Bahrain signs Busaiteen Bridge phase four contracts

Manama, Bahrain - Bahrain has signed contracts to build phase four of the Busaiteen Bridge Project, a scheme Saudi Arabia is paying for with a grant of more than $250 million (SAR 937 million) that covers every phase of the scheme.

The grant is channelled through the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), and its CEO, Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, took part in the ceremony in the Bahraini capital on 12 November.

Bahrain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, attended the signing. Ebrahim bin Hassan Al Hawaj, Bahrain’s Minister of Works, and Abdullah bin Mseer bin Tuwalah, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Ambassador to Bahrain, were also present.

Al Hawaj signed the agreement on behalf of the Government of Bahrain. Mazen Mattar, Chief Executive Officer of Nass Corporation, signed for the contractor, a consortium made up of Nass Corporation and Nasser Hazzaa Al Subaie Contracting Company.

The scheme will be the fourth bridge to connect the Capital and Muharraq governorates. Once built, the project will join Muharraq Island to Manama by way of an 8km northern corridor.

According to the SFD, the link will ease the movement of traffic, give better connections between districts and close gaps in the existing network. The fund said it will also add capacity to Bahrain’s roads and make the network more efficient, supporting the development of the kingdom’s transport system.

Al-Marshad said the project forms part of close development relations between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain that go back almost 50 years. In his view, the fourth phase will help the kingdom meet what its social and economic growth demands, adding to Bahrain’s progress and prosperity.

Al Hawaj said the signing showed how deep the long-standing fraternal ties between the two kingdoms run, as well as the closeness of their development partnership. He also pointed to the part the SFD plays in backing strategic schemes to build up infrastructure and advance sustainable development in Bahrain.

The bridge is the latest in nearly five decades of development cooperation between the two countries through the SFD. The fund described this support as part of Saudi Arabia’s long-running approach of backing Bahrain’s development priorities and helping put in place sustainable infrastructure as a base for growth and prosperity.

Over that period, the SFD has helped finance 34 development projects and programmes in Bahrain worth more than $2.91 billion (SAR 10.9 billion) in total. The money came as Saudi grants and soft development loans and went to energy, transport, social infrastructure and other sectors.