PREPARATIONS are in full swing for the coming rainy season expected next month with hundreds of dedicated manpower and equipment on ready mode.
The Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry has already made arrangements with more than 30 contractors and have assigned 240 workers on sites to deal with any emergency.
It has also 101 tanker and 114 pumps, alongside electricity generators, across troubled locations in the four governorates to ensure any deluge doesn’t become a dampening disaster.
Details were revealed by ministry officials yesterday at an extraordinary meeting of the Southern Municipal Council at the Southern Municipality Complex in West Riffa.
Ministry senior civil engineer Zainab Mahdi said action stations were dependent on the amount of rainfall and locations and was confident the plans were flexible enough to instantly adjust to any occurrence.
“It could take us between 10 minutes and 45 minutes to drain rainwater from one tank and 30 minutes to dispense the water, while it could take an hour to transport to certain locations, open spaces or valleys. We work 24-hours non-stop and we will be on high-alert throughout the rainy season.”
Ms Mahdi said arrangements have been also made with the all relevant ministries and government authorities to clearly assign responsibilities.
“We care about people’s wellbeing, ability to attend regular business and work, and even ensure that properties are not damaged, especially in the most affected areas like the A’ali-Buri underpass, Hejayat, Bu Quwah and the Educational Area.
“Drainage pumps have been made available at black spots to help speed up the water dispensing process.
“The ministry conducts continuous maintenance to 56,000 gullies throughout the year, 70 out of 108 pumps have been cleaned so far, 15km of channels have been cleaned and more than 850km of all infrastructure networks have been checked, cleaned and maintained.”
She added that there are 2,123 areas where rain is known to form into problem pools and giant pesky puddles across Bahrain.
“There are 470 (22pc) in the Southern Governorate, 127 (6pc) Muharraq, Northern 573 (27pc) and 953 (45pc) Capital.
“We have already resolved matters with 986 cluster points and are working for solutions to other points and sites.”
“Since January 2019 and until September 8 of this year we have received 556 rain-related complaints – 84 (15pc) Southern, 134 (24pc) Capital, 138 (25pc) Muharraq and 200 (36pc) Northern.
Ministry sewage system operations and maintenance acting director Abdulnabi Hassan Al Kofi said rainwater drainage and sewage networks have undergone intensive maintenance and cleaning with specialist work continuing until 2023.
“Seven companies have been assigned to clean up rainwater drainage holes by January 25, 2023 under a BD600,000 budget.”
Also, BD3.4 million has been allocated to conduct maintenance on sewage networks with work by five contractors set to be completed by March, 2023. “Some sewage networks are also being cleaned using the jetting technique and work is set to end in December 30, 2023,” he added.
Mr Al Kofi said the ministry has allocated BD378,000 for emergency sewage drainage work with contracts running until September 8, 2023.
Ministry roads’ planning and design director Maha Hammada said engineering solutions have been drawn up to ensure roads were not made impassable by flooding this season.
“We have expanded and rerouted roads, added rain drainage holes into road designs and conducted changes to layouts to ensure that water flow is much easier towards the nearest exit point to the sea,” he said.
“Roads need regular updates to match population surges and increased urbanisation, while also being clean and away from complications throughout the year whether it is the rainy season or any other circumstance.
“We are working on solutions for spots where the rain clusters in Manama and the Educational Area amongst many others.”
Ministry roads’ projects and maintenance director Sayed Bader Alawi said financial challenges had to be addressed but measures were in place to clean rainwater from roads.
Council chairman Bader Al Tamimi allowed members to direct questions on specifics to their areas following the lengthy explanations referring to incidents in the past where areas have flooded and people were unable to get out of their homes. The areas of reference included the road in front of Akhbar Al Khaleej in Buhair, parts of Isa Town and Wadi Al Sail.
Other ministry officials also gave feedback on the matter during the meeting.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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