A new public square, seven public parks and a 'green zone' are among a host of new projects lined up for Manama.

They are expected to cost more than BD3 million in total and also include a new public walkway in Zinj.

The projects are being lined up by the Manama Municipality and are expected to take six months to two years to complete.

They have already been approved by the Manama Municipal Council and work is expected to begin as soon as the projects are ratified by Municipal and Urban Planning Affairs Minister Dr Juma Al Ka'abi.

The projects will be paid for with BD3 million which our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN) reported yesterday had been allocated to the Manama Municipality's budget for one-off schemes.

Councillors had threatened to veto the Manama Municipality budget if the cash was not included.

'Now, with the municipality's agreement to include the projects' budget in the new two-year spending plan for this year and next year, we have decided to allow work on the projects to go ahead,' said council vice-chairman Mohammed Mansoor.

'Most of these projects have already been suggested by the previous council, but have never been executed due to delays in artist impressions or shortages in funding.

'The problem that the municipality doesn't understand is that people anticipate the projects the moment they get announced and they come to us daily asking about progress, but we have no answer because they are sitting on someone's desk.

'The municipality has to change its tactics and start adopting a fast system in which projects get announced, planned, drawn up and executed in line with people's expectations.'

Mansoor, who is also the council's financial, administrative and legislative committee chairman, described the 10 projects as ambitious and said they would make a massive difference to Manama.

However, he said he hoped even more initiatives would be pushed through with the help of private investors.

'We will work together with the private sector to get more cash pumped in for projects and hopefully these 10 will be just the ones shouldered by us, while double that number will be done by developers,' he said. 'These 10 projects are ambitious and hopefully they get completed within the two years assigned for them.

'From what I see, work on more than half of the projects will be complete this year.'-TradeArabia News Service