Proposal for water taxis pops up in Bahrain Parliament

Manama : Despite the government’s rejection of the proposals for water taxis during the past few years, the demand for them again cropped up in the Parliament recently.

The latest proposal was submitted by MP Mohammed Al Maarifi, who called for opening the doors for investors to develop marine tourism in the country and launch maritime taxi services.

The government had rejected two similar proposals earlier, stating that the existing infrastructure wasn’t capable of accommodating such projects.

In his proposal, Al Maarifi stressed on the necessity of expanding public revenues. He said: “The GCC region is badly affected by the sudden drop in oil prices. It has a negative impact on public budgets of the GCC States, which also resulted in implementing several cost cutting measures such as scrapping subsidies, merging governmental authorities and increasing taxes on certain commodities.”

“Within the steps taken to combat this sudden fall in oil prices, the main income, the Kingdom of Bahrain is creating new revenues, with a focus on developing tourism and increasing its share in the Gross National Income (GNI),” Al Maarifi explained.

Justifying the proposal, he said, “With 3.6 per cent share in the country’s GNI, the incomes received from tourism in Bahrain are considered the lowest in touristic countries. This requires us to develop the environment for tourism and create new tourism facilities.” 

According to him, facilitating investment in marine transportation would benefit the economy considering the geographical nature of the country.

He insisted that it would boost tourism, create job opportunities, reduce pressure on the roads of the Kingdom and generally add to the State’s revenues.

Al Maarifi’s proposal comes less than a month after the government rejected his fellow MP Mohammed Al Ammadi’s proposal to develop the country’s infrastructure to accommodate water taxis in the near future.

However, Al Ammadi’s proposal was submitted in the beginning of 2015, and he only received the final answer on April 8, following prolonged study and discussion.

In its reply, the government said: “The economic value of such projects won’t meet expectations, mainly with the existence of a good and modern roads network in the Kingdom”.

At the same time, the government stated that “these projects could be supported by establishments of the private sector, with the aim of developing maritime tourism in Bahrain, in coordination with Transportation and Telecommunication Ministry.”   

It’s noteworthy that a similar proposal was rejected during the previous legislative term, 2010-2014.

Caption : Water taxis operating n Dubai