News

• Consulting Company for running the operations of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority.
• Real estate transactions exceed the one-billion-dinar mark for the third year in a row, an indication of the stability of the market

Local Affairs Editor wrote:

President of Survey and Land Registration Bureau (SLRB) Shaikh Salman bin Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa said that SLRB has started the process of awarding a tender to a consultancy firm to draft the implementation regulations of the Real Estate Regulation Law after His Majesty the King ratifies it. He said that after His Majesty’s ratification of the law, decrees will be issued with respect to the establishment of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), and the formation of its Board of Directors.

In an interview with the Editor-in-Chief of “Al Ayam” daily, Shaikh Salman bin Abdulla said that the consultancy firm will draft the implementation regulations of the law, all the internal work procedures related to the functioning, organization, systems and programs of RERA. The Board of Directors of RERA will be headed by a chairman and will comprise representatives from the concerned government agencies and the private sector as members. RERA will also have a chief executive officer. 

In the exclusive interview, he explained that the Real Estate Regulation Law, which had input from all the parties concerned with real estate, aims to put in place the best laws and procedures for this sector to encourage investment and avoid any pitfalls that may result in the stalling of real estate projects.

As for his assessment of real estate dealings, the SLRB President said that "the total real estate transactions in 2016 exceeded the one-billion-dinar mark for the third time running. This is an indicator of stability in the real estate market in Bahrain".

He added that "this strong trading tells us that we have a reliable market and a conducive investment environment based on laws and regulations that provide sufficient guarantees and incentives to the real estate investor", noting that Bahrain has big real estate companies that undertake mega real estate projects.

He pointed out that real estate continued to grow steadily and has seen very rapid growth in recent years, noting that the area (size) of ​​Bahrain has increased by 18%. He attributed these positive results to the comprehensive reform scheme of His Majesty the King and the wise policies of the government of Bahrain that the real estate sector and ensured its stability.

Following is the complete text of the interview:

Q: The Survey and Land Registration Bureau is one of the most important government agencies. What are the most important projects and tasks of SLRB that benefit the Bahraini economy?

Ans: At the outset, I would like to mention that the role of the Land Survey and Registration Bureau is to document and preserve public and private properties, issue title deeds related to these properties and keep them in an organised archive and maintain their legal status. SLRB also provides survey services such as the surveying of land and properties, issue of survey maps and certificates, providing comprehensive, detailed and highly accurate spatial information to stakeholders, marine survey and sea depth analysis, monitoring of tides and the issuance of tide tables. Since strategic government projects, particularly infrastructure, rely on the data provided by the Survey and Land Registration Bureau, we focus our efforts at SLRB on the development of our systems and improving the work and services that we offer, especially the services that relate to providing accurate and comprehensive spatial information and keeping such information updated at all times.

Providing spatial information is one of the most important services provided by the Surveying and Land Registration Bureau. SLRB is currently cooperating with other service ministries to provide information on underground services, 3D maps and mapping marine sand extraction sites in cooperation with the concerned government agencies. SLRB also undertakes cadastral, topographical and hydrographic surveys and produces and updates the related maps. These maps and data are the basis for all investment, planning and infrastructure projects. We are working on achieving maximum coordination of efforts and streamlining of procedures to overcome possible cases of duplication of work and avoid lack of coordination in the collection of information. All this will definitely contribute to advancing the development process and help provide an appropriate environment for attracting investments and propel economic and commercial activities in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Q: With regard to trading in real estate, can you tell us about the volume and results of real estate trading?

A: In fact, real estate trading in year 2016 has again reached a high figure of BD1,038,000,000 (Bahrain Dinar one billion and thirty-eight million). Although this is less than the previous year (2015), it is still high and reflects stability in the real estate market. Trading in real estate has exceeded the one-billion-dinar mark for the third year in a row. This number is still considered to be one of the highest figures achieved in the history of real estate trading in Bahrain.

Furthermore, real estate trading in the first half of this year 2017 has exceeded the half-billion-dinar mark and therefore, we can safely consider that these results are an indicative of stability in the real estate market in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Q: How many transactions does the Survey and Land Registration Bureau do in a year, and in 2016? What are the types of these transactions?

Ans: There is no fixed figure for the annual number of transactions handled by SLRB, but for example, the number of transactions processed by SLRB during last year 2016 was to about (20,000) twenty thousand transactions, which includes survey transactions and land registration transactions. This is also a large number which represented a challenge to SLRB, considering that the number of transactions has been increasing steadily while the number of staff remained the same or even reduced as a result of large numbers of employees, especially in the recent period, opting to retire. For these reasons, we directed the staff to work harder and increase productivity in order to finish the processing of citizens’ transactions on time.  We were also keen to take step to transfer knowledge from the experienced staff to the new generation of employees.