63 land purchases get Cabinet approval during first half of 2016

Manama : The number of land purchases receiving Cabinet approval during the first half of the year has reached 63, revealed Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs.

Assistant Undersecretary for Municipal Affairs Raed Al Salah said the ministry will study the property and evaluate the demand to request its acquisition from the government body and Finance Ministry. This will be based on ministry’s law no. (39) of 2009 and no. 27 of 2016.

He noted that the ministry issues a decision of expropriation in a maximum period of two working days after the completion of all required procedures to meet necessary conditions from other agencies.

Al Salah said the Works Affairs benefits the most from the acquisition with 57 properties in different parts of the Kingdom. 

Other government agencies include the Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs and the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) with three properties each. Two of the BACA properties are in Riffa while the third is in Muharraq.

Al Salah explained that the acquisition and compensation department will compensate and ensure the legality of the request after publishing it in the official gazette. 

The owner of the property will be notified of the compensation amount to acquire the property, after which the owner shall have the right to accept or reject the value within a period of 45 days. 

In case the owner agrees to be compensated, the department will ask the party that wishes to acquire the property to pay the owner in order to receive the contract. 

In the case the owner disagrees, the cases will be sent to the grievance committee, which will assess the value of the property and notify the owner with an adjusted price.

It is worth noting that the owner has the right to refuse the price given by the grievance committee in court within a period of 60 days, as the department will deposit the compensation amount on consignment on behalf of the property owner in the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments as a guarantee of the owner to be compensated.