Bahraini PM chairs cabinet meeting

His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa chaired at the Gudaibiya Palace today the regular cabinet weekly meeting.
In a statement following the session, the Secretary-General of Cabinet Dr. Yaser bin Essa Al-Nasser stated HRH Premier had directed to address some negative phenomena associated with illegal workers, and formed a Joint Ministerial Committee, chaired by Labour Minister, to deal with the issue.
The panel, comprising representatives from the Ministries of Interior, Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning, Industry and Commerce and Social Development, as well as the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), shall activate and issue resolutions that regulate the accommodation of illegal workers, especially bachelors, in residential areas to avoid negative social effects.
The committee was also tasked with updating commercial registrars and cancelling the inactive ones to ensure they are not used to recruit workers for non-specified purposes. It will also intensify inspection campaigns on registrars and workers themselves.
It shall also eliminate some negative practices of irregular workers in some neighbourhoods that have negative effects on public health and the civilisational view and consolidate some professions and bad habits that are alien to the nature and traditions of the Bahraini society.
It will also tighten control over street vendors among those workers, and make sure their activities are compatible with the regulations and norms in force.
The panel shall put an end to the misuse of fishing licenses, especially regarding leasing them to irregular workers, in order to preserve marine resources and the livelihood of the citizens.
In another context, HRH Premier instructed the government sides to discuss the needs of the Northern Governorate's citizens regarding health, education and infrastructure, and tasked Follow-up Minister to follow-up on the agreed upon projects.
In this regard, the Health Ministry was instructed to study the establishment of a new health centre in Budaiya. It was also directed to examine the needs of the Northern Governorate concerning health services, including maternity services in A'ali
The Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments was requested to coordinate with the relevant sides in meeting the needs of the governorate concerning houses of worship and holy Quran memorisation centres. The Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry was directed to address any shortcomings in the fields of sanitation and infrastructure. Projects include constructing new entries and exits to Saar, and revamping its streets, and meeting the service needs of Al Jasra and Al Qarya villages.
The aesthetic aspects in some main streets of Hamad Town will also be improved.
HRH Premier directed ministers, ministries and government departments to intensify cooperation with municipal councils so as to help them achieve their service goals and enhance municipal work, being among the pillars of comprehensive sustainable development in the kingdom.
The cabinet also approved a model framework for financial regulations in the government bodies with independent or annexed budgets, in line with HRH Premier's directives in this regard.
Under the draft resolution, the relevant government sides shall have to adjust their financial regulations or issue new ones that comply with the model framework.
The cabinet also discussed developing the public transport system and examined a number of options that ensure the increase of the number of its users.
In this regard, the Council of Ministers reviewed a memo presented by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications on the implementation progress of ministry's comprehensive strategy to develop the public transportation industry.
Under the strategy, the new network will increase to 77% coverage compared to the current 35% of residential areas once the programme is fully rolled out by August. In addition, the new service will comprise 32 routes in total; 20 new routes will be added to the existing 12 routes which currently link the governorates together.
The upgraded public transport service will see the number of buses increase from the existing 35 to 141, catering to approximately 51,000 passengers on daily basis compared to the existing 16,000, and the number of bus stops will go up from 400 to 950, the cabinet learnt.
The cabinet also discussed amending the statute regulating the public radio communications stations. Under the amendment, the situation of existing masts will be modified so as to be used by more than one a telecommunications company. It also stipulates that the Telecommunications regulatory Authority (TRA) shall be in charge of organisation and licensing such masts.
The memo, submitted by the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, was referred to the Ministerial Committee for further study, the Cabinet Secretary-General also said.