After decades of neglect, Sitra gets a new mall that promises to raise the residents’ standard of living, thanks to the efforts of the king and the crown prince.
It was an unbelievable sight just three short years ago the number of locals in Sitra who greeted the king in their streets. There was no space to move, and probably disregarding his own personal safety, the king appeared through the sun-roof of his car and talked, touched and felt the love the people of Sitra showed him.
Let me put that into perspective for you to understand what a courageous move that was on the king’s part:
Sitra is a small island off the eastern coast of Bahrain. In it you were hard pushed to breathe. It is filled with factories, the Bahrain refinery, main oil export terminal, a fantastic beach resort, a yacht club, live-stock holding pens and a few fishing villages which has suffered for decades of bad roads, ill health, a couple of schools for some 30,000 people and a single dilapidated health centre.
You should have seen the oxymora of this island by now, filled with the richest trappings of Bahrain and the main sources of its revenue (oil and industry), yet the worst living conditions and poverty in the kingdom.
One must ask why? Sitra has been at the forefront of the rebellion witnessed in the 90’s and has been a beacon of struggle since the 50’s. Its people felt no affinity to Bahrain nor its ruling establishments. They have been swept under the rug and forgotten. No jobs, no education, no health, no future.
So what rekindled their nationalistic passion by greeting the king so?
February 14th, 2001 is one of the most sacred days in Bahrain’s ancient history. On that day I happily voted affirmatively for the National Action Charter together with 98.4% of Bahrainis. It promised sweeping reforms, release of political prisoners and transparency. It brought back the popular participation in politics which has been shut down in 1975.
The people of Sitra as is the case with the rest of Bahrain felt empowered. At last they might be able to get their voices heard. The proof of the new era was soon evident. While dignitaries from other areas of Bahrain which the king visited heaped platitudes and flowery poems on the monarch, in Sitra their chosen representative stood before the him and laid out the islanders demands: we’re unhealthy because of the unchecked pollution emanating from the factories on the island, we’re unhealthy because we have a disfunctional health centre, the vast majority of us are unemployed, our roads are filled with potholes, a large number of our residents are political prisoners, there is no trade which benefits the people directly in Sitra, the local police are brutal and many other hard-hitting complaints.
The king just sat in the ma’atem (shi’a place of worship) and listened without interruptions, his face did show the pain he felt when he heard of all of these complaints. At the end of the speech he astounded the gathering: he told the speaker that he can go to the prison and get the prisoners out the next day! There was stunned silence followed by roars of approval and happiness. He instructed the Minister of Health to update and construct a new hospital, he instructed the Minister of Housing to build council housing for the needy families, he instructed the Minister of Works to fix the roads and the list goes on.
A few months passed and he stunned the Bahrainis again by dedicating 30% ownership of the largest shopping mall in Bahrain (Seef Mall) to the needy families! He’s done it again in Sitra where he instructed that a similar mall be built there, and 30% of its revenues will be disbursed amongst the people of Sitra!
The crown prince laid the foundation stone of the Sitra Mall yesterday.
Some good is happening pioneered by the King and the Crown Prince. We can see that they’re trying. They’re very active and they listen. Their visits to the various areas of Bahrain – especially the poor ones – brings reality home to them. They’re no longer insulated from the people and their suffering. The examples here are plenty; the crown prince visited a few villages and saw for himself from the squalor they live in. He not only gave his instructions to the government to get their act together, but continued to follow up on their performance.
The crown prince was also very instrumental in getting the Formula One to Bahrain, and although the British Foreign office as well as others are trying to sabotage the event by warning of a high possibility of terrorist action at the event, I think it will be successful.
Terrorism at an event like Formula One is equal in all parts of the world as terrorists’ main aim of course is to bring notice to their cause, and that means any gathering of this size (major concerts, sporting events, etc) are all targets.
True that one might think that as Bahrain is Muslim and an Arab country the western mind would think that it might rank higher on their target list, but that’s just stereotypical. As in any situation, it pays to be vigilant.
Bahrain will do its utmost to curtail and lessen the possibility of terrorist attacks, they’re already hiring security experts for the track and filling it with hundreds of closed-circuit security cameras. I would say that it’s as safe as Sepang and Sozuka and there is no need to overly worry. Be vigilant but don’t give in to terrorists.
A lot of people just don’t want the Bahrain F1 to be a success. They would like to see it move to Dubai or even maybe Riyadh, but these are the pessimists who could never see the good side of things.
Bahrain is on the right track. We have many folds of freedoms compared with even a few years ago. We have two young leaders with vision who genuinely want to raise the Bahraini standard of living even though they are shackled somewhat by the �old guard’. We know that. And we will work with them to make this island an example to be followed.
So it’s not all bad.
We have a lot of work ahead of us… we’re not afraid of work!
Comments
Sitra starts to breathe
Mahmood your are a brave man to admit that the king and the crown prince are working toward the better inhancing the standards of living of there people. It seemed like in the last couple of years everyone forgot the good deeds they brought. So THANKYOU for reminding us again. God bless Bahrain and it’s King.
Sitra starts to breathe
from todays GDN
[b]BD10m Sitra Mall work is on target [/b]
By ABDULRAHMAN FAKHRI
WORK on the BD10 million Sitra Mall will be completed by May this year, it was revealed yesterday.
The 37,164 square metre project has already attracted enough investor interest to take up the equivalent of 70 per cent of the shop areas.
But no formal negotiations have yet taken place, Common Municipal Services director general Dr Juma Al Kaabi told the Press during a site visit.
He said that the mall, located near the Sitra causeway between Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Subah Road and the sea front, would be the only centre in Bahrain overlooking the sea.
Dr Al Kaabi said work started in August 2003 and around 85pc had been completed, which started in August 2003.
The three-floor mall will be the only one in the country to have an allocated area for other services such as airlines, law and engineering firms, among others, he said.
This will be in addition to its hyper market, shops, restaurants and multi-purpose halls.
Dr Al Kaabi said that the mall’s food court would have 10 restaurants and a dining area overlooking the sea.
The mall also has an allocated area for children’s games and parking for 900 cars.
“There has been a good response from regional and local investors, who want to rent space in the new mall,” said Dr Al Kaabi.
“However, no negotiations have been carried out to rent out any space. It will be the duty of the Central Municipal Council to negotiate such contracts once work on the mall is completed.”
The project, which is overseen by the Common Municipal Services Directorate, has been built following a pledge of support made by His Majesty the King Hamad during a visit in 2001.
A percentage of revenues generated by the mall will be distributed to needy residents in the area.
“No specific percentage has been allocated yet, which will be determined later by the municipal council as well as the means of distributing the revenues,” said Dr Al Kaabi.
He said that the mall would also be instrumental in creating job opportunities for job-seekers in the area.
“This will be the first phase of the project, the second will include an office tower and multi-storey car park,” said Dr Al Kaabi.
He said that work on the second phase of the project is yet to be discussed and finalised. Dr Al Kaabi was accompanied by Central Municipal Council chairman Ibrahim Hussain, ministry officials and project officials.