Voting on imposing fees for sanitary services today

 MPs are expected to vote on the issue of imposing fees for sanitary services during their weekly meeting at the Council of Representatives in Gudaibiya today.

The step comes as the government, represented by Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry, submitted a proposal to the parliament that suggests amending the existing Sewage and Surface Water Discharge law, by imposing fees on sanitation services for certain categories.

The proposal was then referred to Public Utilities and Environment Parliamentary Committee for studying.

Committee Chairman Adel Al Assoomy confirmed while speaking to DT News yesterday that the committee has rejected the proposal. “It’s up for the remaining MPs voting tomorrow (Tuesday) to decide whether to approve it or not,” he said.

MP Al Assoomy justified rejecting the proposal by claiming that “it would have direct and negative impact on the livelihoods of citizens.”

His statements came despite repeated governmental assurances that “the fees will not include citizens’ domestic use, but will be on other categories of consumers.”

Al Assoomy added that the matter was not discussed during the committee’s meeting with Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Minister Essam Khalaf yesterday.

As reported earlier, the fees will be imposed on expats and non-domestic users such as shops, factories and other facilities.

The Ministry confirmed that it will contribute in compensating the huge spending of the government in this field, announcing that BD300 million had been invested in the field during the past 15 years. 

It also added that 95 per cent of the areas in Bahrain are connected to a modern sewage network and keeping such advanced standards would require more spending.

Meanwhile, speaking during a press conference that followed the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, Parliament and Information Affairs Minister Isa bin Abdulrahman Al Hammadi emphasised that “the fees would increase the revenues of the government and it will surely have a positive financial impact on the Kingdom.”

“It has been confirmed during the meetings between the government and the concerned parliamentary committee that citizens in their residences will not be affected by the fees. We are talking about other uses such as commercial, industrial, tourism and others,” Al Hammadi added.