Little India will be constructed around Bahrain’s Hindu temple. [Image: Time Out Bahrain]

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Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities’ (BACA) president, Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, accompanied the Indian Ambassador to Bahrain, Alok Kumar Sinha, to the construction site of the Little India project at Manama Market.

The project will open for public in December 2015, in order to co-incide with Bahrain’s National Day celebrations.

Little India is expected to play a key role in enhancing Bahraini-Indian relations, according to UAE daily, Khaleej Times. 

BACA’s president also said that the Little India project will accentuate the Indian humanitarian legacy, which is a vital segment of Bahrain’s social fabric.

According to Business Standard, “the project was announced by the then Culture Ministry in August [2014] as part of Bahrain’s tourism strategy for the next three years, and will cover an area around Bab Al Bahrain and the Hindu temple.

“The Little India project is a way to artificially package the Indian experience in Bahrain and make it a tourist attraction,” the report added. 

Heba Abdul Aziz, tourism affairs adviser and project head, was quoted in the report, stating: “We are aiming to do a bit of work on the alleyways, such as having a street with shops serving Indian food, and a celebration of the Indian festival of colours and overall making it focus on India in all aspects.”