The authorities in Qatar and Bahrain need to take advantage of improved bilateral ties to move ahead with the proposed causeway connecting the two neighbouring countries.
The enhancement on ties was put on display a few weeks ago when His Majesty King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa of Bahrain visited Qatar and met Emir His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. Then the two men, holding hands, entered a football stadium in Doha and presided over the final soccer match of a regional tournament.
Preliminary studies, including the possible effects on environment, have been completed. Accordingly, the project is pending a decision by the rulers of both Qatar and Bahrain.
Yet, the proposed project would most likely receive the final go-ahead during a planned meeting between the Crown Princes of the two countries in the near future.
Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain and Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar are due to meet in Doha to iron out details.
Big ticket
Estimated cost of the causeway is put at $5 billion (Dh18.4 billion). Of this, construction will soak up 60 per cent of the cost with the balance reserved for reclamation and ancillary civil works.
Undoubtedly, the estimated cost is a sizeable amount and is about 35 per cent above Bahrain's budgeted spending for fiscal 2005.
Dubbed as the Friendship Causeway, the 40-kilometre project will link the southeast of Bahrain to the northwest of Qatar. Specifically, the double-lane causeway will start at Askar village in Bahrain and end at Ras Ashiraj in Qatar.
Once contracts are signed with the main contracting companies, construction should take four years and nine months. Assuming that work starts in early 2006, the causeway would be completed by 2010 at best.
Economic benefits
Bahrain's economy stands to benefit the most from the causeway. For instance, the link would provide unemployed Bahraini nationals access to find jobs in Qatar.
The jobless rate stands at 16 per cent, with unemployment regarded as Bah-rain's most daunting economic challenge.
Bahrainis may find jobs in Qatar's oil, gas, petrochemicals, financial services and tourism sectors.
There is plenty of evidence confirming that Bahraini nationals enjoy working in Qatar. For instance, majority of Bahrain's national football squad plays as professionals in Qatar.
Conversely, Qatar can benefit from the areas in which Bahrain stands out, notably the financial services sector. In fact, Bahrain is acknowledged as the best single place for Islamic banking. Also, it excels in education and training.
As evidence of growing business between the two countries, Qatar Airways recently increased its flights to Bahrain from four to five per day.
Qatar's gross domestic product (GDP) is already double that of Bahrain. Yet Qatar's GDP is expected to double in the next six years on the back of extraordinary economic expansion.
Qatar's economy is growing by more than 10 per cent annually, the highest in the region.
The political leadership in both Doha and Manama need to make some tough decisions, as further delay could only undermine the very prospects of undertaking the project altogether.
This is a fast-moving dynamic world where opportunities must be seized. The planned causeway between Qatar and the UAE only adds to the urgency of moving ahead with the Qatar-Bahrain link.
It is feared that Qatar might show less interest in the project with Bahrain in case it moves ahead with a link to the UAE.
Construction of the proposed link would provide the most telling evidence that the two countries have overcome the long-running border dispute: The International Court of Justice in The Hague issued its binding verdict in March 2001 over the sovereignty of the Hawar Islands.
Jasim Ali is Assistant Professor at the College of Business Administration, University of Bahrain.
Gulf News
