Council orders parking area in building
The Manama Municipal Council has stopped the renting out of an apartment-cum-shops building until the owner allocates a car park for would-be tenants, writes Naila Barakat.The five-storey building with shops on the ground floor has been built illegally, council secretary Jassim Redha said yesterday. “The owner was supposed to have parking facilities on the ground floor but built the shops, Redha said. “Three to four years ago the building had come up next to a playground opposite the Salmaniya Medical Complex old building and since then the 70-flat building has not been leased because of the violation.“The council has asked him to hire a plot for parking for tenants and shopkeepers and submit a contract document validated by court that there should be parking areas.“The shops are legal because the place has been given a commercial status following an amendment to the municipal law, but there should be parking space,” Redha said.He said that the building has remained unoccupied because the council had not given a green signal to the authorities concerned for other services.