Left high and dry!

Completing schemes and achieving dreams' is the buzzword at the Ministry of Works and it is standing firm by its slogan and driving forward to complete the Isa Town road project despite it being fraught with difficulties with the removal of its contractor, South Korea's Sungwon Corporation, writes Asma Salman.

The shake-up that has made headlines in the local press and drawn frustrated groans from commuters has been a cause of much frenzied activity at the Ministry of Works.

Under-secretary of Public Works Affairs at the Ministry of Works, Nayef Omer Al Kalali revealed to GulfWeekly: "The completion date for the Isa Town Interchange was July 2010 but with the current situation the completion date has been pushed back to the fourth quarter of this year.

"We have seized the site and taken possession of all the equipment on site in accordance with the contract. The ministry has fulfilled all its financial obligations to the company. We will now proceed with auditing and determine liabilities. Meanwhile, we have invited other highly-qualified contracting companies to bid for the project's tender to complete the remaining

The contractor which has lost a multi-million dinar contract to improve one of Bahrain's busiest intersections was given 'repeated' opportunities to improve its performance, says a top government official.

Under-secretary of Public Works Affairs at the Ministry of Works, Nayef Omer Al Kalali, told GulfWeekly that Sungwon's termination comes after the company was urged to organise the financial and administrative aspects of the project.

It is reported that Sungwon Corporation is suffering financial difficulties in Dubai and South Korea due to the global economic downturn. "They have repeatedly failed to hold up to their promise to improve performance and pay the secondary contractors and workers their wages," he said.

However, last summer, the South Korean construction giant claimed that the ministry had delayed its payment due to which it was unable to pay wages to its workers who had gone on strike. The issue was resolved and work on the Isa Town Interchange started soon after.

The Isa Town flyover and interchange project began construction in October 2007 with an overall cost of more than BD40 million. It was Sungwon's first major civil works contract in Bahrain and the company used a revolutionary construction technique - a launching girder - which eliminated the need for elaborate scaffolding that could disrupt traffic.

The current contract controversy is a major hiccup in the ministry's pledge to ease traffic woes by 2010. At present, during peak hours, the Isa Town Gate intersection handles more than 6,000 cars per hour.

The Ministry of Works, however, stepped into the New Year by celebrating the completion of most of its 'short to medium term' road improvement projects.

It is now pushing its contractors to complete the Sitra Bridge Replacement and grappling with the Isa Town Interchange delay so that it can fully deliver a promise of a smoother flow at some of the busiest traffic junctions on the island.

Although the completed projects have eased some traffic movement ministry officials believe that upgrading the road network system is only part of the transport challenge.

According to latest ministry statistics, Bahrain has 400,000 registered vehicles on the road with around 100 being added on a daily basis. The way to tackle the growing traffic challenge is to adopt a 'complete system approach pyramid' that focuses on a five-pronged approach that apart from upgrading road network includes an effective transport system, smart land use, intelligent transport system and traffic restraining policies.

Keeping the future traffic growth in perspective, the ministry has moved its focus to bigger and more ambitious projects that are in line with the developmental projects taking shape in the kingdom.

New 'three level' interchanges with main roads and accompanying tunnels and flyovers in Isa Town and Sitra will prove to be an impressive engineering achievement ... but the Ministry says it will not rest on its laurels when these projects are completed. It has unveiled even bigger plans to tackle the ever-increasing traffic on the island.

Mr Al Kalali said: "Only with constant improvement can we ease movement. Our next focus is to build strategic road networks parallel to King Faisal Highway to ease traffic from the busiest arterial highway in Bahrain. We are also building Western Access bridges to Bahrain Financial Harbour.

"Moreover, plans for an alternative public transport system are also in the pipeline. The master plan of pubic transport has been finalised and approved by the Cabinet. The feasibility study is complete and the government is committed to undertake this project in the future.

"At present the ministry is being approached by private international companies who have expressed their interest in the project on a private finance initiative basis. This is an ambitious project with a high cost running into hundreds of millions of dinars. The plan for a public transport system consists of a mix of light rail transit, monorail and trams."

Mr Al Kalali strongly believes in a textbook saying that, 'the heart of the city, like the heart of the body, remains healthy, only if there is a smooth flow in the arteries'.

At present the congested metropolis of Manama is teeming with vehicles which become clogged to a standstill several times during the day but Mr Al Kalali envisages a modern urban centre where traffic woes will be a thing of the past. He said: "I see a future with more buses on the roads and where residents of Bahrain will become inclined towards using the rail system. There would be more choice riders rather than captive riders and that would only come with a change in mindset.

"I see a modern urban environment where people increasingly do business electronically and e-government facilities grow in popularity."