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."