Boskalis has completed the construction of a large sand causeway for a future 5-km-long highway.

Leading Dutch dredging group Royal Boskalis Westminster NV (Boskalis) says it has completed a land reclamation project for the North Manama Causeway in Bahrain.

With a total of 8.2 million cu m sand brought in by hopper dredgers Causeway and Coastway and 340,000 tonnes of rock installed to protect the banks, Boskalis completed the construction of a large sand causeway for a future 5-km-long highway.

The contract, worth €70 million ($83.5 million), was awarded to Boskalis by the Bahrain’s Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning in mid-2019.

Hopper dredgers brought in 8.2 million cu m sand for the causeway.

Hopper dredgers brought in 8.2 million cu m sand for the causeway.

The causeway forms part of the ministry’s strategic plan to improve the existing road network by developing new road corridors to support the rapidly expanding economy of the country. As part of this programme, Boskalis reclaimed an area of approximately 1.3 million sq m area, says a company spokesman.

“With this land reclamation project, we were able to contribute to the development of infrastructure to improve the flow of road traffic between the districts of Manama and Muharraq,” he notes.

Since 1992, the Dutch group has had a major presence in Bahrain, undertaking more than 30 dredging projects in the kingdom, he adds.