About Southern Area Municipality

Southern Area Municipality is a part of the Ministry of Municipalities and Agriculture.  Southern Area Municipality provides high quality services that contribute to customer satisfaction and trust through a comprehensive review of its role, operations and performance to reorganize this role to serve the community and contribute to the economic vision of the Kingdom of Bahrain 2030.

About Southern Area Municipality

Riffa Municipality was established in 1951 AD - 1371 AH, and its first president was His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalid Al Khalifa, who became the head of Central Municipal Authority from 1951 to 1967.

Then, it was chaired by Sheikh Abdullah bin Muhammad Al Khalifa, from 1967 to 1973.

Then, His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa became the Supervisor of Southern Municipality from 1973 to 1994.

Then, from 1994 to 1998, it was chaired by His Excellency Sheikh Salman bin Ali Al Khalifa as the Head of Municipal Affairs.

After that, Mr. Khalifa Abdullah Al-Dosari became the chief of Southern Area Municipality from 1998 until 2002

In 2002, His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa became the Director General of the Southern Area Municipality until 2006.

Then, His Excellency Eng. Sheikh Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al Khalifa became the Director General of Southern Area Municipality from 2006 to 2012.

Then Mr. Saleh bin Ibrahim Nasser Al-Fadala, who became the General Director of the Municipality in 2012. Followed by Engineer Asim Abdul Latif Abdullah in 2012 and Engineer Isa Abdulrahman Al Boainain who has been appointed in 2023 up to date.

Southern Area boundaries:

Southern Governorate is in the south of the Kingdom of Bahrain. It Occupies 62.1% of the total area of the Kingdom of Bahrain; the total area of Southern Governorate is approximately estimated 488.6 square kilometers comparing to the total area of 786.8 square kilometers of kingdom of Bahrain.

Southern Area boundaries started from the North by Isa Town to the West by Hamad Town, the South by the Sakhir area, and the East by the Sitra area.

The number of complexes are 104 complexes. The population is 1,529,238.

Southern Area important landmarks are:

Southern area municipality has many authentic and historical landmarks such as Sheikh Salman bin Ahmed Al-Fateh fort in Riffa, the ancient historic wells such as Ain Al-Hunainiyah, “Ain Umm Ghuwaifa” and “Bir Shamma” water wells.

Bahrain International Circuit to hold the Formula One races in Sakhir Area is the most famous landmark in the middle east. Moreover, Isa Town Gate, the Clock Roundabout in Riffa which are considered the main entrance landmarks for southern area, Bahrain National Charter, the Horse roundabout Monument and “Water for life” Monument.

Bahrain National Stadium in Isa Town is an important sport station for all kinds of sports, the Heritage Village in Ras Hayyan, Bahrain Center for Strategic and International Studies and Energy, and the Military Museum in Riffa.

There are oil and gas pipelines and wells in Southern Area, Jabal al-Dukhan in the Sakhir and the “Al Areen Wildlife Resort” in Sakhir, which is considered one of the most prominent natural reserves for wild animals and migratory birds.

It also includes number of hotels such as Sofitel Al Zallaq, Al Areen Resort, Jumeirah Bahrain Resort in Al Zallaq, and Hawar Hotel and Resort in Hawar Island.

Southern Area is rich with markets such as Isa Town heritage Market, East Riffa Souq, and West Riffa Souq.

Southern Area is full of governmental and private hospitals such as the Military Hospital, Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Heart Center, Al-Awali Hospital, Al Malaki Specialist Hospital, Al-Hilal Medical Hospital, Al-Rayyan Hospital, Al-Salam Hospital, Al-Resala Medical Hospital, and others.

“The Educational town” in Isa Town, that includes several public and private schools.

There are Colleges and universities such as the University of Bahrain, Polytechnic University, American University, Royal University for Women, West Virginia College, the Kingdom University and Gulf University.

Commercial complexes such as Al Enma Mall in Riffa, “Al Zallaq Springs”, Al Seef Mall in Isa Town, Oasis Mall, Wadi Al Sail Mall, Al Reem Center, and The Walk and other facilities.

Most prominent major industrial companies are Aluminum Bahrain Factory (Alba), Bapco energies, Ras Abu Jarjour desalination plant, and Al Dur power and water generation plant and much more.

There are many parks, gardens, and walkways in Southern Area, the most important and famous are “Khalifa Al Kubra Park” in Riffa, Noon Park, Family Garden, Wadi Al-Sail Garden, Ansar Garden, Umm Ghuwaifa Garden, and others.

Its famous walkways are Zayed Town Walkway, Al-Istiqlal Walkway, and Al-Muaskar Walkway.

Among the most prominent coasts are Askar Coast and AL Bilaj.

Our main tasks Objectives:

1. Improving the aesthetics of the area, increasing the green area, establishing parks and gardens, and developing the coasts. 

2. Maintaining the cleanliness of the area to achieve healthy environment.

3. Planning and classifying the area to achieve the municipality’s vision and goals.

4. Preserving the urban and modern environment to attract distinctive investment projects .

5. Providing distinguished municipal services through the customer service center that meets the needs of all customers and making optimal use of the latest information and communication technologies to improve performance and speed up completion.

6. Developing the procedures to achieve ease of completing transactions and increasing productivity in the Customer Service Center.

7. Achieving efficient internal performance by developing the human resources, providing training programs and applying quality systems.

8. Deepening the communication and developing the relationship with the municipal council, ministries, governments, social institutions, and private sector.

9. Activate municipal regulations and laws.

10. Achieving continuous growth in municipal revenues and income.

Our services:

1. Cleaning the local areas such as streets, roads, gardens, parks, walkways, markets, in front of homes, commercial complexes, etc.

2. Issuing building, restoration, modification, and demolition permits.

3. Issuing advertising licenses and implementing shop signage controls

4. Issuing licenses for public road occupancy.

5. Planting and developing streets and public roads with palm trees, trees, and seasonal flowers.

6. Establishing, developing and maintaining gardens, parks, and walkways.

7. Organizing residential, commercial, and industrial areas and specifying streets and roads in coordination with specialists.

8. Implementing regulations for public places such as hotels, restaurants, cafes, commercial and industrial stores, and stores that are dangerous, disturbing to comfort, and harmful to health.

9. Collecting municipal fees of lands, buildings, and facilities, and exempting eligible families from electricity and water fees.

10. Supervising the regulations of parking areas and other public utilities and services to the interest and benefits of citizens.

11. Establishing local projects.

12. Participate with the authorities in developing structural and general urban plans.