Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH) Tuesday announced that around 10% of the first phase of the project – the Financial Centre – comprising Dual Towers, Financial Mall and Harbour House has been completed till the end of August 2004. The construction of the Financial Centre was awarded to the UAE-based Al Hamad Development and Construction Company.
Mr. Esam Janahi, Chairman of Bahrain Financial Harbour Holding Company, said: “Currently, there are 300 workers and employees on site – 33% of them are Bahraini nationals. Additionally, eight Bahraini firms have been subcontracted and involved in this phase of the development.”
Mr. Janahi said that the company has succeeded in achieving about 300,000 accident-free working hours. The international safety standards were applied by the contractor to ensure the safety of all workers and employees on site including engineers, consultants and contractors.
Commenting on the construction work progress, Mr. Ahmed Janahi, Managing Director of Ahmed Janahi Architects (AJA), the Lead Consultants to the project, said: “During the next three weeks, foundation work for the Harbour House will commence. Recently, piling work for the Dual Towers was completed while the foundation work will be completed in the coming weeks.”
“The overall progress of the structural works on the Dual Towers and Financial Mall is advancing well and in accordance with the project schedule,” he said.
Mr. Ahmed Janahi expressed hope that the Financial Centre will be completed by the end of 2006, ahead of schedule.
The Financial Centre includes the Dual Towers which are designed to accommodate financial services institutions, investment banks, offshore banking units and investment funds.
The Financial Centre also includes the Financial Mall which will host Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE), commercial companies and brokerage firms, while the Harbour House will be allocated for specialized media enterprises and other entities which support financial and investment projects.
The cost of the Financial Centre is to the tune of $250 million, of which $100 million has already been raised through private placement, and the rest - $150 million - is being financed and structured by the Bahrain-based Liquidity Management Centre (LMC).
BFH had recently announced that 35% of the leasable area in the Financial Centre has already been booked. BFH has structured its freehold sale and lease options around an ownership system, called `strata title’ ownership, one of the first countries in the Gulf to use this system. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
