Ministries may rent out public building walls for adverts

TDT | Manama

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Parliament has begun studying a government-backed proposal that would allow ministries and agencies to rent out bare spaces in public buildings for advertising.

The draft law, which arrived with Royal Decree No. 27 of 2025, was passed to the Public Utilities and Environment Committee for scrutiny, with the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee asked to give its take.

The bill would change Article 12 of the 1973 Decree-Law on Advertisement Regulation and clear the way for ministries to turn unused patches of wall into commercial display space.

Under the proposed change, these areas within buildings already set aside for public services could be turned into advertising zones so long as the minister in charge sets rules and signs them off.

A letter signed by Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa and addressed to Speaker Ahmed Al Musallam accompanied the bill and cited Articles 35 and 81 of the Constitution as its legal grounds.