Manama Council launches social services project

THE much-awaited social services project of the Manama Municipal Council was launched yesterday, with the assessment of 20 houses which need minor improvements.The project compliments the national project to rehabilitate old houses launched following directives of His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, in all the five governorates.The council’s project aims to help needy families to renovate toilets, replace tiles, doors and windows, or give a face-list to their homes, secretary Jassim Redha said.“We launched the project by referring the cases to the municipality for assessment and then to contractors. Since each renovation contract is less than BD3, 000, direct action can be taken,” he said. “The project complements the rehabilitation of old houses by taking care of minor repairs. The national rehabilitation project under which old houses are demolished and replaced with new ones, follows similar refurbishment in the buildings which only need upgrading. Therefore, our project will help reduce the workload on the government.“We have begun with 20 cases and have estimated the refurbishment cost. We have also received quotations from contractors hired a technician from the Manama Municipality to take care of the project. Phase One has been allocated BD100,000 to help as many needy families as possible. We expect to allocate about BD2,500 for each each. The budget has come from the common fund of the municipality,” Redha said