Councillors want to evict expat labourers from their homes in the south of the country in a bid to woo Bahraini families back to their old neighbourhoods.

The Southern Municipal Council has submitted the proposal to relocate foreign workers to the Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Members of the council previously lobbied for a custom-built, segregated living space to be created for the country's foreign workers, complete with their own apartments, police station, health centres, truck park and other facilities.

It followed complaints that growing numbers of expat bachelors in residential neighbourhoods had prompted an exodus of Bahraini families from the Southern Governorate.

“Bachelors form the majority of the population in some places in the Southern Governorate, which made many original area residents leave their homes,” said council financial, administrative and legislative committee chairman Mohammed Mousa.

“We want the government to purchase buildings used to accommodate labourers and turn them into new residential projects (for Bahrainis).

“Councillors have grown tired of repeating the issues to ministry officials.

“The problem is that Bahrain has no actual plan to establish a new segregated city for bachelors, unlike other GCC countries that have started taking measures to solve the problem.”

Complaints about single Asian men moving into Bahraini communities have persisted for years.

Landlords often rent out low-cost accommodation to large numbers of foreign bachelors, prompting complaints from neighbours.

The complaints mainly focus on the lifestyles of labourers, their choice of dress and concerns that they pose a risk to women living in the area.

“Labourers come from different cultures and backgrounds and they don't have our values,” said Mousa.

“Some go out wearing unacceptable clothes and stare at women and children when they pass by their neighbourhoods.

“They have also created gangs inside their neighbourhoods selling drugs and alcohol.

“This proposal (to evict expat bachelors) is for their benefit too because they would be provided with a convenient place to live.”

He said the council hoped that foreign workers would be rehoused in a purpose-built residential area reserved for expat bachelors.

“We have done many studies on this issue and the ministry said it would solve the problem, but later we discovered it had not allocated land (for a labour city) until now,” said Mousa.

“The council hopes this issue is resolved as soon as possible because it is affecting the area's residents and we also demand the proposed city includes all facilities bachelors need.” - TradeArabia News Service