Plan to ease bottlenecks

By MOHAMMED AL A'ALI
SEVEN heavily congested roundabouts in Manama will be razed before the end of the year and replaced with traffic lights.New designs for routes currently connected by the roundabouts have been completed, but work will not start without approval from the Manama Municipal Council.
The Works and Housing Ministry has asked the council to prepare a report on the seven roundabouts to compare with its study before approving the project.
The roundabouts are in Salmaniya, near the Hilton Hotel, next to the Sheraton Hotel, on Government Avenue, in Ras Ruman, at The Palace hotel and Al Andalus Hotel.
"Once we approve the designs for the new routes, the ministry is expected to begin work on the project," said council technical committee vice-chairman Jaffar Al Qaidoom.
"Everyone knows that these roundabouts are irritating, because they take a lot of space and are unorganised, leading to traffic jams.
"This project will hopefully end the congestion since the ministry is carrying out this project based on an extensive study, which took into consideration everything from tardiness to accidents.
"The ministry is keen on ensuring that we are happy with their plans, which we are content with in fact, but that doesn't mean this is the end of the road, as councillors will continue supervising and monitoring work and inspecting sites.
"It is very difficult to satisfy everyone, we will look at the designs, suggest modifications to them when necessary, but the council will not take a decision without residents' feedback and recommendations on the issue."
Mr Al Qaidoom, who is also the council's public utilities and services committee vice-chairman, said residents were excited when he informed them about the plan.
"Whether it is my majlis or in other majlises, people have been complaining about these roundabouts, where they say they constantly get stuck in traffic," he said.
"The problem is that even the ambulance faces trouble getting patients into the Salmaniya Medical Complex because of traffic jams on the roundabouts in the governorate."