A fresh ‘not in my backyard’ dispute has erupted inside the Northern Municipal Council yesterday after a councillor urgently demanded that authorities ‘immediately find an alternative location’ for the long-awaited Al Maqasis (Al Haraj/Al Laylami) popular flea market.
Northern Governorate constituency nine (western Hamad Town) councillor Abdulla Al Qobaisi called on the council to officially request that Municipalities and Agriculture Minister Wael Al Mubarak intervene to secure a new site.
He stressed that the land in his constituency currently under consideration – plot 10029334 in western Hamad Town – was unsuitable and unsafe.
“The site is located directly in a stormwater drainage path, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods, with inadequate access routes and heavy congestion from existing services,” Mr Al Qobaisi said. “We have received numerous complaints. This location cannot serve as a permanent home for a popular market.”
The councillor added that his stance was not new, pointing out that he had earlier rejected the same location and also followed up repeatedly on recommendation No 3/13/186/SH/2021, which urges government authorities to provide a viable market site in the Northern Governorate.
Mr Al Qobaisi insists he is acting in the public’s interest. “My concern is safety, accessibility and the suitability of the land,” he maintained. “I am asking for a proper alternative, not rejecting the concept of a market.”
Mr Al Qobaisi’s position sparked immediate pushback inside the council chamber – with accusations of inconsistency and political convenience.
Council vice-chairwoman Zaina Jassim openly challenged the councillor, questioning how he could reject the market in his own area while publicly defending street vendors’ rights. “You cannot champion street sellers on social media and then refuse the only available solution that gives them a legal and organised place to work,” she said. “By rejecting the site, you are not protecting them – you are taking away their chance of stability.”
Adding to the tension, the council’s services and public utilities committee chairwoman Zainab Al Durazi issued a stark warning: the dispute has now reached a critical impasse.
“With this latest objection, every municipal council alongside the Capital Trustees Board has rejected every site proposed by the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry,” she stated.
“If the council insists on finding yet another location, we are looking at a delay of at least 12 months – and that is only if the ministry agrees to restart the process.”
Ms Al Durazi urged Mr Al Qobaisi to reconsider, warning that prolonging the stalemate would come at the expense of the very street traders he claimed to support.
“We cannot keep going in circles,” she said. “These sellers need a permanent, organised space. Rejecting each proposal will not get us closer to a solution.”
The market – long demanded by unlicensed street vendors who currently operate in scattered informal clusters – was initially meant to consolidate scattered activity, reduce neighbourhood complaints and provide vendors with basic services and regulation.
Instead, the issue has become a political flashpoint, pitting councillors against each other and threatening to push the project far into 2026, or beyond. Controversy over the flea market has been ongoing since its closure in 2020 due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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