A campaign against illegal street vendors in a densely populated area of Bahrain has resulted in more than 100 roadside stalls being shut down in the first quarter of the year.

It was launched by the Northern Municipality based on complaints from residents that the unlicensed vendors were contributing to traffic congestion, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Director-general Yusuf Al Ghatam said most of the makeshift shops were located in Hamad Town and relatively new areas such as Janabiya and Abu Quwa.

"The municipality has removed more than 100 illegal stalls belonging to street vendors within the first three months of 2015," he said.

"It has organised several campaigns to spot illegal vendors and remove illegal stalls to reduce the problem.

"According to daily inspections, the municipality has recorded 129 violations and removed more than 100 stalls.

"Most of the violations were seen in Hamad Town and relatively new areas such as Janabiya and Abu Quwa in the three-month period.

"We have received many complaints from residents about street vendors - those who have their stalls in front of mosques on Fridays or on roadsides.

"They cause traffic jams and most of them don't have a licence from the municipality."

Only Bahrainis are legally permitted to open a stall on the street - and only with permission from the municipality.

"The procedure is not easy because we decide where, to make sure it does not disturb residents or affect traffic," said Al Ghatam.

"Most of the stalls removed this time belonged to non-Bahrainis."

Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that a total of 808 illegal advertisements were pulled down during the first three months of the year.

"The municipality has removed 635 illegal commercial advertisements after taking procedures according to the advertising law," said Northern Municipality technical services director and engineer Saba Al Asfoor.

"A total of 173 were also removed without warning as they posed a threat to motorists and had to be removed immediately.

"Some advertisements put up illegally without a licence can be an eyesore and also dangerous due to the way they are put up on streets and main roads.

"The municipality has also removed 50 illegal non-commercial advertisements, 13 of which were removed without prior warning."

She added the municipality had issued around 700 licences for street advertisements in the same period.

"The income during the first quarter of the year reached BD95,821 ($252,499), an average of BD31,907 a month, BD1,450 a day and BD207 an hour," said Al Asfoor.

Meanwhile, a total of 982 building licences were issued in the first three months of the year, more than half of them for private residences.

"The number of licences issued for private residences was 570, which accounts for 58 per cent of total building licences, while the number of building licences for adjoined houses was 106," she said.

"Housing projects have witnessed an increase of 17pc with 161 building licences issued."

Around 1,420 Commercial Registrations were issued during the three months. - TradeArabia News Service