Bahrain will not renew the work permits of thousands of Bangladeshis working in the Gulf state, in a ban expected to heavily impact the nation’s construction industry.
The decision not to renew work permits follows Monday’s announcement from the Interior Ministry that permits would no longer be issued to Bangladeshis, Bahrain’s Gulf Daily News reported on Wednesday.
The newspaper said it had been confirmed on Tuesday that Bahrain would not renew the work permits of Bangladeshi expats once they expired. The newspaper did not give further details.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa on Monday ordered authorities to stop issuing work permits to Bangladeshis, after the alleged brutal murder of a Bahraini national by a mechanic from the Asian nation.
Samir Nass, chairman of Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), said small contracting companies’ dependant on Bangladeshi labour will be hit the hardest by the ban.
“There are many contractors who rely on the cheap labour from Bangladesh…we hope a mechanism is put in place where the ban would be done in a way that minimises the impact on ongoing projects,” Nass told the newspaper.
The ban comes at a time when manpower is already in short supply, while many projects face delays from material shortages, and demands of increased wages from workers, he added.
The accused Bangladeshi was charged with premeditated murder on Friday for allegedly slitting the throat of Mohammed Jassim Dossary with a hacksaw after a disagreement over payment for work on the victim’s car.
The murder outraged some Bahraini government officials, who demanded the deportation of more than 100,000 Bangladeshi labourers from the kingdom.
The government officials have repeatedly claimed Bangladeshi immigrants are behind the nation’s growing crime problems.
Bahrain MP Abdul Halim Murad had called on the government to “put a timetable for the deportation of Bangladeshi labourers from Bahrain after their repeated involvement in murders and other crimes”.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Embassy head Saif Al-Islam said the move had left him and his colleagues in shock and the embassy would appeal against it.
“For one person the government is punishing a whole nation, which is not acceptable to us. We will appeal to the government to reconsider this…we will ask them at least to delay implementing this restriction,” he said.
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