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New push to end university row

By BASMA MOHAMMED , Posted on � Monday, January 04, 2010

A PROPOSAL to relocate a university being built in A'ali could end months of dispute between residents and the Central Municipality.

Work on the new Delmon University campus has been suspended while a solution is sought.Building work on the new campus, covering an area of around 30,000 square feet, has sparked objections from A'ali residents for more than three months. A petition signed by more than 160 A'ali residents urged the Central Municipal Council to intervene and relocate the university away from their homes.They argued that the university's location, currently on a side road, would cause chaos in the area and destroy the peace.

Area councillor Adel Al Sitri told the GDN that the government-owned land where the project stood had been approved by the Central Municipality to be turned into an education centre."The owner of the university is now paying rent to the government, through the Finance Ministry, for this land," he said. However, the project was never presented to the municipal council to study its impact, he added."This caused problems as residents found the project threatened their peaceful neighbourhood," said Mr Al Sitri.

"The project was not comprehensively planned as it does not have proper exit routes." Mr Al Sitri said the residents were also concerned about the lack of parking in the area despite plans to build parking spaces for students. "The university has plans to allocate parking spaces on the ground floor of the building along with assigned spaces around the campus, but even with those plans in place problems will still arise," he said. "These parking spaces won't cover all the students who attend the university, especially as they are not just from Bahrain but come from around the region. "The residents' fears are legitimate because this also adds to the number of motorists who pass through the area to reach other schools, the driving licence training school and various government offices."

Mr Al Sitri said that the council had talked to the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry about the matter, proposing a three-month halt to the project until it is further studied. However, the ministry agreed to a one-month suspension, starting from December 7, he added. "The project was approved by the Royal Court," said Mr Al Sitri. "It is not fair to stop the project altogether, but we want to at least find a solution that satisfies both parties." The area already has the Philippines School and the Bangladesh School, two buildings for the Al Falah School, a maternity hospital and a Social Development Ministry social centre. "The Delmon University will just make traffic jams worse," said Mr Al Sitri.

He said that the council was planning to propose that the university campus be moved further north near the Philippine School, which he said would be discussed with the ministry's Urban Planning Directorate. "The proposal is to move the project so that it will be on a main road," said Mr Al Sitri."This will allow establishing proper exit and entrance routes without making the traffic situation in the area worse."

Campus

The university is planning to have an academic building consisting of three levels, with parking spaces, he added.It will be the main campus for the university, which is currently located on Exhibition Road.

On other projects in the area, Mr Al Sitri said that there had been no complaints about a sub-station currently being built there."I have never got any petition or letter complaining on this matter," he said. The councillor stressed that the sub-station was of very important to meet power demands and the only place it could be located was near the schools and other

[balqis]

Quote;

''This caused problems as residents found the project threatened their peaceful neighbourhood," said Mr Al Sitri.

This is what Beauty of Bahrain - and its people - amongst many other things, consists in.
One is invited, say, to Kuwait, to understand my point as well as unique strength of Bahrainis' attitude.

Greetings to Bahrain!

balqis