A redsign is being sought in how car parks are distributed among businesses to tackle an overflow of vehicles in Bahrain’s already congested capital.
The Capital Trustees Board wants to first address the situation in a bid to curb future complications and then come up with long-term solutions to lack of car park spaces.
This is because certain commercial and residential districts in the Capital Governorate have more vehicles than the areas can handle, leading to numerous complaints of improper parking and disputes between motorists, residents and businesses.
The board has voted to impose new regulations on new requests for medical clinics, kindergartens, restaurants and other businesses in Manama.
The board’s technical committee said in its report that existing rules obliged landlords to calculate car park spaces without any specifications, while the new rules would designate a specific number of parking spaces for each business within a building or complex.
The new rules also state that separate plots of land leased for parking should be within 200m of a business, which will be given only four months to find an alternative space if the five-year lease agreement is broken.
“I believe the stricter rules are positive because they will create organisation, as the current hectic scene is causing commercial and residential bottlenecks,” said board chairman Saleh Tarradah.
“It should be understood that the new rules may tackle problems associated with newly-built projects, but the existing businesses will continue (under the old rules).”
He explained that the new rules were not a long-term solution, but need to be enforced in order to create a stable situation for authorities to be able to find a long lasting solution.
“These stricter rules could be sufficient, but I think they are more of damage control,” he said.
“More proper action is needed to overcome the current parking situation in the Capital Governorate. We receive multiple complaints about serious problems and differences between residents and customers over improper parking due to the lack of adequate spaces.”
Under existing rules, hotels are obliged to provide a car park space for every three rooms, while restaurants should offer four parking spaces for 100sqm.
Private hospitals and clinics, along with banks and supermarkets are obliged to provide five parking spaces for every 100sqm, while private universities and institutes need to provide one each for every four students.
“There is an issue here, for example, what if the four students are all in one class and come at the same time, how would they share the parking spaces?” questioned Mr Tarradah.
“Car parking shouldn’t be an afterthought especially when certain businesses are needed and arrangements are made after the fact – it should be part of the original business plan.
“Providing minimum car park spaces is what has caused this problem in the first place.”
The proposal has been referred to Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf, who will have two weeks to respond.
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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