New timings for commercial and service establishments in or near residential neighbourhoods were approved by the Southern Municipal Council yesterday.
Restaurants, cafés, cafeterias, boutiques and retail outlets will be allowed to operate from 5am to midnight daily, while garages, workshops, scrap shops and other service outlets can be open from 7am to 7pm daily.
The recommendation was submitted to Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Minister Wael Al Mubarak for review.
The decision, taken at an extraordinary meeting of the council, followed concerns over the impact of unrestricted business hours on residential communities in the Southern Governorate.
However, council chairman Abdulla Abdullatif stressed that while regulating hours was important, a long-term solution was needed on relocating disruptive activities – particularly garages and workshops – away from residential zones.
He highlighted several issues, including noise pollution, increased traffic, public disturbances and higher energy consumption.
“People’s peace and comfort in their homes must be protected,” he said.
The proposal received support from the council’s technical committee chairman Ahmed Al Abdulla and Southern Municipality inspection, control and cleanliness head Hamad Al Ghatam.
An Interior Ministry representative, who was present at the meeting, confirmed that there were 24/7 patrolling but some shops continued working ‘behind closed doors’ after closing hours.
An Industry and Commerce Ministry representative cautioned against overly restrictive rules, while an official from the Labour Market Regulatory Authority underlined the need to enforce work permits and prevent unlicensed operations.
Member Mohammed Darraj criticised unregulated garages and insisted that cafés close at midnight, no matter what.
Another member, Mubarak Faraj, raised concerns about petrol stations hosting late-night shops selling cigarettes and vape products, and urged their inclusion in the closure rules.
However, Southern Municipality licensing head Waleed Al Thawadi warned of an imbalanced approach, adding that it would be unfair to impose different hours for different governorates.
“Businesses should operate based on what suits them or else have unified rules, without exemptions,” he said.
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