An action plan to clean and rehabilitate Tubli Bay is expected to be announced by the end of the month.

The plan is now being finalized by environmental consultant Posford Haskoning Environment Gulf (PHE Gulf), which has agreed to present it to the Steering Committee tasked to resolve environmental pollution in the bay.

Studies and options were presented at a workshop for the committee held yesterday (July 21) at the Ministry of Works headquarters, in Hoora.

The committee, chaired by H E Nayef Omar Al-Kalali, Undersecretary of Public Works Affairs at the Ministry of Works, is comprised of senior officials from the Ministry of Works, Municipalities and Agriculture Affairs, the Ministry of Industry & Commerce, the Manama and Central Municipal Councils, the Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife and BAPCO.

"We are committed to resolving the issues with Tubli Bay and today's workshop follows the completion of several activities which are providing the facts we need in order to select the optimal method for the operation to clean the sludge deposit, which we know does not exceed 6% of the bay area,” said Mr Al-Kalali. 

“The completion of remaining studies will provide comprehensive and conclusive results so that the most appropriate of the clean up options presented can be adopted to clean and rehabilitate the bay.  Following this, Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for clean up operations will be prepared by the consultant prior to the tendering phase of the project," he added. 

Central Municipal Council vice-chairman and Tubli councillor Abbas Mahfoodh welcomed moves to unveil the action plan by the end of the month.

“I believe that we should explore several cleaning methods and should evaluate alternatives in the next few days, ensuring that the best method is selected.”

Giving presentations at the workshop were internationally renowned dredging expert Nick Bray from Dredging Research Limited, which is a part of H R Wallingford Group, and PHE representatives: Halel Engineer, Director; Dr Dickon Howell, Environmental Consultant; Dr Keming Hu, Senior Hydrodynamic Consultant; and Michael Arora, Senior Marine Consultant.

Present at the meeting on behalf of the Ministry of Works were Khalifa Al Mansoor Assistant Under-Secretary for Sanitary Engineering, Essam Khalaf Assistant Under-Secretary for Roads and Director of Sanitary Engineering Operation and Maintenance Ibrahim Al Hawaj.