Saudi Arabia, Bahrain said to plan new causeway

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are planning to build a new road-and-rail causeway between the two countries to ensure smooth traffic flow on the existing link, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing a project document.

Cost of the King Hamad Causeway would range between $4 billion and $5 billion, and over 150 companies that are expected to build the project using the public private partnership (PPP) model, according to sources who attended an industry consultation event in Manama.

The project is expected to be owned by the private sector through a new entity under a 25-30-year PPP arrangement.

Private sector developers, co-investors, contractors and lenders should submit bids for the project no later than June 29.

Advisers will be appointed and pre-qualification requests will be issued in the first and second quarters of 2018, respectively.

The existing 25 km King Fahd causeway has been open since 1986 and had average daily traffic of 31,000 passengers in 2016. The number of travelers is expected to double by 2030, the document added.

A new 70 km railway connecting a passenger terminal in Salmabad and freight facilities at Khalifa bin Salman port in Bahrain to the Saudi railway system will be built, besides a new four-lane road causeway running parallel to the existing one.

Eight million passengers are expected to use the rail link annually by 2050, while nearly 600,000 containers and 13 million tons of bulk freight are expected to be transported by the railway.