Manama, Bahrain - July 1, 2011.  Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) Chief Executive Officer, Gordon Dewar, announced that the Bahrain International Airport expansion is moving forward as expected, on schedule. The Expansion plan  increases the total existing area of the airport by 40,000 square metres: within this additional space,  Bahrain Airport Company will build more than 3,000 square metres of new retail space, four-to-five contact gates, nine remote gates and 40 additional check-in counters and an enlarged transfer facility. These improvements will increase the total airport capacity by an additional 4.5 million passengers per year.

US based Hill International is the project manager for the expansion project and Lebanon based Dar al-Handasah is the design consultant.

"We have an enhanced role to play now of managing the immediate expansion to the airport to handle additional passengers," said Karim Yazbek, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Hill International's Middle East operations. "By 2015, the airport will have the capacity to handle 13.5 million passengers each year. The design consultancy contract was awarded by the client following a procurement process lead by Hill International, under strict international guidelines and procedures. Our client received five bids from world renowned consultants in airport design and supervision. The evaluation of the bids and recommendation lead to the award in record time of the contract to Dar al-Handasah. The design works will be completed in nine months duration, and we will then move to the construction phase." Yazbek added.

In the summer of 2009, Hill was awarded a contract by the Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) to provide project management consultancy services covering the major expansion.

Hill's project management responsibilities include planning, time control, time management, QA/QC procedure preparation and implementation, prequalification management, procurement of consultants, preparing and evaluating contractual documents, design management, value engineering and design review, technical and project administration and coordination in order to achieve an efficient performance of the design and construction of the project.

-Ends-

© Press Release 2011