Sky-kissing towers, luxurious resorts, green golf clubs and massive man-made island developments: they are the hallmarks of the new construction boom in the Gulf and Bahrain, with its massive projects, wants to be counted in the race.

The many mega projects under construction and on the drawing boards – some with billion-dollar-plus bills –  are making industry watchers sit up and take note of the kingdom’s ambitions.
Last April when Bahrain met the challenge of completing the prestigious, most-modern and Middle East’s first F1 track, the whole world applauded the little kingdom. Since then there has been no let up, with projects announced in rapid succession.
While the kingdom by no means intends to match the breathtaking pace set by Dubai, it has hit headlines with mega projects such as the $1.5 billion Bahrain Financial Harbour and the $1 billion-plus Durrat Al Bahrain resort and the $1 billion Amwaj Islands. In the industrial sector, the completion of a $1.7 billion expansion currently under way at Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) will make it the largest smelter in the Middle East.
Also in the pipeline is a proposed $1.3 billion groundbreaking petrochemical/energy complex and a $1 billion desert horse-racing resort and further in the future, the $2 billion Bahrain-Qatar causeway.
According to Bahrain’s Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry licences for projects worth $3 billion are in the process of being granted. Among the larger projects on the anvil are the $150 million Pearl Towers, in Manama; $320 million City Centre project at Seef; $200 million Lulu Island along King Faisal Highway in Manama; and the $600 million Al Areen Desert Spa and Resort in the Southern Governorate.
Among the major infrastructure projects to be launched by the public sector is the $332 million expansion of Bahrain International Airport and the new Sitra bridges.
Last year, the kingdom considerably boosted its expenditure on key construction projects – the spending on infrastructure was budgeted at BD260 million in the first half of last year compared with BD136 million in 2003.
2004 saw the completion of the prestigious BD56.4 million Bahrain International Racing Circuit in Sakhir. This outstanding project put Bahrain the limelight for more than one reason: the country surprised the world when it rose to the challenge of completing the world-class project in 16 months – and in fact two days ahead of schedule.
It was a year in which the contracting sector had a significant number of jobs in hand but was somewhat handicapped by the shortage of raw materials such as sand and the spiralling  prices of cement and steel, which hit the budgets of ongoing projects.

Airport
Bahrain International Airport is to undergo a BD125 million ($332 million) expansion over the next three years, which will enable it to receive the new 500-passenger A380 super-jumbo jets.
Consultants are currently being shortlisted for the next phase (phase 5) of extending the passenger terminal to the east, which will include an additional 10 aircraft parking stands and eight air-bridges. The airport currently has 46 parking stands and seven air-bridges.
A multi-storey car park/retail and office complex will also be built at the existing public car-park at airport.  Designs are in the final stages for the new BD30 million-plus complex, which will accommodate up to 4,000 cars and will be linked to the main passenger terminal.
Meanwhile, a new 49.5-m-high air traffic control tower being built at the airport is expected to be completed later this year. Runways at the airport were upgraded at a cost of BD7.8 million in time for the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix last year.

Port
Work is set to move ahead on the next phase of work on the Khalifa bin Salman Port in Hidd following the completion of a BD80 million ($209 million) contract involving reclamation, dredging and harbour wall construction at the port. A consortium comprising Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, Nass Contracting and Nass-Murray & Roberts completed the contract last August, four months ahead of schedule.
Bids have been submitted for the estimated BD26.5 million infrastructure works at the 110 ha port, which are expected to be completed next year. Bahrain has also invited international bids for the management of the port.

Hotels & leisure facilities
Dredging work has restarted on the $1 billion (BD378 million) Durrat Al Bahrain city resort. The 20 sq km project, which has been totally redesigned, now comprises 13 different islands, with about 2,000 villas, 2,000 apartments, luxury hotels, restaurants, marina, and an 18-hole golf course (see page 48).
Work on the Amwaj Islands is gathering momentum with the first hotel on the islands due to break ground within the next six months (see page 62).
Bahrain Wiggins is seeking investors for its estimated $1 billion Bahrain equestrian and horse racing club project which will also include a hotel, mall, villas and apartments (see page 59).
Among other developments with residential components is a golf resort around Riffa Golf Course and a beach resort complex in Budaiya.
The $300 million golf resort is to be developed by a joint venture between the First Islamic Investment Bank (FIIB) and the Bahrain International Golf Course Company. Some 500 villas are expected to be developed within a gated community, offering residents access to wide-ranging leisure facilities and amenities.
A A Janahi Holdings  is to build the BD75 million beach resort in Budaiya over an area 800,000 sq m at Al Dafna Al Hamra. It will feature a luxury hotel, a large park, a marina for yachts, restaurants and around 1,000 furnished flats. Work on the project is expected to start this year for completion by 2007.
Plans have also been announced for a string of hotels and resorts facilities. Work on a BD21 million world-class beach hotel is to start in Zallaq shortly. The 160,000 sq m project, financed by a group of leading Gulf businessmen, is expected to be completed in two years. It will include a five-star deluxe hotel managed by an international chain and a world-class marina.
New executive apartment also managed by international chains are set to come up, notably the Marriott Executive Apartments (see page 64), while some existing hotels have already launched expansion plans involving such developments. Construction work is under way on a BD4 million block of serviced apartments within the Gulf Hotel complex. The project calls for the construction of a 15-storey building that will house 101 apartments. The new tower, with an overall area of 15,000 sq m, will be connected directly to the hotel, but it will also have its own outside entrance. Construction is expected to be completed by March 2006.
The Diplomat Radisson SAS has also launched work on a five-star 15-storey extension. Construction of the new 22,000 sq m hotel and serviced apartment extension is expected to be completed by the last quarter of this year. The expansion will double the built-up area of the hotel complex.
Other projects include a plan to turn Adhari Park into a major multi-purpose theme park.
The project, which would be built on a 165,319 sq m area, will have more than 70 per cent reserved as green area and will include a rollercoaster, water park, children’s play areas, a mini-golf course, bowling arena, a game arcade and dining areas.
A public park featuring restaurants, stores, a zoo, an amphitheatre and possibly a hotel could be opened by December 2006. The project being developed by the Municipalities and Agricultural Affairs Ministry cover an area of around 40 hectares in Al Hunayniyah valley between East and West Riffa. Local and regional investors have been invited to bid for the project.

Commercial/residential complexes
Phase I of the Bahrain Financial Harbour is well under way. The first phase includes the Financial Centre comprising the Financial Mall, the Dual Towers and the Harbour House (see page 53).
Work also got under way last August on the spectacular Bahrain World Trade Centre (BWTC) in Manama adjacent to the Sheraton Hotel. The local AA Nass with South Africa’s Murray & Roberts Contractors is building the $150 million twin-tower complex (see page 45).
Construction work is expected to start shortly on Bahrain City Centre which is being developed by Al Futtaim Investments. The three-storey centre with a six-storey car-park will occupy an area of 450,000 sq m in Seef and is due for completion by the end of next year. The complex will include a 20-screen, 3,600-seat cinema complex – the largest of its kind in the region. The project also includes one five star hotel and a four-star hotel with a total of 600 rooms. 
Meanwhile, work is under way on the new BD10 million Sitra Mall near Sitra bridge. The 46,838 sq m project is expected to be completed by April.
Among other developments, the Seef Mall is to be further expanded by one third of its current rental space under a two-year multi-million-dollar scheme. Hisham Abdulrahman Jaffer (HAJ) has the consultancy job.

Electricity & water
Bahrain’s first independent power plant (IPP) is being developed by Al Ezzel Power Company,  a Belgian-Gulf consortium, equally owned by Tractebel EGI and Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC).
The project involves the development, design, engineering, construction, ownership, operation and maintenance of a power plant with a capacity of 950 MW by 2008. Of this capacity, between 370 and 470 MW of electricity is expected to be supplied to the national grid by the end of April 2006. Germany’s Siemens has secured a $428.4 million  order to build the power plant  just south of Bahrain International Airport (see Regional News).
Work on BD150.4 million phase III of the Hidd power and water station is being tendered in 10 packages. It will produce 60 million gallons per day (mgd) of water. Binnie Black & Veatch is the consultant for the project.
Sasakura Engineering Company of Japan is currently engaged in the BD10 million contract to increase the potable water production capacity at Ras Abu Jarjur reverse osmosis desalination plant. The current expansion, due for completion in 2006, will involve adding another 3 million gallons by installing two more units.
 
Roads
Bahrain and Qatar will soon invite international bids to build a $1.8 billion causeway linking the two Gulf states.  Danish engineering consultancy group Cowi International has provided a preliminary design for the 40-km causeway.
The Roads Directorate, meanwhile, is pushing ahead with plans to ease the traffic congestion in the kingdom, where BD570 million is expected to be spent over the long term on the expansion of the road network, including the construction of new flyovers and underpasses in Hidd, Umm Al Hassam, among other areas. Following the completion of the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Causeway linking Mina Salman with Hidd, the next project to move ahead is the estimated BD50 million new bridges in Sitra, tenders for which are due to be invited shortly (see page 39).
 
Industry
Work on Aluminium Bahrain’s (Alba) latest potline 5 expansion is nearing completion with the 100-day start-up phase set to begin on March 7. Potline 5 will have a capacity of 320,000 tonnes per year (tpy) raising Alba’s total capacity to 840,000 tpy. Bechtel is the engineering, procurement, construction and management (EPCM) contractor. As part of the expansion, Power Station 4 – a 660-MW plant is also being installed to add to the total existing capacity of 1,500 MW.
The full complement of 336 pots, positioned in two rooms, each of 1 km in length, will yield the full capacity of metal for the potline by mid-June.  
Among the major industrial ventures on the cards for Bahrain is a petrochemical complex, which will include a power plant, and a shipping pallet manufacturing plant.
A site is yet to be finalised for the  proposed  combined petrochemical and power and water generation complex which will have an output capacity of 1,000MW of power and 30 million gallons of water per day while simultaneously producing six key petrochemical products. The project is being developed by a consortium headed by Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain.
No further developments have been announced on the BD32 million shipping pallet plant since the project broke ground last in Hidd last July. Being developed by PVaxx Industries – a wholly-owned subsidiary of PVaxx Limited, a Bermuda-based commercial materials sales corporation, the planned 86,700 sq m facility is expected to be the largest of its kind in the world.
Meanwhile, construction of the $57 million ferro alloys manufacturing plant, Bahrain Ferro Alloys company complex, is nearing completion in the Hidd Industrial Area. 
 
Housing
Bahrain is currently tackling its housing shortage problems by building a total of four new towns. Work has been initiated on the development of two towns in the Muharraq Governorate, which will offer 1,000 new homes.
Site investigations on the third 18,000-house town have been carried out on the 1,067-hectare coastal site in the Abu Sobah area on the Budaiya coastline.
Meanwhile, following the inauguration of the first phase of a BD17 million housing development for Shakhura and its neighbouring villages, work on the second phase with a total of 1,144 of housing plots and 1,063 homes is due to commence shortly.
A BD15 million housing project on a beachfront near Al Bander Hotel and Resort in Sitra is being undertaken by the Municipalities and Agriculture Ministry and the Central Municipality Council. Covering an area of one million sq ft, it will involve the construction of about 1,500 apartments, a park, a mosque, shops and a school.

Other projects
• The BD14 million Shaikh Isa Library and Conference Centre, under construction near Al Fateh Grand Mosque, is due for completion this year. The project will have a total built-in area of 16,000 sq m.
• Design work is under way on the proposed BD5.5 million Shaikh Isa Sports City at Riffa. The project will comprise a multi-purpose sports hall to accommodate 8,000 persons, a sports hall for the handicapped, an Olympic swimming pool, a sports hall for eight simultaneous table tennis sessions and a football court. Tilke International is the consultant.
• Prequalified contractors have been invited to tender for the estimated BD28 million King Hamad General Hospital contract. The works comprise mainly the construction of a four-level international standard 312-bed hospital in Muharraq.
• Ahlia University is expected to invest BD7 million for the construction of its complex. The project, when completed in 2010, would have a capacity to accommodate 2,000 students.
• Major plans have been announced for the renovation of Manama’s Suq. The BD5 million first phase extends from Bab Al Bahrain to Shaikh Abdulla Avenue.
• Construction is under way on the BD6.5 million new headquarters of Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) in Seef. The 20-storey building will be constructed on a 6,900 sq m plot of land near Al Dana Mall.
• G P Zachariades is working on the Royal University for Women in Riffa. Phase 1, when completed this September, will register 1,500 students while Phase 2 will take 2,500 students.
• The General Organisation for Youth and Sports in co-ordination with the Ministry of Works and Housing, has awarded a BD12 million contract to Al Dahrani Construction Company to build sports clubs in Riffa, Sitra, Juffair, Tashan, Budaiya and Hamad Town.