Officials plan Bahrain labour town in Central Governorate

A labour town to provide accommodation for the workers of hundreds of factories in Bahrain’s Central Governorate has been proposed by officials, local media reports on Sunday.

More than 500 factories already exist in Sitra, Ma'ameer, Nuwaidrat and Salmabad, the Gulf Daily News reports.

Central Municipal Council chairman Abdulrahman Al Hassan said Salmabad has been put forward as the possible location of the new town, which would house hundreds of expatriate workers.

Officials are modelling the camp on a similar project in Hidd, which houses some 2,500 workers, but will eventually accommodate up to 7,000 people, the paper reports.

"The Central Governorate is the most populated and has the largest number of factories. This is why we see it as crucial to build a labour township in the area," Al Hassan told the paper.

The news comes days after an agreement was signed by Dr Juma Al Ka'abi, the Municipalities and Agriculture Minister, and UK company Atkins for a BD2.6m project to develop a national scheme for new industrial areas.

The project includes the setting-up of labour towns in each governorate to serve the factories in that area.