Deputy PM meets property developers, investors
(Manama) – Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa affirmed that the sustainability of the infrastructure sector will not be achieved unless in partnership with the private sector and investors through activation of the principle of levying of the cost of construction and development in urbanization areas.
He said the government since the establishment of the modern state of Bahrain until our present day has shouldered the onus of the provision of high quality efficient infrastructures for individuals and establishments equally alike commensurate with the current and future needs. However, to achieve the sustainability of this vital sector, there is urgent need now more than at any time past for investors and the private sector to undertake the aspired community role in the provision of competitive infrastructures.
Shaikh Khalid today held a meeting attended by Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf, real estate developers and members of engineering and property development vocations to inform them about the recent ministerial resolution passed regarding the definition of mechanism of levying the cost of construction and development of infrastructures in the current urban areas which include facilities.
The resolution was passed by the Minister of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning on June 4 in his capacity as the minister who has jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of Law Decree 25/2017 regarding the levying of the cost of construction and development of infrastructures in urban areas, one of the legal requirements for activation of the Law Decree which gained the approval of the bicameral legislature.
The deputy PM said many countries preceded Bahrain in the enforcement of the levying of the cost of infrastructure construction and development even through the nomenclature may differ he said the aim from the issuance of the Law Decree was to converge the current mechanism focused on the construction and development of infrastructure for projects in the current and new areas according to availability of funding in addition to its connection with the extent of the capability of each service-related ministry and directorate to include such projects in its plans unless the required budgets were available for that, which results in most instances in that the investors and property development companies themselves will be advanced in the performance of their projects in contrast with slowness in connection of the necessary services.
Numerous property developers and practitioners of the real estate and engineering vocations conceded on the importance of the Law Decree and is implementation resolutions as this law provides the quantum drive in the real estate market in the Kingdom of Bahrain in the manner that will ensure the provision and sustainability of connection of infrastructure services according to uniform and clear mechanism through the calculation of the sums which will be levied in consideration of the cost of construction and development of infrastructures in several urban areas.
The meeting was also attended by Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transportation for Land Transport and the Posts, Chairman of the Evaluation Committee for Cost of Infrastructures, Mariam Ahmed Jamaan, and several officials from the office of deputy Prime Minister, the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, representatives of the Bahrain Property Development Society, Bahrain Real Estate Society, Engineering Offices Society, and Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI)’s property sector committee.
