The Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) said it was working on such rules in collaboration with the Municipality to ensure no shisha will be served in residential areas or in places near schools and mosques.

“The new rules will be issued new month before they are enforced in the following months…we are taking these measures after we received many complaints from people in residential areas,” said Mohammed Al Saadi, director of the trade registration section at DED.

“We have conducted a study showing the harmful effects of shisha cafes on residents…it showed there is a need to restructure licences for those cafes in residential areas and near mosques and schools…we will of course take into consideration the interests of investors and owners of those cafes but they have to abide by new rules relating to the environment and public health,” he told the Dubai-based Arabic language daily 'Emarat Al Youm'.

He said the new rules stipulate that cafes serving shisha would not be given licence or have their existing licence renewed if they are located in those places, adding all of them would be given enough time to adapt to the new situation.

“After those rules are issued, any café or restaurant seeking to serve shisha must get prior approval from DED and the Municipality…we will send letters to all those places soon asking them to adapt to the new situation.”