Plans to bulldoze run-down houses in old Muharraq, Bahrain and replace them with 300 new government homes are underway.

Details of the pioneering project were revealed during a Muharraq Municipal Council meeting yesterday (April 5) by Housing Ministry assistant under-secretary for housing projects Samy Buhazaa, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

He told councillors that three neighbourhoods in the area - Bin Hindi, Hala and Amamra - have been earmarked for the project, but officials were also looking at other possible locations as well.

"We are currently surveying old Muharraq neighbourhoods to come up with plans to compensate homeowners whose houses we will purchase and bulldoze," he said.

"We are also looking for the support of the council to take over public parks, walkways and other governmental facilities to be included in the project, and compensations for those would be providing them with other plots of land elsewhere.

"The target locations we have in mind are Bin Hindi, Hala and Amamra neighbourhoods, and we will build all needed facilities like public parks and infrastructure later on, but homes have to come first.

"The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiques has barred us from including some homes in our plans due to their historical importance, and there are homes that have been renovated by the Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry which we have also excluded."

Buhazaa said construction work will begin once compensation deals with existing homeowners are completed.

"The homes will not be given back to their original owners, they will be distributed among eligible families on the ministry's waiting lists who are original inhabitants of the neighbourhood - as I have seen from our database, some of those who will be moved out are set to benefit from new homes," he added.

Council chairman Mohammed Al Sinan said the new project would restore the social fabric of old neighbourhoods in Muharraq.

"The homes will be rebuilt according to old designs using new building materials, which will be acceptable to whoever is set to live there in future," he said.

"Many families originally from these neighbourhoods do not want to move to new housing projects in Galali, Busaiteen or Hidd and would like to stay in old Muharraq.

"This project would also help create more homes in other areas for people on the waiting list.

"A total of 300 homes would be built in the three neighbourhoods as a first step which is good, but as work goes on other areas should also be considered as a second phase."

Yesterday's meeting ended abruptly following a heated debate between councillors and ministry officials on the criteria of eligibility for housing projects.

Al Sinan was forced to ask ministry officials to leave the chamber to restore order among angry councillors. - TradeArabia News Service