Qatar’s innumerable unnamed roads and avenues will get official names soon. A recent cabinet decision (No. 15/2010), empowers the Central Municipal Council (CMC) members to hold public hearings in their respective constituencies to suggest names for the streets, avenues and public parks that do not have an official name at present. The cabinet took the new decision amending a previous decision (No. 17/2008) regarding the christening of streets, open public grounds, parks and avenues across the country. According to the new decision, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning would constitute a panel for the naming process. The chairperson and the deputy chairperson of the panel would be nominees of the ministry. The committee will also have representatives from the Supreme Education Council (SEC), the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal), the CMC and the private sector. These members would be selected by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and the Urban Planning. The “Street Naming Committee” would be functioning in two ways to find apt names for streets and public spaces. Senior officials of various government agencies can propose names that would be approved by this committee if it finds the names ideal for the public spaces. The names must be suitable to the Qatari culture and environment. Odd names will not be accepted by the panel. “The Committee itself is free to propose an ideal name for the unnamed streets and public spaces directly to the CMC and the CMC would then refer these names to the CMC members of the respective constituencies. The members can hold a public hearing for reaching on a consensus on the name”, said Jassem Al Malki, Deputy Chairperson, CMC. With Qatar witnessing unprecedented urban development, many new streets have emerged in several parts of Doha and in the interiors of the country. Many of them have neither street names nor numbers. There are also several avenues and public parks that do not have names, he said. The emerging interior towns of Qatar also face this identity crisis of sorts. CMC members who represent the Old Airport, Kharatiyat, Shamal and Dukhan areas say there are many streets in their respective constituencies that are without names. The unnamed streets and public places are causing lot of problems in the day-to-day life of the local residents, especially when they are in need of emergency services and have to call an ambulance or firefighters. For instance, in Kharatiyat, when an ambulance is needed, the local residents normally request the ambulance team to reach the local petrol station; the locals wait at the petrol station to guide the medical team to their homes. For want of street names and numbers, fire-fighting personnel also find it difficult to find the exact location they have to reach, said the CMC member who represents the constituency. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=April2010&file=Local_News2010042422829.xml

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