Real estate developer First Bahrain will tender phase two construction of its US $45 million (BHD 17 million) warehouse project at the beginning of 2010, according to general manager Amin Al Arrayed.
Al Arrayed said the company is going to tender for all three stages of the development.
Phase one of the project was already awarded to local contractor Abdullah Al Darazi & Sons earlier this year under a $7 million contract which is on target for completion in December.
Al Arrayed said the entire project would both be completed by the end of 2010, with phase two starting construction in February.
“We don’t want to leave much time between the phases because we what to get this project up and running,” he told Construction Week on Monday.
“We’ll go to tender for phase two at the beginning of the year and once we sign the contractor we’ll be ready to go.”
The warehouse project covers 65,500m2 at the Bahrain Investment Wharf (BIW) in Hidd and will be operated by Majaal, a new company launched by First Bahrain today.
Majaal is believed to be first warehousing and logistics company to focus on small to medium businesses in Bahrain and is inviting companies to lease space for the December opening of phase one.
Meanwhile, Al Arrayed said First Bahrain is looking into developing other projects including a mixed use development on 22,300m2 of land in Janabiya which could “possibly start” by the end of the year.
He said the company’s $450 million mixed-use development in Seef, which was cancelled earlier in the year, would not be reactivated until market conditions improved.
