CHARITABLE societies have appealed for more donations to help needy families struggling to replace their worn-out air-conditioners, amidst soaring temperatures in summer.
While several societies have started donating the gadgets, they admit that they would not be able to meet the demand unless more funds are set aside.
Maqabah Charitable Society board president Ali Alzaki claimed that hundreds of underprivileged families were being forced to use electric stand fans and hand fans and some of them were even sleeping outdoors.
“We have so many applications that we are giving only one air-conditioner to each family,” Mr Alzaki told the GDN.
“We ask them to place it in the living room so that all members of the family can benefit from it, we cannot afford to give more. We just have BD3,000 allocated for this scheme.”
Air-conditioners cost between BD120 and BD250, depending on whether they are window or split ACs.
“We spend around BD12,000 to buy air-conditioners annually to cover the needs of 50 families with an average of two units each,” said A’ali Social and Charity Society living committee head Salman Al A’ali.
“The air-conditioners that we replace are those that are more than five years old and cannot be brought back to life through maintenance.
“We also have a limited budget and are forced to give priority to the most needy families. Unfortunately, some are asked to wait until the next year.”
Naim Charity Society board of trustees chairman Hameed Rahma said there was a huge backlog of citizens seeking aid.
“There are families living in derelict homes who need new ACs as theirs cannot be repaired anymore, we also have appeals from citizens moving into new government homes, it’s a tough call,” he said.
“We are doing our best to get companies to donate to us, but again the amount we secure is around BD3,000, which doesn’t cover the full waiting list.”
The Southern Municipal Council had in June last year proposed that the government include ACs in current and new housing projects because cash-strapped Bahrainis could not afford to install them. However, it was rejected by the Housing Ministry, which stated that electronics and electrical appliances were not included in their budget.
“Families are unable to move into their new social homes despite being handed the keys because they cannot afford to pay for an average of eight ACs to cover all the rooms,” claimed chairman Bader Al Tamimi, who spearheaded the original proposal.
“Most of them are either poor or have minimal income and the cost of the units comes to around BD2,000, they already have loans and cannot go for more,” he added. “New government homes are built for split ACs and so they cannot take the window models from their old properties with them.”
Mr Al Tamimi called on the Housing Ministry to provide ACs in new government homes and perhaps allow people to cover the cost by paying in instalments. He hopes new Housing and Urban Planning Minister Amna Al Romaihi would revisit the proposal, which will be submitted again during the final session of the four-year term next Wednesday.
“ACs should be part of the power connections alloted for social homes,” Mr Al Tamimi said.
“The Housing Ministry can partner with Eskan Bank or private developers under the Mazaya financing scheme to implement the plan.”
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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