Manual car wash a threat to companies

Manama : The days of manual car wash in Bahrain could finally be over. A proposal to ban manual car washers from the tourism and commercial areas in the capital was presented during a recent meeting headed by the Capital Governorate Governor, Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa, along with the security and service authorities.

If the proposal comes into effect, it could ban drivers from washing their cars in the street because of the damage it can do to the environment with cleaning chemicals entering the water supply.

Even though this will leave the capital clean and tidy, it will also lead to many people losing their jobs. According to the officials, the major concern is the mushrooming of illegal immigrants conducting unregulated car washing as their major businesses.

According to  Hussain Mohammed, a supervisor of  an automated car washing company at central Manama, with the implementation of the ban, there will be a drastic change in the business of car washing companies. 

“A major share is being taken by those who do illegal car washing on the streets. I strongly recommend the ban and support the initiative,” he said.

According to a  DT News survey, it is observed that there is a notable hike in the price of automated car washing in the Kingdom. A year before, a sedan was charged BD1.5 for a normal wash where as now it has risen to  BD2 for the same.