‘Extra’ municipal charges to go

The municipalities have been consistently over-charging Bahrain residents and businesses for non-existent services, according to a Constitutional Court verdict.Manama Municipal Council Secretary Jassim Redha told Bahrain Tribune that the extra charges would be withdrawn from January 2006. “A number of complex financial issues are involved and we need time to sort them through,” he said. “For example, some residents have found that they are being charged many times extra for their municipal tax on home rent. We have been instructed by the office of the Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture, Ali Saleh Al Saleh, to legalise all the fees until January when a new municipality fee structure shall be proposed.” Redha said that meanwhile the financial committees in the council were preparing a draft of the new municipalities law to cover the fee structure and would present it to the council soon. The law will cover the fee structure for all the five municipal councils.