Bahrain destruction of natural habitat slammed

HABITAT DESTRUCTION: Bahrain has given permission for developers to rip up a coral reef to the Bahrain Bay development. (Getty Images)

Environmentalists on Saturday slammed plans to rip up a coral reef in the way of the $2.5 billion Bahrain Bay development, claiming the kingdom risked losing its natural habitat forever.

The Environment Friends Society (EFS) called for a public enquiry into the decision last month by Manama Municipal Council giving developers the go-ahead to remove the reef.

"We cannot have such a decision taken without having a public inquiry," Khawla Al Muhannadi, president of EFS, told Bahrain's Gulf Daily News.

"There should be a proper environmental impact assessment and a public hearing involving non-government organisations (NGOs) and interested parties."

Al Muhannadi said if Bahrain continued destroying its natural habitat to make way for developments at such a rapid rate there would soon be nothing left.

"If we continue to do things this way, we will lose more and more and we will not be able to go back," she told the newspaper.

"We cannot wake up one day to realise we made a mistake as nothing will be left."

Developers have requested permission to rip up the reef as it is hindering work on water channels for the Bahrain Bay development, according to the paper.

Manama council blocked a request to take out the reef in June last year over allegations of unlicensed land reclamation in the area, but an investigation into the claims was later dropped due to a lack of evidence.

The Bahrain Bay development, a joint venture involving Bahrain-based investment bank Arcapita, is being built off the northeast coast of Manama.

The development, scheduled for completion in 2010, will include commercial, residential and retail districts set around a manmade waterfront, with the kingdom's first Four Seasons hotel as its centrepiece.

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