MEW to award Hidd desal contract
Manama: Bahrain’s Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) is expected to award the contract on the BD150.4 million ($400 million) water desalination project in Hidd at the end of the year.

Binnie Black & Veatch, the consultant for the project, is inviting prequalification this month and tender documents on various packages are to be submitted in July for evaluation.
The Hidd water desalination project involves the third phase with a capacity of 60 million gallons (and a provision for 90,000 million gallons of water) in addition to pumping stations, distribution networks and reservoirs.
The project is included in the study of a 15-year master plan (2006-2020) for electricity and water in Bahrain, which is still ongoing, conducted by SNC-Lavalin and Binnie Black & Veatch of Canada.
Included in the study are the preparation of the independent executive summary reports for the development of production plants, electricity transmission networks and water transmission networks; review the adequacy of the existing control centres, and recommendations on any upgrading requirements.

Project to house 1,500 in the offing
Manama: A project to provide housing for about 1,500 families in Bahrain, is being undertaken by the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry and the Central Municipality Council on a beachfront near Al Bander Hotel and Resort in Sitra.
The BD15 million ($39.8 million) project which will cover an area of one million sq ft will involve the construction of about 1,500 apartments, and will include a park, a mosque, shops and a school.
The project will be carried out in three phases. Work on Phase one, which will comprise 500 apartments, will commence by the end of June  and take three years to complete. The entire project is expected to be complete in six years. Local companies will undertake the construction of the project.

JGC lands $190m EPC work in Qatar
Doha: Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco) has awarded Japan’s JGC Corporation the QR691.5 million ($190 million) engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the expansion of its existing ethylene plant in Qatar.
The project is designed to expand the plant production capacity from 525,000 tonnes per year (tpy) to 720,000 tpy and improve the operating efficiency and also to economically utilise the by-products.
The project is scheduled to become operational by the end of the second quarter of 2006 and is expected to boost the company’s revenue and profits.

Work on Isa Town sports city soon
Manama: Design work for the new BD5.5 million ($14.6 million) Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa Sports City in Isa Town is expected to begin soon.
An agreement was recently signed between the government and Tilke International consultancy firm.
The project, at the Isa Town Stadium, includes a stadium with a capacity for 3,580 spectators to replace the old stadium, a multi-purpose hall with a capacity for 2,500 spectators, tennis courts for 70 spectators, a 50 m eight-lane Olympic swimming pool, in addition to a 25 m eight-lane swimming pool, among other facilities.

HAJ to oversee mall expansion
Manama: Chartered quantity surveyor HAJ (Hisham Abdulrahman Jaffer) Consultancy has been awarded the consultancy job for the two-year multi-million dollar expansion scheme for Seef Mall in Bahrain.
The contract includes quantity surveying and project management for the expansion. It is also responsible for managing the various contracts and procurements of the project to meet the construction dates and budget targets agreed between the parties.

MMAA makes largest allocation
Doha: Qatar’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture (MMAA) has earmarked QR13.44 billion ($3.69 billion) for development works in 2004-5, said a report.
The largest allocation in the ministry’s annual budget of QR5.17 billion has been made for roads. This is followed by sewage works that have been provided QR2.3 billion.
An allocation of QR2.2 billion has been made for Hamad Medical City which will initially serve to accommodate visiting sportsmen and officials for the 2006 Asian Games. Other projects have received QR386 million, said the report.
“There are scores of projects on the anvil, including the Doha highway project being implemented in four phases, the Al Shamal road project and the expansion of the Hamad Medical City,” Hamad Al Saad, acting director, department of project co-ordination said.

Atkins likely to clinch Libyan deal
Tripoli: The engineering group WS Atkins is close to clinching a contract to design a new commercial centre for Libyan capital Tripoli, it was reported.
British Press reports said the firm’s contact with the mayor of Tripoli began before Tony Blair’s meeting with Colonel Muammar Gadaffi recently, which signalled a commercial rapprochement.
The firm also expects to play a role in redeveloping Tripoli’s two airports as part of a larger BAE Systems contract.

Qatar signs $17m in works
Doha: The government of Qatar has signed a QR63.235 million ($17.3 million) contract for the construction of roads and a tunnel at the roundabout between Bin Omran roundabout and Hamad Hospital roundabout in Doha.
The contract calls for converting the existing Hamad Hospital roundabout into a 450-m-long tunnel under Ahmed bin Ali Street, in addition to a roundabout linking Hamad Hospital, Rumeilah and the hospitals, to be built as part of the Asian Games 2006 projects.

NMC opens Sitra showroom
Sitra: A new BD5 million ($13.3 million) state-of-the-art car showroom has opened in Sitra, Bahrain. It will function as the new headquarters of the National Motor Company (NMC) – the authorised distributor of General Motors (GM) cars in Bahrain.
The 30,935 sq m dealership, will feature brands such as Cadillac, Hummer, Chevrolet and GMC.

New hostel opens at Sanabis
Manama: A new world-class youth hostel was opened in Sanabis, Bahrain, recently.
The three-storey hostel includes 16 two-bedroom rooms and four one-bedroom rooms and includes a reception, a conference room with a capacity to seat up to 50 people, a smaller meeting room, a dining room, kitchens, administrative offices, stores and maintenance rooms.
There is also a car park for over 25 cars, an outdoor garden and an outdoor playing field.

Four bid for Sohar IWPP
Sohar: Four companies – AES, Tractabel, Total and Sembcorp – are bidding for the RO20 million ($50 million) Sohar independent water and power project (IWPP). The selected contractor will be announced this month.
The IWPP project will have a capacity of 50 MW and 30 million gallons of water a day and the government may offer its management to the private sector on completion.

Hafeera to renovate old courts
Manama: Hafeera Contracting Company has signed a BD1.1 million ($2.93 million) contract to expand and renovate the old courts on Government Road, in Bahrain, and turn the complex into the new premises of the Constitutional Court.
The project, under the directives of King Hamad, includes interior decoration and re-organisation of spaces outside the building.

Tender Board plans website
Manama: The Tender Board in Bahrain is now planning to develop an interactive website with the aim of achieving electronic tendering in the future.
Since its establishment, the board has awarded contracts valued at more than $1 billion (BD402 million).

bauma marks a 'golden' success
Munich: More than 410,000 trade visitors from 171 countries arrived in Munich, Germany to attend the bauma 2004 – which celebrated its golden jubilee this year – recording an increase in share of international visitors from 27 to 31 per cent.
“bauma + mining 2004 has proven yet again that it is a superlative trade fair with increases, the magnitude of which we would have considered impossible three years ago,” said Manfred Wutzlhofer, chairman and CEO of Munich International Trade Fairs.
“bauma got off to an amazing start on the first day of the fair, creating a tremendous atmosphere in every respect. The fact that a number of exhibitors have reported receiving several orders from German and especially from foreign visitors is particularly pleasing,” said Dr. Reinhold Festge, president of the Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association in the VDMA (German Engineering Federation) and chairman of the exhibitors’ advisory Board for bauma + mining.
A total of 2,801 exhibitors from 47 countries presented their latest innovations on 500,000 sqm of exhibition space in the halls and at the outdoor exhibition site of the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.

$240m contracts inked at QSi 2004
Doha: QSi 2004, the sports industry expo-cum-conference hosted by the Qatar National Olympic Committee (QNOC) last month, closed with record contract signings and sports industry transactions estimated to be worth more than $240 million.
This is part of the massive investment being made by QNOC in support of the Gulf state’s hosting of the 2006 Asian Games, along with a list of other sports events, from golf to tennis and motor sports. “The transactions during the five-day QSi programme represent just a fraction of what the country is investing in pursuit of their goal of being the region’s premier sports event venue,” says a spokesman for the organiser.
More than 234 companies from 33 countries, including a substantial presence from both the UK and France, participated in the event.
Most of the contracts awarded related to construction, infrastructure and consultancy services for projects worth $170 million. The largest of these went to Marbu Contracting for the development of Al Sadd Sports Club amounting to $82.65 million. Other major awards included the development of the Al Arabi Sports Club totalling $29.35 million to Tadmur, a $22million contract to International Trading and Contracting for the development of Qatar Sports Club, and a $24.8 million contract to Al Attiyah Trading and Contracting for the development of the Al Wusayl shooting range. The remaining contracts were awarded for consultancy services for the development of several sports clubs in Doha.