Important infrastructure projects halted in a protected area of Bahrain will now go ahead after residents complained they were being forced to live without roads and sewage systems.

The Central Municipality has been refusing to allow the Works Ministry to go ahead with the projects at Tubli Bay since the start of this year.

Any development of the area is currently banned until authorities draw up an approved coastline, following years of illegal reclamation in the natural reserve.

However, the Central Municipal Council has now ordered the relevant infrastructure permits to be granted since the projects are earmarked for government land - not private property.

’I praise the municipality for their keenness in protecting the bay, but that’s not the development we are trying to halt,’ said acting chairman and area councillor Abbas Mahfoodh.

’The decision is clear and that’s banning developments and investments on the bay’s coasts and inside the bay.

’The Works Ministry projects will be carried out on land already reclaimed by the government to serve existing houses and private businesses. It will not harm the bay.

’It is true we want a public beach and this has been guaranteed by a law concerning the bay.’

A Royal decree, issued in August 2006, determines the bay’s size as 13.5km and protects it from pollution and other environmental hazards.

However, that decree is still pending while a new coastline is drawn up by a government committee.

UN regulations state that any development should take place at least 100 metres from public beaches.

Among projects halted at the bay was a BD20 million ($53 million) waterfront housing and development project by the Dadabhai Group.

However, the council expects the company to resume work once it agrees to new terms.

The Gulf Daily News reported in February that investors who bought plots in the waters of Tubli Bay, which were later claimed back by the government after it was discovered they had been sold off illegally, might not be compensated.

Officials have now narrowed down the best way to clean and rehabilitate the bay to five options, one of which will be decided next month. - TradeArabia News Service