THE construction work at the BD4.6 million serviced apartments project at the Gulf Hotel is expected to be finished before the 2006 Prix Prix, a Bahrain Hotels Company (BHC) official has said.
The construction on the expansion project will commence shortly. It will provide another 161 five-star fully-serviced rooms before the start of the 2006 Grand Prix. The formal announcement was made by the BHC Managing Director, Mohammed Buzizi and Chief Executive Officer Aqeel Raees after the contract award ceremony held at the Gulf Hotel.
The Chief Executive Officer of Almoayyed Contracting, M.T. Mathews and the Managing Director of BHC, Mohammed Buzizi, signed the contact on behalf of the construction contractor and the BHC, respectively.
The expansion project will add 101 flats, with 60 double-bed apartments and 61 single-bed apartments. It will take the total number of rooms to 421 - the highest room numbers of any five-star hotel in Bahrain.
"Bahrain is well-positioned to accommodate the fans and visitors of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2006.
Buzizi told a Press Conference yesterday that the existing hotel rooms and other such facilities were enough to handle the guests and visitors during the upcoming Grand Prix in 2006. "The hospitality industry in Bahrain is working hard to promote Bahrain as a preferred tourists' destination in the region. The leadership's decision to organise the first Middle East F1 Grand Prix this year had given a new dimension to the Kingdom's status a tourist hub in the region," he said.
"The new project will reinforce the status of Gulf Hotel and Gulf International Convention and Exhibition Centre as the biggest hotel property in Bahrain, adding to the existing inventory of 360 room, 11 restaurants and bars and 2,200-seat convention centre with an additional 2,500 sq metres of exhibition space," Raees said, adding that the construction work would commence shortly and was expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2006.
"The soon-to-rise 15-storey building will have five-star serviced apartments and will be fully equipped with luxury furnishings, kitchen area and hotel amenities and facilities.
"The new building will be located in the South Wing Garden. A glass-enclosed atrium will connect the apartment building to the South Wing building, giving easy access to the hotel's recreation, food, beverage and business facilities," Raees said."The net profits of BHC registered 90 per cent increase at end of the three quarters and room occupancy was well over 70 per cent - an increase of five per cent as compared with the same period last year," he said.
© Bahrain Tribune 2004
