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ON a barren stretch of land towards the south of Bahrain, the first few construction machines are working away at preparing the land for what will eventually unfold as the BD300 million ($810 million) Durrat Al Bahrain residential and holiday resort. The project will involve major dredging and reclamation work to create seven artificial islands and a lagoon on virgin land towards the south of the country.
Owned by the Bahraini government and Saudi Arabia's Dallah Al Baraka Group, the 20 sq km island and onshore complex will be home to around 20,000 people when the two-phase project reaches final completion in 2007.
The developer of the project is Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Company (Dretco), the real estate arm of the Dallah Al Baraka Group of Companies. Dretco will be responsible for the design, construction and supervision of the project for the Bahrain-based operating firm Durrat Khaleej Al Bahrain Company.
Overall, the Durrat (Arabic for pearl) Al Bahrain project will be built around the artificial islands and the lagoon, which will all be linked to the mainland via bridges. Onshore facilities will cover an area of 11 sq km while offshore facilities over the islands will stretch over 9 sq km.
Construction will begin shortly on the BD10 million Aqua Park which will be the focal point of the resort, located 10 km south of the Shaikh Isa Air Base. The watersports aqua park, covering 150,000 sq m, is expected to be the largest in the Gulf. Fast Contracting of Saudi Arabia has been awarded the construction contract. To be located onshore, the water park is being designed to accommodate as many as 4,000 visitors at a time. Work on the project is expected to be completed in October 2001.
Work has already started on the administration building on the site. The contract was awarded to a Bahrain-based firm.
Bids for the first major package, the dredging and reclamation works are currently under evaluation. The other two large packages include the infrastructure works including roads, sewage, satellite connections, which is earmarked to be tendered by the end of April; and the 120 MW power and desalination plant which could go to tender by mid-2001.
Major elements of the project include:
Resort highlights include a screened beach area for women, tube rides, slides, wading pools, a range of swimming pools, a wave machine, bumper boats and concession stands.
Phase I which will give the project its essential form will cover 6 sq km and is targeted for completion by 2003. Phase II, which will encompass development of residential complexes, is scheduled for completion in 2007. Most of the residential villas will be sea-facing.
The group provides a wide range of products and services in almost every sector of the economy with substantial interests in industry, construction, agriculture, trade, tourism, transport, health services, communications, Islamic finance and investment. Dretco has offices and activities throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, Europe and North America.
Dretco has already set up the Durrat Al Arus (Pearl of the Red Sea) project in Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea coast - a 30 minutes' drive north of Jeddah airport. Phase Two of the mega resort is nearing completion at an estimated cost of SR1.04 million ($377.3 million).
