Page 39 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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MUNICIPALITIES
Manama Municipality.
(From the report of Mr. Mohomed Saleh Shattar, Municipal Secretary.)
Statement of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 1367.
Revenue. Expenditure.
Rs. a. p. Rs. a. p.
Shop tax .......................... 87.860 14 11 Staff salaries, etc.................... 42.350 0 o
House tax 73.385 6 9 Office expenses 4.996 6 o
Government grant .. 36,000 0 0 Transport .......................... 50.816 1 3
Share of Vehicle tax 19.179 10 6 Works:
Rent of Municipal property 7.920 5 0 Town cleaning 67.490 5 0
Garden Revenue 1,952 0 0 Town lighting 6.854 7 o
Muharraq Municipality Road repairing and upkeep.. 6o,573 12 0
(Lunatic Asylum) .. 188 2 6 Widening roads 6,090 4 o
Fees from butchers & Pauper burials 2,647 13 0
slaughter house 15.759 6 0 Upkeep of Municipal
Building and mason fees 581 0 0 property.......................... 4,801 8 0
Miscellaneous taxes .. 26,087 11 0 Muharraq shares in certain
Deficit .......................... 7.201 13 5 taxes .......................... 11,368 10 6
Upkeep public washing
places .......................... 78 o 0
Lunatic Asylum 376 5 o
Upkeep of drains & sewers .. 2,242 12 a
Miscellaneous 15,429 6 4.
Total Rs. 2,76,116 10 1 Total Rs. 2,76,116 10 1
Finance.—The financial position of the Municipality is unsatisfactory. For several years the
municipality has been spending more than its income on routine work. It has failed to repay by
instalments the loans which have been made to it by the Government. Most of the municipal revenue
is derived from house and shop taxes. In the case of houses which are let the tax is assessed according
to the amount of the rent but the municipal tax on houses which are occupied by their owners is at
a considerably lower rate and even in the case of large houses does not exceed Rs. 5 per month. A
revision of the tax on houses occupied by their owners would produce a substantial increase in
municipal revenue.
The total revenue collected during 1367 was Rs. 2,68,914, the expenditure was Rs. 2,76,116,
The revenue was about Rs. 40,000 higher than in the previous year. The additional revenue was
mainly from house and shop taxes and from slaughter house and butchers fees. Expenditure increased
by Rs. 30,000, to a great extent this was due to higher wages which was paid for labour. The-
heaviest expenditure was on town cleaning, repairing and metalling roads and on transport.
During the year the Government gave a loan of Rs. 100,000, to the Municipality.
Roads.—In 1366 the municipality started on the work of metalling the main roads in Manama,
this important project was continued during 1367. The roads which were completed were Barrett
Road, from the Police Station to the south end of the covered bazaar; Prior Road, from the Adviserate
to the Post Office ; and Shaikh Sulman Road, from BarTett Road to the markets. The area of road
surface which was metalled during the year was 1,79,000 square feet. Heavy stone was used as a
base with small stones above covered with cold patch and well rolled. Only land stone, as opposed
to coral stone, was used and the cost of hauling it from the Rafaa hills added considerably to the
expense of the work. The result however has been satisfactory, road surfaces are good and there was
a complete absence of mud after rain on die newly done roads.
Street widening.—Owing to the excessively high cost of land in the town, which in some areas
of the bazaar is worth from Rs. 30 to Rs. 40 per square foot, little road widening was carried out. In
a street on the south of the Government shops seven shops had their fronts cut in order to widen the
street sufficiently to allow motor traffic to reach the car park behind the Government shops. In
other parts of the town a total area of 4,800 square feet was acquired from 21 premises in order to
improve roads.