The Ministry of Works is the construction arm of the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is entrusted with a major portion of the public works sector and capital asset formation in Bahrain.
With responsibility for public works and infrastructure engineering covering construction, roads and sanitary drainage projects the Ministry has an extensive portfolio of projects across these key sectors. Implementation requires rigor, responsiveness, flexibility and a high degree of coordination between development partners.
Today, the Ministry’s responsibilities include:
1. Buildings: design, supervision of construction and maintenance of schools and public buildings
2. Roads: planning, design, supervision of construction and maintenance of roads, bridges and traffic facilities.
3. Sanitary drainage: planning, design, supervision of construction and operations and maintenance of networks, treatment plants, pumping stations and Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) systems.
4. Electricity and Water: This function is delivered through the Electricity and Water Authority which is independent from the rest of the Ministry of Works.
5. The Works undertaken by the Ministry include a large number of small projects and services that are local in nature such as small schools, local access road sections, road safety works, signs and signals, sanitary house connections, repairs of the sewage network; in addition to medium-sized projects and large complex projects that are of strategic nature or of global community interest such as ports, airport, hospitals, bridges, complex interchanges, and sports facilities that normal span several years to complete and require large budgets and specialist expertise.
Ministry brief history:
• The Ministry was established in 1975 in accordance with Amiri Decree No. 18 as the Ministry of Works, Electricity and Water.
• At that time it comprised four directorates: Works, Electricity, Water, and Research & Projects.
• In 1992, the Ministry was restructured into two sectors in accordance with Amiri Decree No. 3, 1992: Public Works and Electricity & Water .
• In 1995 a new structure emerged according to Amiri Decree No. 12, 1995 and the name of the Ministry became the Ministry of Works and Agriculture. In April 2001, it became the Ministry of Works. The cabinet added the Housing sector to the functions of the Ministry after Parliament elections in November 2002.
• The Housing sector (formerly Ministry of Housing established in 1975) was responsible for providing housing services to citizens of the Kingdom with well-planned programs to provide suitable houses to Bahraini families incapable of building their own houses.
• The Ministry of Works and Housing underwent several changes in its role and functions within the government structure. It is operating within two constraints: statutory, pertaining to the degree of harmony of its mission with its evolving environment, including civil service legislation; and budgetary, pertaining to the scarcity of resources available compared with those needed, at a time when public agencies are invited to rationalise public expenditure and improve the management of allocated resources.
• In December 2007 according to a recently issued Decree, the Ministry of Works and Housing was again divided into two separate Ministries, one for Housing and one for Public Works. In that same decree, the Ministry of Electricity and Water was to become an Authority under the Ministry for Works.
