Bahrain's appointed lawmakers, the Shura Council, yesterday approved a government loan agreement intended to fund four projects including the $200 million Formula One track, two weeks after it was rejected by the elected parliament.
The bill was approved unanimously by the 40-member council after a short debate in which most speakers said the projects, especially the F1, were good for the national economy.
According to the agreement, signed late last year, an international consortium, consisting of BNP-Paribas, International Solomon Brothers and City Group's Schroeder, Solomon, Smith and Barney, would issue $500 million government bonds on behalf of the Bahraini government.
Minister of finance and national economy, Abdullah Hassan Saif told the council $200 million of the $500 million would go to finance the construction of the new Formula One racing track in the southern area of AL Sakhir; $130 million to finance part of the $1.7 billion expansion project at Bahrain Aluminum (Alba); $85 million to modernise the Bahrain Petrol Company's (Bapco) refinery; and the rest, over $80 million, would finance the development of a new resort town in the coastal area of Bandar Al Seef.
He said it has taken three years of preparation to bring the F1 into Bahrain, urging the members to support the project.
Member Alice Samaan agreed, saying the project will benefit greatly the Bahraini economy. It will boost our hotel business and the transportation and telecom sector and it will promote Bahraini tourism, she said.
The loan agreement had been rejected by the elected House of Deputies on February 4. The MPs, who had received the draft agreement only two days prior to the vote, said they needed to see detailed plans of the four projects before they could approve the bill.
Now with the appointed council approval, both houses have to sit together for a joint final vote.
Parliamentary sources told Gulf News yesterday the bill will definitely be approved at the joint session because it needed only two yes votes from the 40-member elected parliament to pass. Five MPs voted for it at the first reading earlier this month.
The joint session is expected to take place during the next two weeks, the sources said.
Gulf News 2003
