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Seven months into 2010, the project is trapped between authorities and the major companies. Objectively, the amount of communication between the two groups could be a cause for concern.
Christopher Welton, part of investor relations at Vinci Construction, said the company is close to finalising studies for the project ‘in line with the schedule of the Qatari and Bahraini officials’.
He added that these studies encompass the whole aspect of the project: ‘how long the bridge is going to be, what materials, what man power is needed’.
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A source at MEDCO, the dredging giant faced with tackling the ocean floor to facilitate the foundations, admitted to CW that they were still at the planning stage.
But on the websites of Hochtief Construction, the German contractor whose name has been connected with the project for a while, and that of KBR, which won a contract last year, there is no mention of the proposed causeway as a forthcoming project.
Hochtief may be resigned to a waiting game. Dr Bernd Putter, spokesperson, said: “We did some planning for the project and we’re still interested since we submitted our bid. We have not signed a contract yet.”
The Qatar branch of Consolidated Contractors Company went further, telling this magazine it considered the project entirely on hold.
The grey area between ‘planning stage’ and ‘on hold’ has been the curse of some of the biggest projects in the region in the last year.
Finance is typically at the root of the issue. Marina West, the multi-billion dirham complex on Bahrain’s West Coast, originally stopped construction at the end of March, and investors were told individually that there would be no further progress.
Later, it was confirmed that developer Marina West Real Estate Co met with Bin Mhana Holdings, a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Company, over possible funding.
Oman’s Blue City, an OR7.7 billion real estate project, was the talk of bond markets in the Middle East as it neared liquidation.
The project was to house 200,000 people with more than 200 villas, 5,000 apartments, and a number of hotels. Despite much fanfare from the government and a clear initial appetite from markets to fund the project, it had reportedly missed its sales targets.
As with Marina West, Bin Mhana Holdings had been drafted in to provide possible support, though on 9th June Essdar Investments, a fund backed by Abu Dhabi’s ruling family, agreed to buy US $655.5 million of the project’s bonds, telling Bloomberg it planned to take ‘significant control’ over the development.
Jaber Ali Al Mohannadi, general manager of the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation, confirmed that negotiations with contractors over price was the key cause of the delay.
Meanwhile, others have hinted that wider political tensions – including rumours of a recent standoff and gunfire from the Qatar coastline to a wayward Bahraini fisherman – may have temporarily hindered the drive towards a ‘friendship’ causeway. It could be a bridge too far.
Big names linked to the project
Partly as a reflection of the size and the international recognition of the prospective project, the causeway has brought together a number of some of the biggest companies from a wide variety of countries.
France, Denmark, Germany and the US have been in the mix for a while now, though not all have actually signed a contract.
Main contractors:
Main consultants:
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