GOVERNMENT officials have been urged to think beyond Economic Vision 2030 as the country faces renewed pressure on limited resources.
MPs believe authorities need to think ‘out of the box’, consider different scenarios and plan accordingly, taking into account factors such as increasing demand for homes, huge traffic congestion and inadequate infrastructure facilities.
Parliament’s public utilities and environment affairs committee chairman Bader Al Tamimi said Economic Vision 2030 takes into account the shape of Bahrain for around seven years, but nothing beyond that.
Bahrain had a population of 1,504,365 – 719,333 nationals and 785,032 expatriates, based on the last survey in 2021, and it is projected to increase to 2.128 million in 2030, according to the Information Ministry website.
“More and more people will be looking for proper education, suitable jobs and a decent life – so, we don’t understand why planning for the next phase has not started yet,” said Mr Al Tamimi.
“Thousands of government homes are being built, indicating a surge in population; but the number of homes being distributed to Bahrainis will not cover the number of people on the Housing and Urban Planning Ministry’s waiting list, even with innovative housing financing solutions.”
Mr Al Tamimi said even today there were instances of inadequate planning but acknowledged they were being addressed, though on a limited scale.
“We have more than half a million cars at present on the roads and a 10-minute journey is taking an hour and every day more cars are taking to the roads.
“The current roads network is grossly inadequate to handle the traffic and for new projects it takes more than a decade for a simple route to be drawn up and construction work to begin.
“Electricity substations and water supplies are not enough, hospitals and health centres are overcrowded, schools are taking in more students than they can handle and security forces can’t cover everything despite introducing new technologies.”
He acknowledged that ministries and government bodies had to work on available budgets but that didn’t mean not chalking out a blueprint for the period from 2031 until 2060.
“We are all aware that we need new bridges, roads and sewerage networks, medical and educational facilities – not malls or shopping complexes, sometimes 10 in the same area serving the same purpose.
“The plan can change depending on the fluctuating variables but at least we would have prepared ourselves for the best or worst.
“Uncertainty cannot be an excuse for not planning ahead. With proper management we can survive and fix things.”
Parliament’s services committee chairman Mamdooh Al Saleh said urbanisation is taking up space and every day it gets more expensive and difficult to do what is needed.
“We need futuristic time-frames that will guide us in deciding what comes next,” he said.
“The country has a high population density and the current infrastructure can’t cope and we are still waiting for projects decided years ago.
“Things could get worse, if we don’t have a new national vision in mind.”
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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