Interior minister chairs Traffic Council meeting

Manama, Jun. 7 (BNA): Interior Minister, Lieutenant-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, chaired here today the Traffic Council Meeting.  Minister of Education, Dr Majid bin Ali Al Nuaimi, Minister of Works, Municipalities’ Affairs and Urban Planning, Essam bin Abdullah Khalaf, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed and CEO of the Urban Planning and Development Authority, Shaikh Nayef bin Khalid Al Khalifa, attended the meeting. The Interior Minister welcomed the attendees, asserting the importance to continue efforts to promote traffic safety for all road users.  Minister of Education appreciated the role played by the General Directorate of Traffic and the Community Police in achieving the safety of students during the academic year. After that, the meeting discussed topics on its agenda, including inspection campaigns on illegal expatriate taxi drivers and technical conditions of the locations to keep rental cars.  The Interior Minister pointed out that those locations should respect safety rules, stressing the need to ensure that they don’t hinder traffic. Transportation Minister briefed the meeting about the light rail project and the hiring of an international investment company to set the primary designs of the project and determine the technology that should be adopted.  Meanwhile, Minister of Works briefed the meeting on some projects. The CEO of the Urban Planning and Development Authority also briefed the meeting on the project of the modernisation of the strategic transportation plan of Bahrain. In this regard, the Interior Minister highlighted the need to consider the international planning standards and to take into consideration the pedestrian crossings and the commitment to the security aspects. The Interior Minister expressed thanks and appreciation to the council’s members for their ongoing follow-up and efforts to meet traffic safety requirements, asserting the importance of swift response to deal with traffic jams and to handle accidents in accordance with the law.