A glittering Icon Tower will be the centrepiece for the new $1.25 billion Lulu Island housing project in Bahrain being built on the coast of Manama.

Residents are expected to begin moving into the residential complex by mid-2008.
Lulu Island, a joint venture between the Bahrain government and the Bahrain-based Mouawad Group Real Estate Development Company, will house 39 residential buildings and include 1,217 apartments with waterfront or lagoon views.
It will also feature the residential Icon Tower, 49 chalets, 67 Arabian-designed villas, a 325-room five-star hotel, marina and yacht club, an aquarium, a medical centre, a shopping mall and a multi-function exhibition centre.
The man-made island is a freehold development that covers a total area of 564,000 sq m (6.1 million sq ft).
The project will be managed by the Lulu Tourism Company, which was established in March 2002 with a paid-up capital of $46 million. The island is located close to the Pearl Roundabout.
The project is designed by Australia-based Spowers and Pentago in the shape of number 9.
Reclamation and dredging work has been completed, said Lulu Tourism Company general manager Elias Karaan.