Page 152 - Bahrain Gov annual reports(V)_Neat

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Shaikh Hamcd Bridge. A new source of revenue was the share in the receipts from bridge
tolls which was allocated to the Muharraq Municipality by orders of Mis Highness. The
revenue from the bridge is shared equally between Manama and Muharraq Municipalities.

Road Widening. Approximately Rs. 25,000 was spent during the 16 months on road widen­
ing, cuts were made to various houses in the town and compensation was paid to the owners
of the property.

Town Lighting. The Municipality spent Rs. 15,000 on public lighting, included in the
sum was Rs. 7,400, which was due to the Electricity Department for work done in the previous
year.

General. A vast quantity of water was pumped into the sea during the floods after the
winter rains which caused the area north of the town to be under water. For this purpose the
Municipality bought a pump.

The Muharraq fire service co-operated with the Manama fire service in extinguishing
24 fires.
Municipal inspectors examined 8,113 sheep and 1,295 head of cattle which were slaughtered
in the Municipal slaughterhouse.
Pauper burials were arranged for 39 persons, In the past such services were carried out
by Waqf funds but the Municipalities are now expected to deal with such matters.

The Council. At the end of the year 1372, the Government expressed its disapproval of
the manner in which the Municipal Council consistently framed its budget to show a very heavy
deficit, which it presumably assumed would be made good by a government grant. The criticism
was resented and so the Municipal Council resigned, en masse. For two months Municipal
affairs were managed by the permanent staff and then a committee was appointed by the Govern­
ment. Six of the seven members who had seats on the new Council had been members of the
previous Council.
The Council had 25 meetings and the sub-committee reported on 250 matters which it was
appointed to deal with.

HEDD MUNICIPALITY
His Highness made a special grant from his privy purse of Rs. 25,000 tucssis? s.i the develop­
ment of the Hedd Municipality, including this amount, the total revenue was Rs. 66,u00 and
the expenditure was Rs. 41,400. In the budget for the year it was anticipated that the revenue
and expenditure would be balanced. Normal revenue was very slightly higher than in the
previous twelve months.
The principal work which was carried out by the Municipality was the widening of the one
street which stretches from one end to the other of this long, narrow little town which is built
on a promontory off the northern end of Muharraq Island. Almost Rs. 12,000 was paid in
compensation to people whose houses or compounds were cut in order to widen the road.
Other work consisted of routine town cleaning and supervision of the markets.
The Council met 21 times during the 16 months.