Transport
From The Report: Bahrain 2017
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With construction under way on the $1.1bn expansion of its international airport and a further $700m investment being made on road and bridge building, Bahrain is working hard to improve its connections to the rest of the world while shortening journey times for its residents. Public transit is also a priority. Within six months of its new buses starting service in February 2015, some 33,000 passengers were using them daily, and the government is planning to commission a detailed feasibility study on a light rail network. Plans for a new rail and road causeway to Saudi Arabia have been discussed for some time, but this mega-project may have to wait a few years for its turn as Bahrain completes an ambitious programme for infrastructure.

This chapter contains an interview with Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa, President, Customs Affairs.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Mile a minute: Significant developments are under way in all segments
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With construction under way on the $1.1bn expansion of its international airport and a further $700m investment being made on road and bridge building, Bahrain is working hard to improve its connections to the rest of the world while shortening journey times for its residents. Public transit is also a priority. After one year of operation, the average daily ridership had risen to more than 36,000 passengers, and the government has commissioned a detailed feasibility study on a light rail…

Interview

Nuts and bolts: Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa, President, Customs Affairs, on improving the efficiency of the logistics sector
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Interview: Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa What position does logistics hold within the wider context of Bahrain’s economy? SHEIKH AHMED BIN HAMAD AL KHALIFA: Customs Affairs is just one cog in the large plan of Vision 2030, as it applies to logistics, one of the key sectors identified by the crown prince, HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, as a priority for future development. So far, the processing capacity at Khalifa Bin Salman Port has increased, and there is still room for further…

Analysis

Sky’s the limit: New ambitious plans will help the kingdom compete as a regional aviation hub
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Although it is not apparent to passengers landing at the existing terminal, building work on Bahrain’s Airport Modernisation Programme (AMP) is well under way. The project is one of the key individual recipients of finance from the Gulf Development Fund (GDF), through which $10bn is being channelled into Bahrain. The investment will allow the single-runway airport to increase annual passenger numbers to 14m, and so enable the kingdom’s economy to benefit from increased inter-connectivity…

Analysis

All aboard: The government is expanding mass transit options
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A new light rail service could help travellers avoid heavy traffic and turn the journey from Bahrain’s new airport to The Avenues shopping centre into a stress-free shuttle ride. Transport planners are going back to the drawing board to breathe new life into a mass transit proposal for 2020 that was first tabled in 2010. RAIL REVISITED: The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications (MTT) announced in March 2016 that the kingdom was considering a 105-km, four-line network, with the first…