The pick-up in non-oil growth in Bahrain, according to Bahrain’s Economic Development Bank (EDB), is likely to have been at least partially reflective of a significant build-up of the project pipeline funded by the GCC Development Board.

The total cumulative value of the projects tendered as of August was just over $4 billion, said EDB in the September edition of its Bahrain Economic Quarterly  (BEQ) report. Nearly $3.8 billion worth of projects have been awarded and just over $3.7 billion worth actually commenced. A year earlier the value of active projects was only a third of this ($1.2 billion) by comparison. The aggregate value of active, GCC-funded projects is expected to exceed $4 billion by the end of the year.

As of now, 36 per cent of the projects are in housing, 21 per cent in electricity and water, and 12 per cent in roads. The airport modernisation accounts for 16 per cent of the total. The initial preparatory infrastructure work for the airport project has now been completed.

Also other projects, most of them private or linked to government-related funds, are seeing good momentum:

• The aluminium smelter Alba recently announced that it had received financial commitments of $1.5 billion from banks for the Line 6 project. In August, it awarded the construction of a 1,792 MW fifth captive power station to a consortium of GE and Turkey’s Gama Power Systems;

• Work has begun on a new Deerat al Oyoun development which is part of the Diyar al Muharraq island development;

• Work on a new central market is to commence in Muharraq. Muharraq will also be the site for a new BD45 million Sa’ada multi-purpose development that will connect the old souq with the waterfront;

• Japan’s JGC won a $98.7 million contract for a gas pipeline system and storage facilities, awarded by the Bahrain National Gas Expansion Co, a subsidiary of nogaholding. The venture constitutes the second phase of the Bahrain Gas Plant project. Upon completion, the combined processing capacity of BNGEC and Banagas will increase to 653 million cfd. The work is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Overall, Bahrain saw an 11 per cent yoy increase in the number of construction permits issued during the first eight months of the year. A total of 7.447 projects with an aggregate value of BD1.3 billion were approved since January. The Ministry of Works, Municipalities, and Urban Planning issued 685 permits for investment projects over the same period.

The total infrastructure project pipeline was put by Meed at $72.5 billion in mid-September. This marked a 1.7 per cent yoy increase:

• Just over $1 billion worth of Bahraini projects were awarded in July, according to Meed. This consisted of the main EPC contract for the fifth captive power plan at Alba;

• $979 million worth of new projects were awarded in August. New announcement included a $53 billion construction award for the Ikea store by Ghassan Ahmed al Sulaiman Development Co, the $584 million Deerat al Oyoun project by Diyar al Muharraq, the Utilization of Hidd water tanks by the Ministry of Electricity and Water ($20 million), the Alba power distribution package ($100 million), a 507-villa East Hidd housing project by the Ministry of Housing ($54 million), and East Hidd infrastructure works ($161 million);

• The total value of projects awarded in September was $482 million, according to Meed. This figure was accounted for by the Muqaba sewerage network project of Ministry of Works and Urban Planning. In addition, Amlak Real Estate awarded the Souq al Buhair renovation project.