Gulf | Bahrain
Salary limit proposed for driving licences
Foreigners who earn less than 500 Bahraini dinars (Dh4,890) a month should not be allowed to apply for Bahraini driving licences, an MP has suggested.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:18 September 19, 2008
Manama: Foreigners who earn less than 500 Bahraini dinars (Dh4,890) a month should not be allowed to apply for Bahraini driving licences, an MP has suggested.
"Our bloc is tabling a motion to amend the current traffic laws in order to restrict the acquisition of the Bahraini driving licence by expatriates to those whose income is not less than 500 Bahraini dinars and who have valid residence permits," Abdul Rahman Bu Majid, an MP for the Future Bloc, said yesterday in a press statement.
However, foreigners hired as domestic or office drivers will not come under the purview of the new rules, which is to be discussed after the parliament reconvenes next month following the summer break.
Traffic bottlenecks
Bu Majid said the new restrictions had become necessary to tackle the issue of traffic bottlenecks.
"There has been a sharp increase in the number of foreigners driving on the roads of Bahrain, which means an unbearable addition of cars on the roads and horrible congestion," he said.
"This situation is frustratingly painful and Bahrain has never seen anything like it in the past. We hope that the amendments that we are suggesting will help ease congestion and make traffic smoother," said the MP whose bloc has five of the 40 seats in the Council of Representatives.
Similar ban
However, the measure is likely to run into resistance from human rights activists who had earlier opposed a similar ban introduced in July 2007.
The now-defunct Bahrain Centre for Human Rights described the ban as discriminatory and called for its immediate lifting.
"Instead of taking practical measures to ease congestion such as studying the possibility of a public transport system and encouraging better road practices such as car pooling, we are extremely disappointed to see that the most vulnerable communities of people in Bahrain are being targeted," the centre said, calling upon the authorities to revoke the ban.
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