Bus stops across Bahrain will soon be completely revamped following complaints by MPs, municipal councillors and residents that they were unsafe and outdated.

The Cabinet had ordered the Transportation Affairs Authority, the Works Ministry and Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry to set up the new bus stops. However, councillors are worried that it would be some time before the government comes up with plans for the revamp.

The Muharraq Municipal Council has praised the long-awaited move, but said that it could be only 'ink on paper' unless real work starts.

'We have been asking for those revamps for a very long time and I can even recall a rejection from the Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry to an earlier proposal we presented,' said council financial, administrative and legislative committee chairman Mohammed Al Mutawa.

'The Cabinet has reacted to a proposal from parliament and it is good that it is listening to someone, even though it is not us.

'The current bus stops are appalling and represent the dark ages. We were in negotiations with CARS (the public transport company) to do something, but they said that the decision was not theirs it was the government's.

'I challenge any government official to stand or sit in any of those stops. Thankfully there are plans to carry out a revamp, but we hope it is not just ink on paper.'

Al Mutawa, who is planning to lobby with Bahrain's other four councils on the type of revamp, said that he had ideas for the new bus stops.

'Bus stops could be more appropriate with a suitable building structure that takes into consideration the heat, cold and rain,' he said.

'They could also be something like what I have seen in Singapore, with advertisements.

'The government may propose anything that is not necessarily what we want and here comes our role alongside other councils to have our say on how the bus stops should be revamped.'-TradeArabia News Service