Bahrain’s Works Ministry officials have announced plans to improve road safety and relocate five factories and industrial companies in parts of the kingdom.

Residents have repeatedly complained about the noise and pollution coming from the establishments situated in Block 941 of Riffa.

But Works Ministry officials are set to carry out a major revamp in a bid to solve the problem.

"We would like to assure the public that road revamp work in Riffa is included in the ministry's programme to improve roads for 2012," the ministry said in a statement.

"To speed up implementation, the ministry has recently invited bids for the designing phase of the indicated project through a public tender. This also includes traffic studies and determination of proper entrance and exit points in the area. Bids are currently being studied and evaluated in order to award the project to the winning party."

The ministry said work on the project would begin as soon as designs and studies were complete and approval of concerned technical services directorates had been obtained.

Residents earlier claimed heavy traffic from trucks was posing danger to their children.

Area councillor Ahmed Al Ansari called for authorities to relocate five factories and industrial companies in the Central Governorate to pave way for housing projects.

He had earlier told our sister publication the Gulf Daily News that the area was in need of housing projects to serve Buhair, Sanad and Isa Town and that the factories were causing disturbance to residents, who had complained to him many times.

The councillor stated that the location of the factories could potentially host hundreds of houses and the area should only be residential and not for industrial establishments. – TradeArabia News Service