THE government has been urged to fund the renovation of rundown homes in Muharraq, according to heritage specifications.
The cost of maintaining ‘heritage-value’ buildings should be borne by the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) and not the owners of the properties, said the Muharraq Municipal Council.
Last month, residents of 1,300 dilapidated homes in the governorate refused to foot the bill for the revamp, threatening to knock down the properties themselves.
Homes in the historic Muharraq, Hidd and Arad neighbourhoods are under the protected list, which means that the Muharraq Municipality cannot grant their owners permission to bulldoze and rebuild them.
Baca has also banned owners of these houses from demolishing the buildings due to their historical importance.
The old Muharraq Pearling Path was granted World Heritage Site status by the United Nations in 2012.
Councillor Dalal Al Meghawi claimed that despite hundreds of rundown homes across all constituencies, the only homes being given attention were those in the area of council chairman Abdulaziz Al Naar.
However, financial, administrative and legislative committee chairman Fadhel Al Oud said the comments by his female colleague was out of order.
“We are in the summer and those homes are vulnerable to fires. We don’t want to witness a disaster here similar to that in Manama days before Eid Al Adha,” said Mr Al Oud.
“Of course, the chairman’s area will get the attention, because the majority of the UN protected homes are there.
“It is not as if he is working for himself, while disregarding other areas, it is a situation that he has been put in and the task in his constituency is much harder than in the rest.”
Meanwhile, Muharraq Municipality director-general Khalid Al Qallaf said a new mechanism to deal with those homes has been introduced in partnership with judicial authorities.
“Those homes are very important to heritage and shed light on a period in Bahrain that can’t be replicated,” he said.
“This is why we have to be careful when dealing with anything related to them as rundown and abandoned homes are listed with Baca.
“We have contacted several owners to renovate their homes in line with Baca regulations.
“However, most of the owners have died and the property is now with heirs, so we have contacted the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry for identification and details.”
He added there were several homes under dispute between heirs, which means they are off government bounds, until a verdict is issued.
Councillor Mohammed Al Meghawi said people should have the choice to do whatever they want with their property.
“If Baca or any other entity wants a historic scene, then it needs to pay for the elaborate renovation, which we just a few weeks ago found costs three times the normal rate,” he said.
“Either Baca buys the property through its network of bank supporters, secures funding for the renovation through the 2025-2026 national state budget, or allows the demolition.”
Council vice-chairman Saleh Buhazaa said the government has been just recently forced to renovate 14 homes in Muharraq through a court order because their owners went to court with evidence it was expensive.
“If the government wants those homes to remain, then it has to pay. People can’t afford to pay for heritage specifications and will not pay more than what they can afford.
“The more the cases drag in court, the more those homes continue to be a hazard and dangerous.”
Mr Al Naar said a breakthrough decision in the financing issue was set in the next few months by the government, while adding there are negotiations on a deal that he couldn’t yet speak about.
In 2016, Baca gave the go-ahead to take a $48 million loan from the Islamic Bank for Development to fund the initiative which will involve buying properties from homeowners and turning them into cultural attractions.
A total of BD10m has been set aside in the national budget to fund the Pearling Path project, which highlights Bahrain’s traditional pearling industry.
Baca has since been working to acquire 200 properties for the project, while owners of other properties will be able to continue living there.
In 2011, the same council threatened to demolish dozens of homes unless proper remodelling was carried out, even as the World Heritage Site application to Unesco was being considered. It backed down when the location received World Heritage Site status a year later.
Old Muharraq is set for a massive revamp in line with the royal orders by His Majesty King Hamad at the opening of the National Assembly’s second session of the sixth legislative term.
Housing and Urban Planning Minister Amna Al Romaihi revealed earlier that the Muharraq City Development Plan included developing an area measuring approximately 1.4m sqm, restoring 16 buildings of heritage value and completing the Pearling Path for cultural and tourism activities.
The plan also envisages increasing the green area in the region and diversifying its afforestation, by providing 72 green squares covering an area of 12,000sqm to plant 100,000 trees, and developing traffic and pedestrian corridors with a length of 48sqm, in addition to providing parking lots to accommodate residents and visitors to the areas.
The minister said the project included the construction of 2,000 housing units to meet the aspirations of Bahraini families, pointing out that the ministry will start restoring and building 300 housing units.
The project’s executive plan also included the launch of a tender to appoint a consultant for the project. Development work procedures will begin in November with expropriations and detailed designs completed by December. Construction work is set to begin in October next year with all project phases completed and delivered by December 2026.
mohammed@gdnmedia.bh
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