Bahrain scraps infrastructure fees for projects in 'developed areas'
MANAMA, October 6, 2022
In a major move, His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, has abolished the infrastructure connectivity fees for new builds in areas with pre-existing amenities, reported BNA.
This change applies to major developments and will significantly reduce costs and encourage growth in the construction sector, it stated.
The Ministry of Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf had earlier reported that the kingdom collected - BD4.5 for power connection, BD2 for water, BD3 for building roads and BD2.5 for sewerage - as infrastructure connectivity fees.
HRH Prince Salman was attending a Cabinet meeting yesterday (October 5) where he announced a proposed set of new labour market reforms that will replace Flexi Permits.
The changes will increase protection for expatriate workers - mainly those working in key sectors such as construction and tourism - and streamline processes involved with registering for work or change of employment, stated the BNA report.
The reforms, which would be implemented by Bahrain’s Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), include:
*The establishment of new labour registration centres and an online registration portal to increase ease of worker registration
*New measures to link work permits to vocational and occupational standards to increase safety and protections in places of work
Under the reforms, which will be implemented by Bahrain’s Labour Market Regulatory Authority, a more robust structure will be provided to allow employers to have greater flexibility to pay and source labour, driving growth of the private sector which sits at the heart of the Kingdom’s ongoing development, the report added.
