Nine Corniche firms closed

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI
MANAMA: Nine businesses on Al Fateh Corniche are to be forcibly closed, after failing to shut voluntarily to make way for new development.
They were warned to close several months ago, since their contracts expired, Manama Municipal Council heard yesterday.
It approved an urgent request from Manama Municipality director-general Abdulkarim Hassan, for authority to shut the businesses immediately.
Their contracts have long expired, with the expiry date ranging from April 2001 to this month, said Mr Hassan.
"The place is earmarked for development and those outlets are hindering our work," he said.
"Their stay there is a violation and they are not paying us any municipal fees."
The outlets include children's rides, restaurants, kiosks, coffee shops and a tourist jetty.
Council technical committee vice-chairman Jaffar Al Kaidoom said contracts for six well-known outlets had been renewed, but the others would be shut within days.
Those staying are Fun Land, the Dolphin Park, the Hawar Hotel and Resort Company, which has a jetty on the seafront, a tour boat operation and two coffee shops.

Shopkeepers selfish

WE praise the efforts of municipal authorities of Manama in tackling blockades on public roads put up by selfish shopkeepers and residents.

These shopkeepers are not only blocking roads meant for public use, but are spoiling the comfort of driving by narrowing the roads of Bahrain for their own convenience and also arguing with people who stop their vehicles even for a while.

We applaud the initiative of council technical committee chairman Mr Sadiq Rahma (GDN April 10) to keep all our roads free from hindering traffic.

I would like to bring to the attention of Manama Municipality the unusual blockades on road 227 of Manama 302, which is partly blocked by some shopkeepers, namely in bldg 1573, by using fixed posts and chains that are locked to the ground which covers a third of the road's entire width.

Warning over car park posts

By MOHAMMED AL A' ALI
SELFISH residents and shopkeepers in Manama, who put up metal posts to stop people parking their cars outside their property, will be fined if they are caught doing it twice.
First-time offenders will get off with a warning from the Manama Municipality and the posts will be removed, but if they do it again they will be penalised.
It follows a decision taken yesterday by the Manama Municipal Council, which ruled that people should not be allowed to reserve public roads for their own parking needs.
"Roads are not owned by the people - they are public property for everyone to use," said council technical committee chairman Sadiq Rahma.
"Those who put up posts outside their homes or shops for cars to park are blocking others from using the place to park their cars.
"Everyone notices that certain restaurants and cold stores are using these posts, saying that the car park is for their customers only.
"But that's wrong, considering they are operating the shop and not controlling the road.
"We faced many problems with people saying that some restaurants and cold stores were telling people to go away because this affected their business and the convenience of their customers.
"On the other hand, neighbours have complained about each other saying that people have installed posts that are locked to the ground (to reserve parking) just for their family's use."
Mr Rahma argued that this was wrong because everyone should be entitled to use public roads without difficulty.
"Maybe fining those using posts will send a message that the road is for everyone without any exceptions," he said.
"The issue is now being studied by the financial, administrative and legislative committee, which will decide what the proposed fine should be so the council can approve it before the end of its term next month.
"The problem is these posts are increasing, even with the municipality's continuous efforts to remove them - even those chained to the ground, they are back again and again and again. "The council is concerned that this illegal act will become the norm, making it hard to stop in future."