Zahraa Habib Wahba Mohsen
Electronic reporting of maintenance first and then disposal of waste through applications secondly
Bahrain, represented by the capital, “Manama”, recorded its first participation in the IMD index of smart cities for the year 2025, to replace 36th in the world out of 146 cities, and advanced on many capitals and regional and international cities, in a new qualitative achievement in terms of digital transformation and smart urban planning. The index issued by the International Institute for Administrative Development (IMD) depends on the evaluation of cities performance in five major areas, namely health and safety, mobility, activities, opportunities and governance, based on field questionnaires and analysis of urban data and digital services. Manama in the field of health and safety scored high points in several aspects, including reporting electronic maintenance problems of 78.1%, The ability to get rid of waste across applications is 76.2%. The role of technology in the field of mobility has emerged, to reduce traffic congestion through smart applications, and it recorded 72.9% in facilitating the use of public transport. Strong results in the fields of digital education and entrepreneurship showed, as the index indicated that the speed of the Internet and the availability of life opportunities exceeded 73%, while the index poll showed that the priorities of the residents of Manama are concentrated in providing housing at reasonable prices by 53%, and solving the problem of traffic congestion by 52%, in addition to enhancing job opportunities by 49%, which reflects clear directions for future policies. Although it is the newcomer to classification, Manama surpassed several regional cities such as Muscat (87), Kuwait (90), Al -Ula (112) and Cairo (117), while Doha (33), while for the highest ranking Gulf cities, Dubai was fourth, followed by Abu Dhabi Fifth. Riyadh ranked 27th, Doha 33, Manama 36, Makkah 39, Jeddah 47, Al -Khobar 61, Al -Madinah Al -Munawwarah 67, Muscat 87, Kuwait 90, Al -Ula 112, Cairo 117, Rabat 123, Amman 127, Algeria 128, Tunisia 142, Beirut 143, and Sana’a 145. Dubai achieved remarkable progress, where it ranked fourth, 8 centers from the twelfth place advanced in 2024, Abu Dhabi ranked fifth, and 5 centers from the tenth place last year, and this progress reflects urban development and technological integration in the two cities, and its commitment to enhancing smart city initiatives and improving the quality of living in general.
