Durrat Al Bahrain has announced the award of a BD6.99 million ($18.5 million) contract for the construction of 83 villas on one of the 13 islands of the residential, leisure and tourist resort, the kingdom’s largest planned mixed-use development.

The contract, awarded to Bahrain-based Projects Construction Company, is the first of many contracts to be announced for the development of residential villas in the $3 billion development, where dredging and reclamation work is in its final stages.
With the award of the contract for villas on Petal 1 Island, work will begin imminently. The villas will take 12 months to build.
The Petal 1 villas are part of Phase I of the development work, which also includes construction of over 300 villas on Atolls 1 and 2, for which contracts will be awarded within the next three months. All of the Phase I villas, which were sold out by February last year, will be ready for delivery to the owners by mid-2007.
In addition, project officials have also said that all of the dredging and reclamation work on the $3 billion Durrat Al Bahrain project would be completed months ahead of schedule.
“Latest satellite photographs of the area provide a breathtaking view of Durrat Al Bahrain, a 20 sq km area of desert and sea. Ensuring the project is developing according to schedule, four dredgers, of which one is claimed to be the tallest in the world, are on site, with dredging capacity reaching a massive 100,000 cu m a day,” said a spokesman for the developer.
Also moving forward at a fast pace is work on the required infrastructure for the resort community and commercial centre, which at completion in 2009, is expected to accommodate more than 45,000 residents in addition to some 4,000 visitors a day.
Infrastructure development currently under way includes piling work for the project’s 12 bridges, which will connect the various islands together and to the mainland, as well as water and sewerage facilities. Work is also in progress on a highway linking Durrat Al Bahrain to Manama, with completion expected by September of this year.
The Durrat Al Bahrain project comprises a cluster of islands and land areas that together give the development its unique island lifestyle theme. These include: The Crescent, a semi-circular landmass extending into the sea, six Atoll Islands, five Petal Islands, a stand alone island set to house a five-star family hotel and resort, a state-of-the-art marina and an 18-hole golf course, all of which is being developed in phases.