SKYLINE Trading Corporation continues to broaden its horizons in the Bahrain market, on the back of a well-diversified portfolio of capabilities.

The veteran civil contracting and trading company is currently engaged in a number of housing projects in Bahrain, adding to the growing list of successfully completed projects that include high-rise buildings, hospitals, warehouses involving massive steel structures, villa compounds, and others.

Amongst the largest of its ongoing projects is a compound of family houses, set in the serene locality of Awali overlooking the Zallaq Highway.

“We are currently building 36 villas of the total 253 scheduled to be built in stages as part of this major development,” says Syed Afroz Quadri, the contracts manager.

This compound of villas comprises two-storey detached villas surrounded by a common boundary wall. Also included within the development are a mosque and shopping area, playground and wide internal roads.

Another housing project that Skyline is working on is a 35-villa compound, which includes facilities such as a common clubhouse, swimming pool, internal roads and landscaping. The development, which is under construction at Janabiya, is valued at BD3.35 million ($8.88 million).

Other ongoing projects include a massive four-storey, four-building complex, which will house showrooms, huge warehouses and apartments in Tubli, with a net contract value of BD4.1 million ($10.87 million).

This apart, the company is now poised to start work on a BD3-million ($7.95 million) contract entailing the construction of 12 huge villas in Riffa. Each villa, equipped with its own swimming pool, comprises a basement plus two storeys and features sloped roofs.

“Apart from this project, we have also been shortlisted for various projects and expect to be awarded additional projects in 2011, which will lead to brighter prospects for the coming year,” says Quadri.

Skyline Trading Corporation, which has been active in the market for the past 21 years, comprises a group of separately-operated companies possessing a Grade ‘A’ licence to carry out civil contracting and general trading activities.

“Skyline has contributed a great deal to the construction sector and this has been possible because we have our own team of qualified engineers, supervisors, staff, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour comprising a total of 650 personnel other than those employed by our sister companies,” he says.

These affiliates include Empac Trading and Contracting for electro-mechanical work, Aqua-Masters, which specialises in the construction of swimming pools and landscape architecture, and the newly-formed Aluminium Line Company, which supplies and installs aluminium doors, windows and curtain-walls. Skyline is also the official sole distributor in Bahrain for Sigma Paints, the leading paint brand.

In addition to its ongoing projects, Skyline has to its credit a number of landmark developments, the recent ones being The Dragon and The Royal Pavilion, both at Amwaj Islands, and a spherical-shaped petrol station in Karranah.
Skyline was the first contractor to carry out the initial construction work on six model villas at Amwaj Islands, successfully overcoming logistic hurdles when there was no proper access to the site at the time.

Since then, Skyline has gone on to notch up several other successes at Amwaj, including the nine-storey The Residence and 15-storey The Peak towers, the Lagoona villas, the Loft villas, Faye Beach villas, the Mirage I, II, III and IV villas and apartments, the Zawia duplex villas, Saraya Al Bahar villas, in addition to The Dragon, and the landmark Pavilion club.

“The Dragon, as the name suggests, is a massive curved reinforced concrete building shaped like a huge dragon. Renowned for its aesthetics, it has a huge steel tensile structure over its roof, depicting the shape of a dragon’s fins. The Dragon is a magnificent structure in itself and the pride of Amwaj Islands,” Quadri comments.

The complex is composed of 20 luxury villas, each with its own swimming pool, and a large residential apartment building. In addition, there is a common swimming pool for residents of the building and a huge sea-facing restaurant adjoining the pool area.

The Pavilion, meanwhile, is a distinctive landmark composed of a massive central cylindrical-shaped cast-in-situ concrete shaft with a sloped roof and partly covered in a semi-circular fabric roof structure for its amphitheatre.
Other major projects in Skyline’s portfolio include the kidney dialysis centre at Muharraq, the 15-storey Al Safir Hotel in Juffair, a heath centre at Nuwaidrat, and the Abdul Rehman Kanoo School at Salmabad.

Since its inception in 1989, Skyline has been providing professional services in the construction and development of many projects in Bahrain and enjoys a good reputation with the island’s consultants and building contractors, he says. It is well supported by a quantity survey department and an architecture department.

“The company now intends to expand further by adding more departments and hence is looking at recruiting staff during 2011,” says Quadri.

Speaking of the impacts of recession on Bahrain’s construction market in general and on the company in particular, he says: “As with the rest of the world, Bahrain was no exception in experiencing the effects of the global financial downturn. However, the government has managed to tackle the situation and pushed ahead with various infrastructure works such as the construction of major flyovers and road works. It has also promoted massive housing works for its citizens, which has helped in keeping the island contractors busy.”

He adds that the recession period, especially 2009-2010, did lead to the cancellation of many projects in Bahrain. “Nevertheless, since we had many ongoing long-term projects, the after effects were not severe and business was good.”

“Skyline has and will always stick to its motto of ‘integrating resource diligently and skilfully’, and continue rendering its services in the best interest of the kingdom,” concludes Quadri.