FAMILY heads staged a socially-distanced protest demanding a solution to their plans to build their dream homes following a decade-long wrangle over regulations.
Twenty-four families sunk their money in plots of land under the sea in Ma’ameer hoping one day they could carry out reclamation work.
However, despite a legal victory they have been thwarted by red tape as they still need to carry out environmental studies, for example, before permission can be granted.
Spokesman for the families, Faisal Al Ma’meeri, 45, said he opted to buy a plot in a bid to beat the long queue for government homes which can take 20 years to be distributed.
“My wife and I have five children, all grown up, and my eldest son wants to get married but I have no place for him other than our own bedroom, within a small apartment.
“The situation is heart-breaking since we bought the plots legitimately. As far as we are all concerned we were not falling within any protected environmental zone or in violation of any rules or regulations.
“The 24 family heads are now aged in their 40s and 50s and let’s imagine if we can’t get permission to reclaim and build? It could take another decade or more before we finally win the right to move into our homes. God knows, we could be dead by then.”
Deeds for the sea plots were issued by the Survey and Land Registration Bureau after purchasing paperwork was completed.
The plot owners won a verdict in 2011 ordering the Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry and the Urban Planning and Development Authority to give them the necessary permits to proceed with reclamation work in advance to building properties on the reclaimed land.
However, both government authorities headed by minister Essam Khalaf, still require an environmental impact study. Also, part of the seabed involved, has not been given over for infrastructure services further complicating matters.
The families were joined on their Ma’ameer coastal protest by area MP Ammar Al Mukhtar. “This should have been resolved within a year or two – not a decade – and still there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.
“There was a clear order giving permission to the 24 families to reclaim their plots and it should be respected.
“The families are on the verge of breakdowns as they continue paying for rented apartments and mortgages. Over the past 10 years they have seen their families expand and their children grow up and that’s why they made that initial investment.”
The Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry and the Urban Planning and Development Authority had not commented by the time the GDN went to Press.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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