The Bahraini Ministry of Housing has signed contracts with China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) to initiate construction work on the East Sitra City mega-project.
The contracts were signed in Manama on December 8 by Basim Bin Yacob Al Hamar, Bahraini minister of housing, and Fang Yanshui, vice president of CMEC, in Manama.
Under the agreement, the East Sitra City project will be delivered at a total cost of 260 million Bahraini dinars (US$689 million).
East Sitra City is one of the key projects initiated by the ministry to provide 40,000 new housing units.
According to Gulf House Engineering, the social housing development will be built within an integrated master plan and fully coordinated with traffic and infrastructure requirements. The project is to be built on reclaimed land connected to the Shk. Jaber Sitra Highway by two main access roads.
Sitra is an island located just to the south of Bahrain’s capital city Manama. The Ministry of Housing has plans for a total of five new city housing projects. The others are Salman, Al Ramlin, East Hidd and Khalifa.
Trade and investment ties are growing between China and Bahrain.
In July 2018, the Chinese and Bahraini foreign ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly advance the development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The two sides agreed to support each other on issues concerning each others’ core interests and promote cooperation under the Belt and Road framework, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the time.
Wang pledged to strengthen cooperation with Bahrain under the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa signed the MoU just ahead of attending the opening ceremony of the eighth ministerial meeting of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing.
China is involved in a number of housing mega-projects across the Arab world, as governments attempt to improve infrastructure, housing, and basic services.
In Egypt, on December 10, Egyptian and Chinese officials held a ceremony to mark the progress on building skyscrapers in Egypt's new administrative capital.
At the construction site, 50 kilometres east of the capital city Cairo, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) participated in a ceremonial conference attended by officials from the Egyptian Housing Ministry and the Chinese embassy.
In mid-2018, CSCEC began building 20 skyscrapers in the planned new capital's Central Business District (CBD).
Chang Weicai, general manager of CSCEC Egypt, was quoted by Xinhua as telling the attendees that the CBD project represents the implementation of both Egypt's Vision 2030 and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to seek common development among participating states.
Some of the skyscrapers have already risen above their foundations, including the Iconic Tower, which has so far reached 80 meters. When it tops out at 385 meters, it will be the tallest tower in Africa.
Khaled Abbas, Egypt's deputy housing minister, said that the CBD project is going as scheduled, adding that the ministry will start receiving the completed skyscrapers one by one from the second half of 2021. The Iconic Tower will be fully completed in mid-2022 to mark the completion of the CBD project.
