Move to install telecom tower invites residents’ ire

Manama

 As many as 40 residents of a luxurious residential area in Riffa are protesting against the work being done to install a telecom tower next to their homes.

 A decision made by the estate management organization in Riffa to allow a telecommunication company to install a telecom tower in an estate have drawn the ire of the residents of the area.

 Work on installing the towers had begun last Thursday but only to be halted by residents of the area. Saudi National Mohammed Ali Harazy was in forefront of the protest as he sat in front of at the work site last Monday as a sign of protest and to prevent them from pursuing the operations.

 Harazy said that the management had no right to build the towers there because "the land did not belong to the management". "This land is not under the ownership of the management, it is part of the communal area where the landscape and recreational facilities are meant to be made for the residents. I had to sit in the work site because it was the only way I could stop the work,” he said.

 He added that all except one resident support the cause and are gathering signs from the residents to submit a petition against the move. “So far, we have received 30 signs and the rest have also shown a favourable attitude towards us,” he told DT News.

 Some among the protests point out the fears over the health hazards due to the proximity of the tower as the reason to protest.

"On May 20, the residents had received an email from management that they had been approached by telecom telecommunication companies in 2009, who were hoping to establish communication towers within the compound to improve telecom connectivity in this area. However, I would rather take the glitches in connectivity than the health hazards the towers would pose for our families. We know the ill effects due to radiations from these towers. There are repercussions when having a tower in proximity to residential areas," another resident said.

 "Secondly, the installation of these towers will have serious devaluation and depreciation issues to our homes here. We will have problems with reselling our properties here, this is a known fact. Thirdly, the aesthetic consequences are also there. We were promised the sun, moon and the stars from the management when we were signing on the dotted line. Everything that were promised in in terms of landscaping, recreational facilities etc never came to fruition," she added.