Staff shortage hitting projects

By Basma Mohammed , Posted on Saturday, May 18, 2013

A SHORTAGE of ministry staff is crippling development projects across Bahrain, says a top government official. Eight public parks, three walkways and several coastal developments have been affected by the delays, some of which date back to last year. Another 11 projects in the pipeline have also reportedly been removed from the Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry's plan for 2013-14. It was given responsibility for executing projects in all five governorates last year in an attempt to keep costs down. But common municipality services director Ebrahim Al Jawder said problems acquiring licence permits, appropriating lands, relocating projects and delays in obtaining designs was holding up key developments. He said the ministry previously handled a maximum of six projects a year and was now in charge of around 35. Mr Al Jawder said the ministry only had around 20 employees designated to take charge of projects. "The number of staff and management is not enough to handle the new surge of projects being undertaken by the ministry," he said. "That is why projects are being delayed." Mr Al Jawder was speaking after briefing members of the Northern Municipal Council on the situation during its biweekly meeting in Saar. Council technical committee head Hussain Al Sagheer suggested the municipalities of each governorate take control of projects less than BD200,000 to help prevent delays. "With the existing arrangement, we will not see any park or project opened this year or next," he said. Councillors unanimously voted in favour of the proposal, which will now be forwarded to Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Minister Dr Juma Al Ka'abi for consideration.