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A new-look ferry service could be introduced in Tubli Bay, offering sightseeing trips through scenic mangroves alongside floating restaurants and cafés, if public representatives have their way.
A ferry service was originally launched by the private sector in partnership with the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (Btea) in 2018.
However, Parliament’s legislative and legal affairs committee vice-chairman and area MP Mahmood Fardan claimed that the service incurred losses and had to be eventually stopped following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Fardan
He has now called on the Capital Trustees Board to revive the service on a bigger scale by including businesses such as restaurants, family entertainment facilities, souvenir and angling shops on the shoreline.
Plans are now being drawn up by the Board in co-operation with the Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry.
Illegal
Tubli Bay, which is rich with shrimp and rare birds, was declared a protected zone in 2006 after years of illegal land reclamation.
The protection zone was expanded by Housing and Urban Planning Minister Amna Al Romaihi last year from 15.59sqkm to 16.03sqkm.
“Now is the time for a major facelift that doesn’t harm Tubli Bay’s environmental status but at the same time showcases its value, which many are unaware of,” said Mr Fardan.
“It is rich with mangroves and an adventurous ferry ride will allow people to experience something they have not seen before.
“The bay is also rich with marine resources and rare birds which is unmatched anywhere else.”
Mr Fardan said private investors should be encouraged to come up with their own suggestions for doing business at the bay, which ties in with the concept of ecological tourism.
“I am not looking for excuses on how work should be done, the place should be lively,” he said.
“It is understood that the Covid-19 pandemic had hit the business, but that ended two years ago, and since then nothing has been done to restore the bay to its former glory.”
Meanwhile, Capital Trustees Board chairman Saleh Tarradah pointed out that the issue wasn’t as simple as the MP thought it to be.
Mr Tarradah
“The ideas or concepts are right but implementing them is difficult,” he said.
“The place is a protected zone and so the ferry service, floating restaurants and cafés, or any other services, have to follow certain environmental standards.
“This needs to be drawn up by the Oil and Environment, Tourism, Housing and Urban Planning, Industry and Commerce, Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, Health, and Works ministries.
“It is more about placing the pieces together to make the tourist destination an eco-friendly one – there are studies in process, but they are taking time due to environmental complications related to the bay.”
It is understood that any tourism-related activities would be focused on the southern parts of Tubli Bay.
The northern section is located next to a sewage treatment plant.
In 2009 a clean-up operation was apparently due to start as part of a BD15 million redevelopment of the basin.
Former member of the now-dissolved Central Municipal Council, Abbas Mahfoodh, told the GDN in November 2009 that a French company had been approached to carry out the job.
He said the work would be highly sensitive since hazardous gases, including high levels of methane, that existed in the bay could explode if they were disturbed – and that there was toxic sludge up to seven metres deep in some places, particularly near the sewage plant. However, sources now claim that the clean-up work never went ahead.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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