Engineered Bridging through the GCC’s

by Faro

Saudi Arabia has decided to directly connect its Eastern province mainland to its closest neighbouring island of Bahrain and peninsula of Qatar through road and railway bridges. The programmed Engineered bridging through the GCC’s could mean that work on these two proposed bridges would be expected to begin in the near future; an official has been quoted as saying.

The awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has ignited a flurry of construction activity in that country as well as in those neighbouring ones; but the landscapes has not markedly evolved to now or at least not until the recently commissioned infrastructures projects will come to be concretely offered to the respective countries public.

A previous article on the subject was published on October 8, 2015 in MENA-Forum under the title of Push for another Causeway ?

The drop in oil price meanwhile, has affected most development programmes but obviously did not deter through all this period, a lot of success stories to come to be known.

The proposed developments were covered in a working paper to highlight future cooperation between the Gulf states presented by a Saudi delegate during a conference in Qatar last May.

Excerpts of the article of ARAB NEWS published on Tuesday August 23rd, 2016 is reproduced below:

Two bridges to connect KSA with Bahrain, Qatar

JEDDAH: Two bridges connecting Saudi Arabia with Bahrain and Qatar via Al-Ahsa are expected to be built in the near future, Adel bin Mohammad Al-Malham, secretary of Al-Ahsa, has said.

“One of the two proposed bridges — 40 km long — is expected to be built between Al-Ahsa and Bahrain. It would be 100 km away from the King Fahd Causeway and 380 km from Riyadh,” he said.

Another bridge linking Al-Ahsa with Qatar would be 25 km long, said Al-Malham.

“It would be 70 km away from the proposed Al-Ahsa-Bahrain bridge and 425 km away from Riyadh.” Al-Malham, in his working paper which he presented in the 9th Gulf municipal work conference in Qatar, highlighted the future developmental vision for cooperation between the Kingdom and the other GCC countries.

The vision would have various elements, including Arab iron bridge, Arabian Gulf axis, Salwa access with Qatar, Al-Batha access with UAE, Shaiba access with Oman, proposed Al-Aqeer port, proposed Ras Abu Qamees port, Ahsa international airport, proposed airports at Al-Batha, Al-Aqeer and a direct link between Riyadh and Al-Aqeer,” he added.

Other parts of the plan included Salwa access with Qatar, Al-Batha access with the UAE, Shaiba access with Oman and the proposed Al-Aqeer port, Ras Abu Qamees port, Ahsa international airport.

The official also covered proposed airports at Al-Batha, Al-Aqeer and a direct link between Riyadh and Al-Aqeer, according to the publication.

Al-Malham highlighted the future developmental vision for cooperation between the Kingdom and the other GCC countries in his working paper which he presented in the 9th Gulf municipal work conference in Qatar.