Bahrain's new airport terminal work ‘on track’
BAHRAIN’s new airport terminal will be fully built within the next year, it has emerged. Construction is on track to finish by next February, Transportation and Telecommunications Minister and Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) chairman Kamal Ahmed said yesterday.
However, he added it would take an additional seven months for it to be operational while final preparations are made for the opening – which is due to take place in September next year.
He shared details of the airport expansion yesterday at the launch of a new utilities plant, known as the Central Utilities Complex (CUC), which is supplying power and water to the terminal.
“I am delighted that the new CUC is up and running and is ready to supply electricity, desalinated water, firefighting water and cold water to the new passenger terminal building,” said Mr Ahmed.
He said the new power and water facility would be required in the fourth quarter of this year to support the expansion project.
“The CUC facility, with its water cooling units and backup power generators, will enable airport management to meet the needs of the 210,000 square metre passenger terminal building and ensure continuity of operations,” he explained.
“This is the first milestone for the airport modernisation programme and it was completed on schedule, which is important because if this was delayed – everything else would have been as well.
“The airport is expected to be completed by quarter three of 2019, of course the airport will be completed before that – in February 2019 people will see that it is completed from the outside.
“The work will then focus on preparing for running the airport, which needs many government and private entities to prepare, conduct tests and scenarios which will take time, we hope to have it done by September 2019.”
Work on the new airport building is now said to be more than 60 per cent complete, said BAC chief executive Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah, who was among those at the CUC launch yesterday.
The airport expansion adheres to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards, which are intended to save energy, water and resources, generate less waste and promote health.
Milestone
LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and is a globally recognised symbol of sustainability achievement.
The $1.1 billion airport modernisation programme is a two-year project that will increase the capacity of Bahrain International Airport from nine million to 14m passengers a year.
