Council lifts ban on building

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI
A DECISION to halt construction of a 10-storey building in Umm Al Hassam has been reversed by the Manama Municipal Council.
The council has reconsidered its decision because the owner had acquired the licence to build before the area was reclassified.
The new regulations only allow a maximum of six-storey buildings in the area.
However, the municipality had earlier given it the green light to go up to 10 storeys under the previous classification system, which was later amended.
Municipalities and Agriculture Minister Ali Saleh Al Saleh ordered work to stop on the building for a month while the council looked into the matter.
Council technical affairs committee vice-chairman Jaffar Al Qaidoom said the contractor has also been given a one-storey extension for an 11-storey building.
"The ministry's legal consultant and the Manama Municipality lawyer have stressed that the ministry will need to compensate the owner, if they decided to scrap their old decision to give him permission for 10-storeys," he said.
"The area could take more than six-storeys and even if other buildings there are shorter, we believe that this building can be an exception.
"When the council changed the old classification system, it didn't mention anything about those with old licences under the old system and this is why we believe that the project should go ahead."
Now the building owner will have to wait for a final decision from Mr Al Saleh on whether the project should go ahead or not.
Project consultant Bahrain Engineering Bureau proprietor Khalid Jamsheer told the GDN earlier that the ministry's move was bad for business and could scare away investors.
He estimated that it could cause the entire project to fail - resulting in the land value dropping by 50 per cent from its BD40 per square foot price.
Mr Jamsheer said the project was initiated following an earlier change in the area's classification in 2004, which allowed for buildings of up to 10 storeys to be built above the ground floor.