HUNDREDS of Bahraini families waiting for government homes in a stalled housing project for over a decade will finally move in by the year’s end.
The project in Buhair Valley has witnessed a number of delays over the years because of difficulties cleaning up the site, which had been used as a major illegal dumping ground.
However, Housing Minister Bassem Al Hamer yesterday revealed that 277 homes as part of the project’s first phase, costing BD9.6 million, have been completed, while infrastructure work is 40pc finished.
He said the Bahraini families will be able to move in during the National Day celebrations in December.
Plans for the social housing project were first announced in 2001, but the project has been marred by a series of planning problems and construction crises.
A detailed proposal for 1,800 homes was then unveiled in Parliament in 2008, but work on the project ground to a halt in May 2013 after decades of accumulated waste went up in flames as it was being removed.
The decomposing garbage had created a reservoir of methane gas, which ignited once disturbed.
“We are speeding up work on the project to distribute the homes among families of Buhair and surrounding areas by December,” said Mr Al Hamer yesterday.
“The first phase of the project will consist of 277 homes and they are already built at a cost of BD8.8m, with 40pc of the infrastructure work carried out at a cost of BD1.8m, finished.
“The area will also see new worship places, commercial outlets and mini public parks besides pedestrian and walkway lanes which are part of plans for all new housing projects.
“This is one of the toughest projects that we had to deal with and we worked with relevant authorities to rehabilitate the place and clean it of all waste and garbage that were buried deep into the ground.”
When the methane gas was released and the site went up in flames in 2013, senior environment officials were called in to investigate.
A moratorium on further excavation work was also issued, and although work on the homes had been completed in the project’s first phase, further infrastructure work came to a halt.
Area MP Ahmed Al Ansari, meanwhile, told the GDN he was relieved that the decade-long wait for the first phase of project is nearly over.
He added that the second phase is awaiting an allocated budget of BD20m to be approved before work can go ahead.
“This was the first project to be announced in Bahrain as an inland housing initiative in 2001,” he said.
“Fast forward to today and the country has several towns and housing projects built but Buhair’s housing town was on hold – not anymore.
“The second phase earmarked for the remaining 423 homes is cordoned off and awaits a BD20m budget that will have to be included in the 2021-2022 national budget.”
Area councillor Abdulla Abdullatif also confirmed that the deeds to the homes will be distributed in October among eligible families on the waiting list for social housing.
“If someone asked me less than a month ago if I believed this project will see the light of day, my answer would have been a clear no, but the impossible has happened and work has been stepped up,” he said.
“I have been informed that the families will be called for the deeds in October, two months before the actual key distribution ceremony.”
The housing project was initially billed as being able to accommodate 1,800 families, but that number shrunk dramatically over time.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
&uuid=(email))