The first ‘green city’ in the Middle East is to be built in Bahrain, at a cost of more than BD80 million ($211.3 million), it was revealed.

Several international consultants are bidding for the project, which will be located in A’ali, at the site of the new Euro University. It will house students and staff from the university – which will be its first tenants – but will serve as a model for environmentally-friendly development. The city is also expected to draw international environmental research and consultancy companies.
The project is the brainchild of Southern Governor and Public Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife head Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also the Euro University honorary president.
Designs will be completed later this year and the city will be fully developed in the next five years, said Euro University founding president Dr Ahmed Al Janahi.
A group of GCC investors have agreed to finance the project, he added.
The ‘green city’ will have its own desalination and power plants using solar energy, waste water treatment plant, and sewerage system based on pressurised air and suction technology. It will also be equipped with state-of-the-art air quality monitoring system, which would produce reports on the quality of air in Bahrain every 30 minutes.