CONSTRUCTION of the world’s longest marine causeway that will link Bahrain and Qatar will begin in the first quarter next year, with completion due by 2015.

Jaber Ali Al Mohannadi, general manager of the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi that the cost of the 40-km causeway project was about 20 per cent lower than originally anticipated, due to a drop in raw material and equipment prices as a result of the world financial crisis.

The project, also known as the Friendship Bridge, will be equally funded by both governments. On completion, the bridge will be the world’s longest marine causeway, connecting Qatar’s west coast with Bahrain’s east coast.

The project’s time-frame has fallen behind schedule due to the addition of freight and passenger rail lines to the causeway, which originally comprised only a highway.

A consortium led by Vinci Construction Grands Projects in May 2008 signed the design-build contract for the scheme. KBR and UK engineering firm Halcrow last year won the two-phase contract for management planning and design oversight of the bridge.