Bahrain: An alarm has been sounded over a market that has been branded a health and environmental hazard.

The 27-year-old East Riffa Central Market has been deemed unfit for the purpose for the past decade by the Southern Municipal Council.

It says foul smells permeate the market, which is prone to sewage water flooding and suffers from poor ventilation despite efforts to revamp it. 

Traders at the market were supposed to relocate to a new Southern Governorate Central Market nearby, but the BD10 million facility market has never been built despite plans being ready since 2005.

The owner of a factory where the new market is proposed has already agreed to a compensation of around BD3m, while the market itself was estimated at BD7m – with plans to fund it using money from a $10 billion GCC Development Fund pledged by Bahrain’s neighbours in 2011.

However, the money has still not been made available by the government and the council now wants MPs to push for the funding to be allocated – already approaching parliament’s public utilities and environment affairs committee.

“I don’t want to say the Southern Municipality has not done something, they have done their best with the limited funding they have over the years, but the problem is related to the whole market,” said MP Mohsin Al Bakri, who is the committee vice-chairman and former chairman of the municipal council.

“We suggested a decade ago that more land needed to be bought near the current market for expansion, but it would cost the same as building a new market. 

“As such BD80,000 was spent on minor revamps, but it led nowhere and the place has gone from bad to worse.

“It has become an environmental and a health hazard – it is beyond its prime and has to be knocked down.

“For a decade the place has been engulfed with foul smells, flooding sewage and improper ventilation, besides lack of parking and all those factors make doing business there impossible.”

Current council chairman Ahmed Al Ansari said the existing market was in desperate need of work, particularly in the absence of a new facility.

“Real revamps should have been carried out inside the existing market because it could take years for the new market to be constructed, so the revamp of the existing facilities was vital,” he said.

“We just want the market to be intact until the move is complete.

“It cannot be called a market, but remodelling it properly according to hygiene and cleanliness standards will certainly help it gain more appeal among the public.”

The market benefited from new air-conditioners, toilets, stalls, tiles and lights, in addition to sewerage network development and a new place to clean fish, in 2013.

Monthly rents for traders were also doubled that year from BD27 to BD50 to cover expenses.

mohammed@gdn.com.bh