DOHA: A first commercial complex of its kind, with outlets catering to basic needs of a residential locality like a provision store, laundry, tailoring and barber shops, beauty salon, butchery, restaurant and cafeteria, among other things, is ready in Al Dhakhira.
It has been built at the initiative of the local community as a model service centre, the likes of which are planned in each residential locality across the country that would see the shifting of all local neighbourhood stores and other basic service shops housed under one roof.
The shops in the model Al Dhakhira service complex have been sold out to Qatari bidders through a raffle, supervised by the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning.
All buyers are from Al Dhakhira, it is learned. “This is a unique experiment,” Central Municipal Council (CMC) member from Al Dhakhira, Hamad Lahdan Al Mohannadi, said.
The complex has been built on the lines of the ones proposed by municipal authorities across the country to house basic service shops and relocate neighbourhood stores and other basic shops scattered in residential localities.
The plan to house these shops in a service centre is under study at the ministry. The decision to relocate neighbourhood stores and other basic service shops from residential localities was first made by the government in 2006.
Licences of these outlets have been extended on a yearly basis by the Ministry of Business and Trade ever since, as little headway has so far been made on the plan to build a service centre in each residential locality.
Recently, the Ministry of Business and Trade has again extended licences of neighbourhood stores until early July 2014.
It is learned that new and emerging residential localities on the outskirts of Doha and other towns have plots of land reserved for building service centres.
However, old residential localities, particularly in Doha, are facing problems because large government plots are hardly available, sources said.
Al Sharq reported yesterday that it is possible Al Meera Consumer Goods chain might be entrusted with the responsibility to develop proposed service centres.
