Plans to establish a new world destination for industrial investments have moved closer to fruition with the recent award of contracts for implementation as well as supervision of dredging and reclamation work and the detail design and construction supervision services for the primary infrastructure facilities.

The 11-month deal for the BD600 million ($1.6 billion) Bahrain Investment Wharf (BIW) project – a joint effort of the Bahrain government and Al Khaleej Development Company (Tameer) – was awarded last October to Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, in association with a local firm. It requires the dredging of 6.5 million cu m of material, which accounts for 55 per cent of the area of the BIW site. The Beirut-based Dar Al Handasah (DAR) has been awarded the contract to supervise reclamation work on the development.
Hyder Consulting Middle East Limited has been appointed to undertake the detail design and construction supervision services of the primary infrastructure facilities including roads, water and electrical distribution networks, stormwater and sewage drainage systems, district cooling system, telecommunications, street lighting, landscaping and other utilities. The infrastructure cost is estimated at BD45 million.
Work is also under way on the headquarters of the BIW.
In addition, BIW has also announced the award of the quantity surveying and cost management services of the primary infrastructure facilities contract to Hisham Abdulrahman Jaffer (HAJ).
According to the deal, HAJ will be responsible for the quantity surveying and cost management of the primary infrastructure facilities’ design and construction supervision within the BIW development.
This entails primary facilities such as roads, water and electrical distribution networks, storm and sewer drainage systems, district cooling system, telecommunications, street lighting, landscaping and other utilities.
The 1.7 million sq m project area is strategically located in the Hidd Industrial Area, providing direct access to major sea, air and road networks, such as the new Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa port, Bahrain International Airport, King Fahd Causeway, and the proposed Bahrain-Qatar causeway, facilitating import and export of goods and reducing logistical requirements.
Considered to be the first investment venture of its kind and one of the major industrial development projects in Bahrain and the region, the BIW addresses Bahrain’s ambitions to become a key global investment magnet in the region and intends to allow the private sector play a major role in the economic activity.
At a conference held recently for the official launch of the BIW, Bahrain’s Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr Hassan Fakhro stressed the important role which BIW will play in positioning the country as the new world destination for industrial investments. In addition, BIW will boost the regional economy by attracting major international players and make the GCC region their new home, he added.
The BIW will have four major sectors, each fully equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure to meet the demands of all potential businesses. These are:
• An Industrial Park, with an approximate area of 800,000 sq m, which will accommodate both medium and small industries;
• A 190,000 sq m Logistics Park, zoned for warehousing, storage, cold storage and redistribution of goods;
• A strategic Business Park, covering an area of about 320,000 sq m, designed to include low-rise office blocks, a training centre, a conference hall and other commercial facilities; and
• A Residential Park, spread over an area of 70,000 sq m, which will accommodate a park management centre and living quarters for employees, workers and middle management as well as a hotel.
Each park is spread out and well positioned within the Wharf, ensuring proper distribution and easy access to all other facilities within the BIW.
The project is to be implemented over three phases in five years. Phase one involves the development of the presently backfilled land, while the other two phases will be developed later.
The industrial park is expected to house various light, medium-scale and convertible industries, while the services complex will accommodate transport, cargo and storage investors as well as other support companies. The logistic base and residential and commercial quarters will help lure international firms operating in transport and warehousing fields.
According to Ahmed Al Qattan, the chairman of BIW, the project will attract foreign investors from around the globe because of the advantages it offers, namely 100 per cent foreign ownership for most categories of business; a highly favorable tax environment, with no corporate, personal, value-added or withholding tax; issue of import licences for items to be sold in Bahrain with no restriction on repatriation of capital, profits or dividends. Along with this are the availability of cost-efficient, well-trained, bilingual workforce; the possibility to establish a free zone area; full customs duty exemption on capital goods and goods destined for re-export, raw materials for manufacturing and semi-finished commodities; Free Trade Agreement with the US, advanced and liberal telecommunication sector, and Bahrain’s strategic geographical location.
Investors will also receive a one-stop-shop facility to process their registration formalities. BIW has already received various applications for land plots for establishing factories such as a cement manufacturing, wrought iron industries, water bottling plants, warehousing facilities and residential and commercial buildings – an indication that it will be a successful pilot project in the region.
“Our vision is not confined to the development of the project alone, but also involves marketing Bahrain as a international and regional hub for industrial, logistic and commercial investments,” says Al Qattan.
“This will surely result in an impact on the Bahraini economy directly, through the capital generated by foreign investment, and indirectly through the new opportunities that will be created in supporting services and industries such as finance, tourism, construction, trade, and others.
“Bahrain is set to make its mark internationally and the BIW project will be the catalyst for the future prosperity of Bahrain and its people,” he concludes.