1-      Low-Cost Housing Units

The Bahrain Ministry of Works & Housing has issued a request for proposals to three consortiums for developing 5000 low-cost housing units in the country. The developments will be spread across three areas, Al Buhari, North Bahrain Newtown and Al Lawzi.  The consortiums are understood to include local firm Al-Moayyed International Group and local real estate and infrastructure development company Naseej. Land will be given to the winning consortium free of charge.

There will be a government guarantee on the scheme to encourage banks to finance the project, which will be the country’s first public-private partnership. Bidders will be required to supply committed financing details for their bids, which must be submitted by August.

Ernst & Young, Mott Macdonald and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are advising the client on this development, which is expected to be completed in 2015.

2-     National Amphitheatre

The US $43 million national amphitheatre is expected to become a hot venue in Bahrain once it is completed in July 2012.

With the capacity to seat 1000, the theatre will feature a number of multi-purpose halls and cover an area of up to 12,000m² situated north of Bahrain National Museum Lake.

Cypriot construction firm Cybroc, the company that built the Riffa Views residential golf development in Manama, has been awarded the main contract.

3-      Diar Al Muharraq mixed-use resort

Kuwait Finance House is expected to invite contractors to bid for the main contract to develop Diar Al Muharraq, a mixed-use resort comprising 13 islands, with 40km of waterfront, in the fourth quarter of this year. The project will feature residential areas, commercial centres, shopping malls and hotels due to be fully completed in 2020, and is valued at $3.2 billion. To be situated on the coast of Muharraq, once completed the project will have 30,000 properties and house up to 100,000 people.

Hyder Consulting has been appointed as infrastructure consultant, while Scott Wilson is the main consultant, Hisham Abdulrahman Jaffer is the project manager (HAJ) and AECOM Group has been awarded the master plan consultant contract.

Danish Environmental Consultancy has also been brought onboard as the project’s environmental consultant.

4-     Bahrain Monorail

The feasibility study for a 184km-long monorail network linking the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar is expected to be completed in September this year.

Phase one comprising a 23km section is expected to be completed in 2016. Phase two includes the Green Line, a light-rail transit system that extends from Juffair through Manama to Seef District and is scheduled to commence in 2016. Phase three includes the Red Line, a tramway that extends from Bahrain International Airport, through the Diplomatic Area to Seef District. The project is expected to be fully completed in 2030.

Dubai-based Systra has been awarded the main contract, while Germany’s IAB GmbH has been brought on as environmental consultant.

5-     Bahrain International Airport Expansion

It is expected that contractors will be invited to bid for the construction contract to expand Bahrain International Airport’s existing terminal this month or in September. The client, Bahrain Airport Company, has received 39 pre-qualification documents for the design and supervision consultancy for two new terminals.

In addition to the extension of the existing terminal, a second new terminal will be built, including rail links between the two and a multi-storey car park.

France’s Aeroports de Paris and Jacobs Consultancy have been appointed master plan consultants, and HOK International, GIBB Ltd and Mohammed Salahuddi Consulting Engineering Bureau (MSCEB) are design consultants. Hill International and Dar Al Handasah (Shair And Partners) are the project managers.