<!—->

Bahrain has awarded a contract worth $1.1 billion to construct a brand new terminal at Bahrain International Airport to a joint venture of between the UAE’s Arabtec and TAV Construction from Turkey.

The contract, which was signed at Bahrain International Air Show 2016 at Sakhir Airbase, includes the construction of the new passenger terminal building, the main services building and an aircraft bay.

The deal is part of Bahrain airport’s modernisation programme that will increase the facility’s capacity to 14 million passengers annually when it is fully completed.

Further contracts were also signed at the airshow, including an $11.7 million contract with CIMC from China for 25 passenger loading bridges in the new terminal; a $31 million contract with Vanderlande from the Netherlands for the baggage handling system; a $29.7 million contract with US firm L3 Communications for security screening equipment and a $12.5 million contract with Finnish company Kone for the horizontal and vertical transfer systems.

The deals were announced by Transportation and Telecommunications Minister Kamal Ahmed at a press conference, who said the project is one of the most significant projects for Bahrain and its future development.

“The airport modernisation programme is one of the most important strategic projects for the kingdom of Bahrain, as the airport serves all economic sectors and is a gateway for Bahrain to the rest of the world. Once completed, it will increase the airport’s capacity to 14 million passengers annually,” he said.

While work has started on piling and enabling works on the site, construction on the new terminal will start in May this year.

“These jobs aim to facilitate the main contractor to enter by May, where we hope to begin the work and we expect the main contractor to mobilise in two months’ time. By 2019 we hope to have our new terminal ready,” he added.

Mohammed Albinfalah, CEO of Bahrain Airport Company, said the airport modernisation programme “is the largest infrastructure project for the Bahrain International Airport in over 30 years” and is necessary in order “to keep up with the rapid pace of progress in the aviation industry.”

“The Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, in cooperation with Bahrain Airport Company, has put in place this ambitious program which will be implemented in phases in order to enhance the infrastructure and services in the sector. We are expecting to complete the project in 2019, and expect to see a 3-fold increase in direct flights and numbers of airline using the new passenger terminal building as a result,” Albinfalah added.