Bahrain has completed detailed feasibility studies for a Light Rail Transport (LRT) network in the Kingdom, a senior government official has said.

“Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications [MOTT] has completed a feasibility study for phase one of LRT which is 30 kilometres long,” said Fakhroo Huda, Assistant Undersecretary in Bahrain’s Ministry of Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning during a presentation at IRF Middle East and North Africa Regional Congress and Exhibition in Dubai on Tuesday.

She said the project would be implemented on public private partnership (PPP) basis.

“We are preparing the specifications for putting the project in the market for the participation of the private sector” she explained.

While Bahrain doesn’t have a specific PPP legislation, it hasn’t stopped the government from entering into PPPs for developing housing, energy and power and water projects.

The LRT project is part of Bahrain’s Public Transport Masterplan 2030, which has recommended the development 184 kilometres of transit network comprising six lines, which is to be implemented in a phased manner by 2030.

For more data, analytics, tools and news on projects in the Middle East visit the Thomson Reuters Projects portal

© ZAWYA 2017