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TMCNet: World-class infrastructure on way [Gulf Daily News, Manama, Bahrain]

[May 26, 2009]

World-class infrastructure on way [Gulf Daily News, Manama, Bahrain]

(Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 26--A TOTAL of 677 tenders and projects totalling BD256.9 million were issued by the Works Ministry last year to further create a world-class infrastructure in Bahrain, it emerged yesterday.


The ministry's project budget increased to BD110m and it managed projects for client ministries worth BD108m, said Works Minister Fahmi Al Jowder.

A total of 98 per cent of the ministry's budget of BD110m was spent as follows -- BD3.02m on building maintenance expenses, BD87.8m (including an extra BD30m allocated by the government) on roads projects and BD17.7m from a budget of BD19.2m on sanitary projects.

Mr Al Jowder pointed out that tenders for last year had increased from 2007, when the then Works and Housing Ministry had issued 285 tenders worth BD318.6m.

The 2007 figures were again up on the previous year, when 253 tenders worth BD345.1m were issued.

"It goes without saying that the urban landscape of the kingdom is transforming," said Mr Al Jowder at the launch of the Works Ministry's annual report for 2008 held at the Crowne Plaza yesterday.

"Our roads, sanitary engineering and strategic projects' master plans are progressing with benefits accruing towards enhancing economic, social and cultural sectors throughout the kingdom.

"Our work is integral to realising the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, the National Strategy and those of the Bahrain Centre of Excellence." Mr Al Jowder said significant advances were made last year on road expansion and development projects, sanitary engineering projects and services, as well as with strategic government projects.

Accomplished strategic roads projects included Bahrain Gas Junction, the Bahrain City Centre Flyover, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Highway Interchanges three and four and Zallaq Bridge.

Roads projects under construction include the Bahrain Map Interchange, North Manama Causeway reclamation, and armouring works for the Reef Island Access Bridge, Sitra Bridge Replacement, and Umm Al Hassam Interchange.

In the sanitary sector the BD14.2m budget was fully utilised last year, with 26 projects under construction, 41 tenders and 43 project designs completed and eight contracts worth BD9m also finished.

Achievements in the sanitary sector included the move towards privatising sanitary engineering services.

Work got underway last year on the new Muharraq Sewage Treatment Plant with the commencement of reclamation work and a consultant for the Tubli Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade was appointed.

Other significant advances last year included major progress on various strategic projects.

The Khalifa Bin Salman Port infrastructure and the port building were completed, Shaikh Khalifa Sport City was also completed and is ready for handover to the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, said Mr Al Jowder.

Work on other projects, which will contribute to Bahrain's economic, social and cultural and infrastructure development also got underway last year, he added.

These projects included the King Hamad General Hospital in Muharraq, Bahrain Monument, and Sitra and Al Najma Sports Clubs.

Mr Al Jowder said because of the ministry's successes, it had been ranked in the top 12pc of a worldwide survey conducted by Palladium Group, a US-based specialist in systems and processes to improve the execution of business strategy.

"The journey ahead is to achieve world-class road and sanitary infrastructures as well as provide excellent business services to all stakeholders," he said.

"Currently we are handling more projects than ever with the expansion of roads and sanitary engineering networks on course and in full alignment with the Government National Master Plan Development Scenarios.

"We are advancing towards a model where our ministry will manage the core business areas of sectoral planning, policy development and regulation as a high level project management body and optimise service delivery through outsourcing to the private sector." Ministry assistant under-secretary for roads Essam Khalaf said the highlights and major projects last year included the Cabinet's approval of the master plan for the Integrated Transport Strategy, which will promote alternative modes of transport to reduce congestion on the national road network.

This incorporates a 180km long public transport network, comprising light rail transit, monorail, tramway and bus rapid transit.

The project will be implemented over three phases up to 2030.

"Other projects included A National Road Safety Strategy, which aims to reduce fatal accidents by 30pc within the next 10 years progressed and the final report was approved by the Traffic Board and all related authorities," he said.

"Implementation and co-ordination also progressed with other government bodies on the Intelligent Transport System.

"It works to improve traffic conditions by using the latest technologies such as CCTV cameras, speed radars, message signs, as well as a Traffic Management Centre, equipped with technology to monitor and control traffic movement on key routes on the road network." Mr Khalaf said last year designs for 33 road projects were completed and it designed and planned for at least 51 roads projects.

He said in 2008 the ministry designed about 48km of road length and introduced 5,000 new parking spaces.

While a total of 1,413 road traffic diversions were implemented to minimise traffic congestion and delay at road works.

"Projects were conducted in all five governorates in full liaison with Municipal Councils and parliament and a number of major and complex road, bridge and underpass projects were undertaken and completed during the year," said Mr Khalaf.

"The budget allocated for 2008 (and rolled over from 2007) was BD57.8m.

"Major strategic projects undertaken include major highways and grade separated interchanges kingdom-wide.

"The value of ongoing projects of this category which continued or commenced in 2008 was in the range of BD300m.

"My final highlight is that we also implemented more road openings, village roads and road improvement project programmes." Assistant under-secretary for sanitary engineering Ebrahim Al Mansoor said last year the sector had under construction 26 major projects worth BD65m and 41 tenders worth BD106m.

He said it had completed 43 project designs and contracts worth BD9m.

Ongoing strategic projects include the National Master Plan for Sanitary Engineering Services 2008-2030.

The project objectives are to review and update the previous National Strategy for the Sanitary Services of sewerage, and prepare a new master plan for surface water drainage, wastewater treatment and reuse of treated sewage effluent.

The preparation for the project is being carried out by GTZ and Dornier Consulting.

Another ongoing project is the privatisation of the Sanitary Engineering Services programme, which is to be carried out by a consultancy comprising HSBC, Fichtner and Norton Rose.

It includes developing a privatisation strategy and an implementation plan.

"As a part of the programme, a New Muharraq Sewage Treatment Plan on a 25 years BOO (build, own and operate) scheme is scheduled to start -- on a fast track -- in 2009," said Mr Al Mansoor.

"The land reclamation for the new Muharraq Sewage Treatment Plant is progressing.

"Stage one of the Short Term Emergency Programme for the expansion and upgrading of Tubli Water Pollution Control Centre has been completed." Mr Al Mansoor said other ongoing projects were the South Alba Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade serving the South Alba Industrial area; the North Sitra Sewage Treatment Plant upgrade; and the Al Ma'meer and North Industrial area Sewage Treatment Plant tender.

"The Sanitary Engineering Planning and Projects Directorate is currently carrying out a study for urgent rehabilitation works for the most severe areas by utilising a trenchless technique," he added.

"This project aims to prevent groundwater infiltration to the network." Assistant under-Secretary for construction projects and maintenance Mohammed Al Mubarak said in 2008 the Construction Projects Directorate had handled 40 projects at various stages including design, tender, under-construction and closure. The approximate total cost of these projects was BD77.7m.

Projects completed last year were the Public Security Complex at Muharraq, storage facilities for Bahrain National Museum and an improved Customer Services Centre at the Housing Ministry.

"The Building Maintenance Directorate in 2008 accomplished a total of 280 projects through contractors and more than 1,800 projects in-house, achieving 99.99pc of its BD3m budget for the year," said Mr Al Mubarak.

"One of the major projects was the general maintenance, painting, and electrical works at 42 schools for the Education Ministry during the summer school period." Ministry acting assistant under-secretary for human and financial resources Ahmed Al Khayat said a total of 2166 training events had taken place in 2008 locally and abroad.

This, he said, was a continuation of an upward trend spanning the past five years, along with a corresponding 10-fold increase in training budget allocation.

Acting assistant under-secretary for technical services Sameer Affouni announced that the projects for the ministry's budget at the end of last year stood at BD108,478,382 and its expenditure at BD77,937,562.

He said expenditure on works projects last year was BD108,028,968, which represented 98pc of the total budget allocated for projects.

The projects utilising the full budget allocated were building maintenance expenses and roads projects, while sanitary projects used only 93pc of its budget.

Mr Affouni said last year the Materials Engineering Directorate monitored the quality of materials used in more than 200 government projects and more than 60,000 routine and specialised tests were conducted.

He said more than 50 site investigations were conducted. These involved assessing the structural adequacy of government buildings, schools, airport runways, existing roads and the foundations of Sitra power station.

With regards the Information Technology Directorate, Mr Affouni said the e-Services Section had achieved significant results in 2008.

"In addition to releasing four e-services, the section has earned recognition for the ministry as whole for its professionalism and is quoted as a model for e-service delivery, and is the first ministry to implement all identified e-services," added Mr Affouni. becky@gdn.com.bh

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