RESIDENTS of Isa Town – the Gulf’s oldest ‘modern-style’ residential city – could be given exceptional permissions to rebuild or remodel their dilapidated homes, if councillors have their way.
The Southern Municipal Council is seeking urgent intervention from the authorities following a mass exodus of residents to other areas.
The council yesterday approved a proposal to allow residents to demolish dilapidated homes and build new three-storeyed buildings in their place, or renovate the properties to make it suitable for accommodation. The proposal was submitted by four councillors, including the two members representing western and eastern Isa Town.
The original batch of houses were distributed to families way back in 1968.
The council will also meet officials from the Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry, Housing and Urban Planning Ministry and the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) to find sustainable solutions to the exodus.
Council chairman Abdulla Abdullatif yesterday pointed out that three prominent public representatives from Isa Town had relocated to other areas in pursuit of more spacious accommodations.
“Councillor Abdulla Al Qubaisi was elected from Isa Town in 2014, he left for Hamad Town where he was re-elected in 2018 and 2022,” said Mr Abdullatif.
“MP Mohammed Al Ahmed, elected from Isa Town in 2014, also moved to the same constituency in Hamad Town and won a parliamentary seat from the area this year.
“Former MP and municipal councillor Isa Al Qadi, who won four times from Isa Town, has now relocated to a new home in Galali.
“There are other high-profile individuals who have bid goodbye to Isa Town because the 200sqm homes – dating back to around 50 years – were not enough for their extended families.”
According to Mr Abdullatif, expat labourers now lived in those properties.
“The houses are rented out to labourers, with five people living in a room for a total of BD50. If there are three rooms, owners of these properties would be earning BD150,” said Mr Abdullatif.
“We need to convince people to stay in this area and government authorities have to give exceptional permits for three-storeyed buildings to be built in place of the old houses. The buildings could be reconstructed or remodelled depending on engineering assessment.”
The council’s services and public utilities committee chairman and eastern Isa Town councillor Mubarak Faraj asserted that while Isa Town remained a landmark destination, it was no longer fit for big Bahraini families.
“Several residents have left Isa Town because they were not allowed to renovate or rebuild their homes to meet the needs of their extended families,” he said.
The council’s technical committee chairman and Zallaq, Sakhir and Safra area councillor Hamad Al Zoubi stressed the need to modernise Isa Town while retaining its architectural identity.
“We should build new homes or revamp the existing ones according to the old architectural style, however, leaving homes in an appalling state doesn’t help much,” he said.
“It is a matter of a futuristic vision for Isa Town and how we want to see it 20 years from now.”
Earlier this year, a call had gone out to preserve two old homes, built between 1966 and 1970. Parliament and Shura Council Affairs Minister Ghanim Al Buainain had previously said that only one of the two would be selected as a national heritage monument after being shortlisted from several homes.
In November 2020, four former MPs had submitted a proposal to keep the earliest-built homes untouched and preserved as attractions, especially those that hosted traditional restaurants and cafés. The proposal aimed to ensure that the properties, described as ‘a witness to history’, don’t get bulldozed to pave the way for new developments.
The Southern Municipality had bulldozed six abandoned homes in Isa Town and East Riffa in November 2020 that were in risk of collapsing any moment.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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