A CALL has been made to protect a historic natural island off the coast of Busaiteen that has been registered as a national heritage site.
The Muharraq Municipal Council wants the Cabinet to have Al Sayah Island secured by police to ensure that it doesn’t get vandalised or destroyed.
Mr Al Mannai
Councillors led by area councillor Waheed Al Mannai also want signs put up for visitors and tourists from Bahrain International Airport and across King Fahad Causeway.
Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (Baca) president Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa declared the site as a national heritage site in the Official Gazette in April and has informed the Survey and Land Registration Bureau to identify it on maps.
“The natural island with a six-metre diameter circular opening in the middle includes a natural water spring,” said the declaration by Shaikha Mai in the Gazette.
“It has the remains of what could be a fort or a defence tower with parts of walls in existence.”
The Muharraq Municipal Council and Parliament have been campaigning for years to protect Al Sayah Island from being swallowed up by reclamation work on a new bridge linking Muharraq and Manama.
“A 1,000-year-old natural spring in Saddad, called Eskharah (Rocks), was destroyed by bulldozers in 2019 despite being declared a national heritage site,” said Mr Al Mannai.
“We (area residents) are closely monitoring the situation at Al Sayah, but next year when it is national elections time, there are fears that it would be destroyed, bulldozed or vandalised or levelled to the ground when everyone is busy.
“Fencing the place would destroy its natural look.
“The official declaration is just on paper, but police presence is necessary as at other historical and archaeological sites across the country.”
He added that council efforts have seen the new bridge rerouted away from the island by 34m last year.
“We have also managed to have two water openings that are 21m and 31m wide to allow water flow circulation in the area.”
Mr Al Mannai suggested that the island could have a natural park, restaurants and cafés, and be used as a possible venue for outdoor events.
“As it’s just 50m away from the reclaimed coast of Busaiteen it would be nice to have a wooden jetty too,” he added.
Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf told the Muharraq Municipal Council in writing last December that Al Sayah Island, famous for its natural water spring, would be registered after receiving all relevant approvals.
In September last year, the GDN quoted the ministry as saying that reclamation work on the new BD94 million bridge linking Muharraq and Manama, which started in January last year, had been rerouted to avoid the site.
The 550m bridge is an extension of the 7.8km-long North Muharraq Highway project which also includes the 4.2km-long Muharraq ring road.
Financing for the entire project, which will connect north Busaiteen and Bahrain Bay, is being covered by the Saudi Fund for Development.
The GDN reported in January last year that municipal councillors and residents of Muharraq had been campaigning to protect the island and were seeking the Cabinet’s intervention to stop reclamation work carried out to create new plots of land for future projects.
The council wanted the island to be declared a protected reservation before it was lost to planned urbanisation.
The island has a rich history and folklore which includes tales that Prophet Mohammed once passed through Al Sayah.
A hungry genie was also rumoured to have once inhabited the island.
Named Bu Gedo, it supposedly demanded picnickers leave food for it, in the same manner that nowadays they leave it for Bahrain’s fat birds.
However, a number of scientific studies conducted by researchers from Bahrain University concluded that the sounds attributed to Bu Gedo over hundreds of years were the natural ecological release of air during low and high tides.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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