AL MANARATAIN, Bahrain’s largest producer of concrete blocks which recently marked its 50th anniversary, has chalked out major plans that focus on expansion into Saudi Arabia.

The plans entail setting up a manufacturing facility in Dammam Second Industrial Area, which will include a cement block factory, a paving bricks unit and a precast concrete plant, according to Jawad Al Asoor, general manager of the company’s Haffira factory branch.
Work is under way on the 63,000-sq-m cement block factory in Dammam, which will have a production capacity of 90,000 (standard size) blocks or 7,000 sq m of paving interlocks a day.
“We propose to launch the factory before the end of the year,” he says.
In addition, Al Manaratain will install a hydraulic press plant that will have the capacity to produce to produce 3,000 linear m of road kerbs or 1,000 sq m of paving slabs a day, says Al Asoor, adding this plant will start production around September this year.
The precast concrete plant to be built in Saudi Arabia is in the early stages of planning, according to him.
Meanwhile, as part of expansion plans for Bahrain, the company will launch a readymix plant in Aker that will have a production capacity of 130 cu m per hour.
Al Manaratain is engaged in the manufacture of building materials, concrete blocks, readymix concrete, interlocking paving and precast concrete.
The company is the leading producer of concrete blocks in the kingdom with its five block machines producing 125,000 blocks a day. Its concrete hollow blocks or masonry blocks come with expanded polystyrene to ensure excellent thermal insulation.