Reclamation work has recently started on the $5 billion Northern Town development, coming up on the north-western coast of Bahrain.

The reclamation component of the project – estimated to cost in excess of BD66 million ($175 million) – is expected to be completed by early 2008, said Housing and Urban Development Committee secretary general Mamoon Almoayyed.
The committee has also entered the final design stages for infrastructure, housing, commercial buildings, waterfront, landscape and other aspects of the project, off Abu Sobh.
The 1,000-plus-hectare town comprises two sections, but work on only the bigger one will be implemented now. The main section, comprising 10 islands, will provide 13,000 to 15,000 houses.
The town, at least five times the size of Seef District, will include various facilities including a regional hospital, a university, health centres, schools, mosques, shopping malls, hotels, libraries, post offices, petrol stations and other features.
The town will also include a Civic Plaza, which will house the Municipality Governorate, Municipal Council, Grand Mosque and a Biotech Park.
Almoayyed said there would be three lagoons, two in the main section of the town and another in the smaller part.
A monorail system for mass rapid transit and light rapid transit, in addition to water taxis would ease traffic congestion, he added.
There are three routes from the Northern Town to Manama, one goes to either the Seef District, or to Manama (the exact location is to be decided), and the other two lead onto the Budaiya Highway. Three bridges would connect the roads.
“Each island, except downtown and the university campus, has beach access and facilities,” he said. “There are also plans for quay walls, or piers.
The reclamation work is being undertaken by a joint venture between Netherlands-based Boskalis Westminster and Van Oord.