Page 272 - Bahrain Gov annual reports(V)_Neat

36
MUNICIPALITIES
MANAMA MUNICIPALITY
(From the Report by Mr. Mohammed Saleh, Secretary to the Municipal Council.)
Finance. The total revenue in 1955 was Rs. 10,41,578 and the expenditure was Rs.
10,13,806, the previous year’s revenue was Rs. 8,90,000. The increase in the revenue was due
to more houses and shops being built, from which municipal house and shop taxes are derived,
and increased rents from previously existing premises. Expenditure also increased owing to
higher costs of labour and material and also to the extension of built up areas. At the beginning
of the year the Council decided to waive the municipal tax on imported sheep and goats, which
used to bring in about Rs. 25,000 per annum. This action was taken with the object of en­
couraging merchants to import more livestock on the hoof. It is doubtful whether this en­
couragement produced any result. For a very long time the meat industry in Bahrain has been
entirely controlled by a small group of families who have profited from it very considerably.
Attempts which have been made by the Government and the Municipality to break this ring
have not been successful and in consequence the price of meat has remained extremely high.
During the year the Municipality sold five parcels of land for which it received Rs. 115,705/-.
At the end of 1955 the Municipality had a balance in the bank of Rs. 402,225. This sum
included Rs. 100,000 which has been saved for and set aside towards the cost of building new
Municipal offices and premises, probably on a site which will have to be reclaimed from the
sea to the west of the Eastern Bank. Deposits and amounts owed by the Municipality amounted
to Rs. 72,000; included in this is Rs. 65,499, being the balance of a loan from the Government.
Municipal Activities. Town cleaning was carried out as usual and more attention was
paid to inspections of places in which food is prepared or sold, coffee shops, restaurants and
hotels. Suggestions from the Public Health Department that the Municipality should employ
full time sanitary inspectors were not acted upon and the sanitary measures of the Munici­
pality continued to be carried out by untrained staff.
Road Work. About 90,000 square feet of roads inside the town were surfaced and work
was carried out in repairing existing roads and streets. A certain amount of road widening
was done and seven houses in the town and 42 premises on the edge of the town were cut or
adjusted to straighten or widen streets and roads. The Municipality carried in a large quantity
of soil for remaking three public gardens on Shaikh Isa road and replanted them with shrubs
and plants. These gardens previously contained trees all of which died when the roots grew
down into the subsoil water. The preservation of public gardens in Bahrain is an extremely
disappointing task; not only are trees and plants constantly tom up from the ground but if
they are allowed to remain they are trampled on and broken by children who use the gardens
as playgrounds without consideration for what is growing in them.
Meat Market. The meat market, which is the property of His Highness, is to be rebuilt.
As a temporary measure the Municipality erected a “barasti” building for the butchers to occupy
while the permanent market is under construction. The new building will be somewhat after
the style of the vegetable markets with rooms above it on the first floor. The old market had
become an inconvenient, insanitary and unsatisfactory building with cracked cement floors and
a perforated tin roof.
Town Lighting. During the year 97 new street lights were installed. Concrete lamp posts
were erected on Government Road, along the sea front, in place of the metal ones which were
previously used there and which rapidly deteriorated owing to the proximity of the sea.
Unfortunately several of these were destroyed by collisions by cars which in most cases ran
into them at night and disappeared without reporting the fact. In other parts of the town boys
with catapults seem to have regarded electric light globes as suitable targets, they too were
equally difficult to capture.
Miscellaneous. The Municipal fire brigade dealt with 69 fires in Manama, Muharraq
and in the villages. Most of the fires occurred in barasti huts.
Licences were issued for 54 restaurants, 67 coffee shops, 136 bakers, 18 barbers and 46
places for refreshments, after inspection by the Health Inspector. Several new bakers shops
were opened by foreigners, who produced and sold European style bread, etc., which a few
years ago was unobtainable in the town.

I