Communications Director at the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning Fahad Buallay revealed that the Ministry's Works Affairs received a total of 481 requests and complaints during the third quarter of 2016, with 316 requests targeting the roads sector and 165 requests for the sanitary sector.
Also, the number of followers on the Ministry's Instagram account amounted to over 10,000 followers, which indicates a very positive response from the followers and an interest in the Ministry's news about different projects, requests or complaints. All applications are dealt with urgently by the Ministry.
According to Buallay, the periodical statistics prepared by the Ministry to tackle citizens' requests during the third quarter of 2016 has revealed that the National Complaints & Suggestions System 'Tawasol' is the channel through which most complaints and requests reach the Ministry; indicating people's growing keenness to use the electronic systems and cope with the digital evolution that is presently taking place. This comes in line with HRH the Crown Prince's close follow-up to the system and his concern towards allowing people to convey their requests and concerns easily.
Buallay stated that the number of requests and complaints which the communications team responded to within only 10 days from the date of reception, or less, amounted to 172 requests and complaints out of the total number of requests, with an average of 7.4 requests/day. September attracted the highest number of requests, with 89 requests, while August came next with 244 requests and followed July with 148 requests.
Buallay also explained that most requests reached the Ministry via Tawasol; with 191 requests, then came the phone with 160 requests, then newspapers with 70 requests, Twitter (12 requests), Instagram (10 requests), personal visits (8 requests), letters (5 requests), the email (3 requests), one requests transferred from other directorates and one requests via the mail box.
According to Buallay, the most repeated requests in the roads sector are pavements and roads maintenance requests, roads revamp and expansion requests and new roads pavement requests. As for the sanitary engineering sector, most requests centered around the construction and upgrade of sewerage networks, the construction of storm water drains and connecting houses to the sewerage networks.
The Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs & Urban Planning is employing modern media channels, like the Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat (Bahrain_Works) to stay in touch with all groups of the society; in line with directives from HRH the Prime Minister's directives to communicate with citizens and accommodate their needs.