Page 430 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

30

The financial position of the Municipality is unsatisfactory. The normal income is not
sufficient to pay for all the work which ought to be done and if the Government did not assist
by paying for and carrying out such work as laying down pavements there would not be very
much visible progress. The income could be considerably increased without detriment to the
public. At present most of the house tax is collected from houses which arc let to tenants'
on the rents of these houses or fiats U annas in the rupee is charged. Large private houses
occu pied by their owners, who aic in many eases wealthy merchants or prosperous shopkeepers
pay an extremely low house tax. There has never been a proper assessment for the purpose of
taxes and suggestions that this should be done arc not well received by the members of the
council, who arc the occupants of large houses. The attitude of the Council is that when more
money is needed the Government ought to provide it.

Municipal Activities.—The largest item of cost was town cleaning which absorbed 30 per
cent, of the total expenditure. The Public Health Department co-operated with the Municipal
authorities in measures to improve the cleanliness of the town and the condition of the markets,
etc. The test of town cleaning is not the state of the main roads, principal streets and bazaars
but the condition of the narrow lanes and alleys in the middle of the town and in the suburbs.
These, throughout the year, were kept in a clean condition. In the past there were many
ruined buildings, especially in the southern part of Manama, which were difficult to clean and
which were used as deposits for rubbish. Scarcely any of these old buildings remain as owing
to the value of land all the sites have now been built upon.

More progress was made in metalling roads inside the town, the cost of this was 11 lakhs,
about 25 per cent, of the total expenditure. During the year 357,000 square feet of road
metalling was completed and in addition numerous strips in the roads which had been opened
up in order to lay new water pipes, electric cables and telephone lines were restored to their
previous state.

A certain amount of road widening was done which entailed cuts in some 50 houses.
Another little public garden was made at the junction of Awal and Shaikh Hamcd roads. Over
30 public benches were constructed and put up on roads and in public gardens. About 60
new street lights were installed and 80 new public dust bins were constructed, The contents
of these are removed daily by Municipal carts. Three new public latrines were built. New
number plates were put on to over 4,000 houses. More low lying land on the south of the town
was filled with town rubbish, covered with sand. Over 6,000 dead animals were removed and
burned. Municipal inspectors examined 33,000 sheep and 2,600 head of cattle at the Municipal
slaughter house. Pauper burials were provided for 61 persons ; at one time these services
were paid for by charitable Arabs who provided shrouds and grave stones for those whose
relations could not afford to pay for them. Since this duty has been taken over by the Municip­
ality this form of charity has ceased.

There was a great deal of building, by private enterprise, in Manama. Local contractors
in many cases had more work than they could undertake. The type of houses varied from
European style houses and flats to small stone houses built in modern Arab style. The houses
which are now being built are less secluded and have good light and ventilation. They are
more compact, owing to the price of land, and are better built than they used to be, cement,
S
instead of gypsum, is used and in many cases the windows are glazed. Twenty years ago not
even the houses of Shaikhs and merchants had glass windows. The following new houses were
i built: 100 stone houses, 159 shops, 64 garages, 16 flats, 116 barasti houses. The number o
houses and shops in Manama is now as follows : 3,373 stone houses, 3,209 barasti houses,
578 flats, 2,656 stone shops, 39 barasti shops, 378 garages, 79 coffee shops, 38 “restaurants,
73 go-downs, 70 bakers shops, 21 workshops and 11 hotels.