By Ayman Adly/Staff Reporter
The Central Municipal Council (CMC) has called for stringent steps to curb the practice of partitioning villas into small residential units to accommodate more than one family.
At its biweekly regular session yesterday, members urged the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning (MMUP) to conduct a study to help the Cabinet issue a decision to ban expatriate families from sharing single housing units. They were of the view that the partitioning of villas by sub-agents had become very common and it violated the already applicable legislations in the country.
Accordingly, the council recommended that the MMUP co-ordinate with service-providers such as Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa) to cut off supplies to houses that have been structurally modified, which is a violation of the municipal laws.
“Further, MMUP should study the possibility of adding a condition while issuing the building completion certificate that making any structural modification without prior authorisation from the ministry would be illegal. The attorney general should be consulted regarding the legal mechanism of allowing law-enforcement officers to enter residential units to spot any such violation,” the council said.
“Simultaneously, an awareness campaign should be launched to instruct people on the adverse consequences of such practices, in particular
safety.”
The council also recommended that the import and supply of insecticides and pesticides should be assigned to qualified private local companies to avoid any delay in their delivery. The move is aimed at providing different municipalities with timely supply of these materials for protecting public health, agricultural products and livestock.
The local press had reported about a severe shortage of insecticides and pesticides in various municipalities, which resulted in the spread of insects and rodents in a number of areas.
To provide speedy and timely aid to those injured in accidents on highways, the CMC suggested that MMUP, in co-operation with the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), should work out plans to establish permanent stations for ambulances and landing spots for the helicopter ambulance on designated stretches.
CMC reviewed the responses of some government entities to its earlier recommendations. MMUP said that it had approved the creation of three new central markets – Umm Salal Ali, Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah.
Regarding the issue of granting free land to local real estate developers and investors, MMUP said the currently applicable law only permitted possession of state-owned land but no ownership. Yet CMC members argued that this law was considered “very old and not suitable to the current economic boom”, which had made the cost of commercial plots to soar, amounting to around 80% of the cost of the investment project. They asked for more flexible procedures and regulations to ease the process.
On raising the pension and other benefits of retired Qataris, the General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority (GRSIA) affirmed that there was a suggestion for drafting a law to give retired locals a pension equal to the last salary drawn and without deductions. Further, GRSIA encourages employed Qataris to remain in service as long as possible and avoid early retirement. Also, the retired are given assistance and guidance to remain active and some paid assignments to benefit from their experiences.
Compensation proposed for accident victims
Central Municipal Council (CMC) member Dr Mohamed al-Meslimani yesterday submitted a proposal for compensating victims of accidents, fires and natural disasters. He argued that the practice of insurance should be promoted to spare people from losses when a disaster strikes. CMC member Saleh al-Khayarin suggested that such an insurance plan should be made mandatory like the present health insurance and it should be sponsored by the government. The issue was referred to the CMC service and utility committee.
The CMC regular session yesterday
