Page 97 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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Public Works.
Administration. In the past the Public Works Department has been a
branch of the Land Department, under the supervision of Khan Sahib Mohamed
Khalil, the Superintendent of tho Land Department. The Land registration work
as well as public works have increased very considerably during the last few years
and it became necessary to create a separate Public Works Department to deal with
the Government’s building programme. Towards the end of the year the Public
Works Department was separated from the Land Department. Mr. A. M. Jaffar,
a retired Assistant Engineer with long service in India, educated partly in England,
at Durham University and Crystal Palace Engineering School, and partly in India,
was appointed as Superintendent, Public Works Department. Buildings which
were in course of construction, such as the Law Courts, were completed under
the previously existing arrangements but new works such as the Muharraq Girls’
School were constructed by the new Department.

Roads end Buildings,
Law Courts. (Sec illustrations opposite pages 18 i0 28)
Cost of reclamation Rs. 17,500
Cost of building 65,600

Rs. 83,100

The new Law Courts, which were opened by His Highness Shaikh Sir
Hamad on 18th October 1937, consist of a handsome building on Government Road
facing the sea, it is one of the most noticeable buildings on the water front of
Manama. It contains four large court rooms, numerous offices, record rooms and
accomodation for the Wakf Departments and the Minors Department, built on three
sides of a large courtyard which is open to the sky in the centre. Above the rooms
on the north end of the building two fiats, in European style, have been built. A
feature of the building is the large permanent platform at the north end of the
courtyard which is used on official occasions. An audience of 500 persons can be
accommodated on chairs in the courtyard and in the covered aisles on each side of it.

On the north, between the front of the building and the road, a garden has
been laid out with a semi-circular sweep giving entry and exit by two gates. On
the south of the building the doors open onto Prior Road.
The site was the only property owned by the Government on the sea front, it
consisted of a piece of sea with an area of about 48,000 square feet which had to be
reclaimed by 6tone filling approximately 6 feet deep. The building itself covers an
area of over 10,000 square feet, it has a frontage of 92 feet and is 35 feet high.
The material used is local stone and portland cement.

The cost of the building was more than the amount allocated in the Budget
owing to the construction of the two flats which were undertaken during the year
and had not been included in the estimate.
Work-shop and Garages. Rs. 6,774. A single story building consisting of
two large garages and a workshop for the Government Transport Department was
built close to the Power House. At this place all Government and Municipal cars
are repaired and dealt with.
Rest House and Police Station. Rs. 10,318. The old Customs House which
became vacant on the completion of the new customs premises has been converted
into a Police Station on the ground lloor and a Government Rest House on the first
floor. The Police Station consists of a large airy room for the accommodation of
prisoners, an office, a room for the Police who are of! duty and a cell for any
prisoners who cannot be put in the common lock-up. At the back of the building
there is a small walled-in compound.