Repeated violations including vandalism have been recorded at public parks and gardens in the north due to a lack of security guards.
The Northern Municipal Council said it has received numerous complaints from residents about a lack of security in gardens located in the Northern Governorate.
It said despite large sums of money being spent on revamping and maintaining the parks, they were left unprotected and overrun with violators.
The council’s technical committee chairman Abdullah Al Qubaisi also questioned the Northern Municipality’s decision to reduce the number of security guards at public gardens and walkways.
During a council meeting, he also highlighted repeated requests to employ Bahrainis as guards.
“It is unreasonable for the government to spend tens of thousands of dinars to develop these recreational projects and then they are left unguarded for vandals and criminals to take over,” he said.
“Women have been complaining about their inability to enjoy these public spaces because of no security, with violators bringing their sheeshas and using the place as a hangout without monitoring.
“We have always been asking for Bahrainis to be employed as guards and yet what we’re seeing are expatriates from Africa and Bangladesh who don’t know how to react.
“Imagine a fight breaks out or a child is lost or an accident happens then you have citizens who struggle with the language barrier with these guards and that could lead to dire consequences.
“How can we leave public property that belongs to the country unguarded and open to vandalism.”
His concerns were also shared by council vice-chairman Yaseen Zainal who claimed an expatriate security guard stationed in a park in his constituency, which covers parts of Hamad Town, ran away due to unpaid wages.
“There used to be a guard in that walkway but because he hasn’t been receiving his salary he simply ran away and left the entire place unguarded,” he said.
“We have had complaints from residents that the guard room with all the equipment and tools was left open and people have walked in and played with these devices and could have vandalised the place and this isn’t right.”
In response to their concerns, Northern Municipality public parks and gardening head Hussain Al Saffar said due to the current economic situation and fiscal balance programme it was not feasible to employ guards at every single park and walkway.
“We have previously highlighted the budget allocated and we have to bear in mind that a guard is an additional cost of a salary,” he said during the meeting.
“We can’t allocate a budget to guard a property whose value is much less than the cost it will take to guard it.”
However, councillor Hussain Al A’ali said costs were not only incurred through vandalism of property but also through accidents, harassment and injury.
“There are two prongs to this issue – the first is protecting the physical properties and the second is social issues that could take place if a guard isn’t present,” he said.
“There are incidents of harassment and fights that could break out resulting in someone being killed and if these places are left unguarded it will be a heavy price to pay.
“The municipality is only looking at the financial aspect but there are more issues associated with leaving public places unguarded.”
This prompted Northern Municipality director general Lamyaa Al Fadhala to suggest a special meeting be held to ensure all concerns are answered with detailed statistics.
“Any decision that is made has to be based on sufficient information and facts,” she told councillors.
“Accusations flying around that there is a waste of public funds are harmful and untrue and a full presentation with all the statistics and details will be provided for the councillors.
“A garden that has cost me BD3,000 may cost me around BD12,000 to guard and that doesn’t seem like an intelligent way to utilise funds, especially since the government is heading towards a fiscal balance, so how can we go against that?”
A meeting will be held next week between the Northern Municipal Council and the Northern Municipality for the full details, statistics and costs to be discussed and highlighted.
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