AN annual municipal fee of BD50 could be introduced on properties used as rental investments to accommodate expatriate bachelors, if councillors have their way.
The fee, to be paid at BD150 for three years in advance, would be applicable on each lease agreement between landlords and employers.
Bahrain’s three municipalities and the Capital Trustees Authority could be also disallowed from stamping lease agreements without first gaining permission from neighbours surrounding the designated properties.
Landlords would be also obliged to receive permission from health, security, safety and labour departments before a municipality could electronically add the property to its system.
The proposed regulations were unanimously approved by the Muharraq Municipal Council and referred to Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Minister Wael Al Mubarak to consider.
Mr Al Mubarak last month presented a new set of lease regulations to Bahrain’s three municipal councils and the Capital Trustees Board for feedback, while opening the door for any amendments or suggestions.
He believes the move would ensure buildings were safe for occupation and their locations took into account the nature of the neighbourhood.
Southern councillors, who approved the minister’s regulations, hope the move will solve issues of workers being crammed into the rooms of dilapidated buildings and spare the blushes of passing schoolgirls who occasionally witness labourers wearing traditional ‘lungi’ inadvertently flashing their genitals.
“The property lease process in Bahrain is chaotic and as a result we witness old buildings, often dilapidated and unfit for families, being leased out to expatriate bachelor labourers,” said Muharraq Municipal Council services and public utilities committee chairman Ahmed Al Meghawi.
“Some from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Africa do not abide to acceptable social, cultural, Islamic and traditional norms and practices, in my opinion.
“The whole neighbourhood changes and this happens without the consent of local residents. The people must be given a voice in these matters.”
He said the BD50 fee could be considered as an accommodation licence and a crackdown would ensure that those who do not abide by the rules would pay a hefty price.
“Any building that is found to be leased without being registered in the municipality would be fined BD300 monthly until corrective measures are undertaken,” said Mr Al Meghawi.
“Workers are not insects – they deserve to stay in a place that is fit for humans and for that the consent of all relevant departments in security, safety, health and labour is needed.”
Four people were killed and more than 30 others injured when a three-storey structure in Salmaniya collapsed following a gas cylinder explosion in 2018.
Thirteen Bangladeshis died in a fire that broke out in a rundown three-storey building in 2013. A total of 135 people lived in the building, which has since been demolished.
Three Bangladeshis were killed after a fire broke out in a residential building in Mukharqa, Manama in 2014. The men died of smoke inhalation in their sleep as the blaze quickly spread through the two-storey building, forcing close to 80 tenants to flee for their lives. Two men were injured and required hospital treatment as a result of the blaze.
In 2006, 16 workers died during a fire at a labour camp in Gudaibiya, making it one of the deadliest in Bahrain’s history.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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