The Roads Directorate at the Ministry of Works and Housing has sought a budget of BD570 million for the next 17 years to build new roads and upgrade others.
A ministry spokesperson said yesterday a proposal had been made to expand and improve the roads network which affects 10 major projects.
The spokesperson said proposals worth BD64 million had been cleared and implemented in the last few months. "They include the streamlining of traffic in the Seef area and the laying of a stretch of road for the Durrat Al Bahrain tourism and real estate project."
The spokesperson said the rest of the money would be used to build flyovers and redirect traffic at key junctions.
"They include the improvement of Hidd, Regency, Um Al Hassam, Bahrain Gas (near Salmabad), Shaikh Salman and Bahrain-map junctions and Central Market, Seef, Burgerland and Crowne Plaza interchanges, and Salmaniya roundabout," the spokesperson said.
"We need to do this on a regular basis in view of the huge increase in the number of cars."
The spokesperson said while Bahrain's population grows at three per cent a year, vehicular traffic has been growing at nine per cent. "This has been aggravated by cars becoming more and more affordable in the last few years." The spokesperson said that the ministry had submitted a memorandum to the Supreme Council for Traffic. "The memo points out the need to control traffic flow because however much we increase our network, we can't keep pace with the increase in vehicles," the spokesperson said.
The ministry has also requested an additional BD2 million for regular road improvement, BD4 million for road maintenance and BD4 million for new roads to connect new estates for the next two years.
By Mandeep Singh
© Bahrain Tribune 2005
