BD12m allocated to develop park into tourism landmark

Bahrain Tribune, August 14 – About BD12 million has been allocated to turn the Ain Adhari National Park into a landmark to attract visitors as part of the government’s tourism development plans.

Al Khaleej Development Company and the Shoppe group of Kuwait are developing the park.

Mohammed Abdul Khaliq of the project told the Tribune yesterday, "It is an important project. We have thoroughly studied the project and the site. Initially when we began our survey two years ago, we thought the project would take about BD9 million to complete.

"However, after our study, we found that the project would cost more than BD9 million. There was lot of garbage to be removed. All the old drainage pipes and power cables were replaced with the new ones. This work took about six months to complete. Our budget was estimated about two years ago and since then the cost of building and construction materials has increased," he said.

The park will be built on an area of 165,000 square metres. The plot of land has been acquired from the Ministry of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture.

"Ten companies are involved in the project. Six of them are consultants and four are contractors. "Under the agreement with the ministry, we will take the part on lease for 30 years and pay the ministry about BD99,000 every five years. The amount will be raised by 10 per cent every five years. After 30 years, we will hand over the park to the ministry," Khaliq said.

"The project will be completed in two phases. The first involves the development of the garden and a green belt which together will constitute 70 per cent of the project. The second phase involves the construction of administrative buildings. The garden will have a lake in the centre and a smaller lake in the periphery.

There will be space for 23 games in the garden. The game equipment have been ordered from  Italy and Switzerland at a cost of BD2 million. The suppliers will also take care of the annual maintenance of the equipment. The tickets for games will be priced between 100 fils to BD1. The games will be opened to the public in January," he said. The building will have a food court, a conference room, a museum and game arcade and will be completed by mid-2007. There will also be four parking areas to accommodate more than 1,000 cars. "We expect more than 800,000 visitors every year and hope to make profits between BD1.6 million and BD2 million," Khaliq said.