‘Tendering process for new Saudi-Bahrain Causeway under discussion’ – govt official

‘Tendering process for new Saudi-Bahrain Causeway under discussion’ – govt official

The tendering for King Hamad Causeway, which will supplement the existing King Fahd Causeway between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and connect Bahrain to the GCC Railway, is under discussion, according to a government official.

Hussain Ali Yaqoob, Director, Land Transportation Planning & Studies and Acting Director, Land Transportation Projects at the Ministry of Transportation & Telecommunication of Bahrain (MTT), said at the Middle East Rail event in Abu Dhabi last week that Saudi and Bahraini officials had met to discuss the project in the week before the rail event, noting that the pre-qualification stage has been presented to the senior leadership to take forward.

“In due course, the project would be launched for pre-qualification once we get the final approval,” he said,

Yaqoob said the transaction advisory team had completed Stage 1 and Stage 2 deliverables.

“We have conducted market sounding and invited global players to ensure that the way we will issue the project will be in the right framework,” he said.

The advisory team, appointed in November 2019, consists of KPMG (Financial Advisory), AECOM (Technical Consultant) and CMS (Legal Consultant).

Yaqoob said there is an understanding between both countries that the King Hamad Causeway would be implemented as a public-private partnership (PPP) based on