Deputy Premier chairs virtual committee meeting

Manama, Apr. 22(BNA): Deputy Premier Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa lauded the boom in infrastructure projects in Bahrain over the past ten years. Chaired the 55th meeting of the ministerial committee for development projects and infrastructure via teleconference, he underlined the Government’s massive investments in infrastructure projects countrywide despite financial challenges. He paid tribute to His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa for his farsighted vision, hailing the directives and keen follow-up of His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier. He stressed the importance of turning current challenges into tangible opportunities that yield sustainable solutions and urged innovative methods for funding urgent future projects which require large budgets, stressing the need to engage the private sector. The virtual session which was attended by ministers and senior officials reviewed five projects being carried out, worth BD 650 million, covering the sectors of electricity and water. Some projects are expected to be complete this year while work on others will run until 2022. The session was also update about projects worth BD850 million, being carried out by the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) in Hawar island in addition to other schemes which include a control and monitoring centre and the second phase of Al-Dur scheme. The Deputy Premier praised the EWA-led efforts to ensure the provision of vital services to all regions, commending its role in coordination with the Ministry of Housing to supply electricity to the new housing cities with electricity and water. In implementation of HRH the Premier’s directives, The committee followed up on a presentation on the latest developments and rates of progress of projects at major streets, internal roadsto reduce traffic pressure in cities and villages. The infrastructure projects which cost up to BD420 million are funderd from state budget and the Gulf Development Programme The Deputy Premier thanked the Ministry of Works, Municipal Affairs and Urban Planning for its tireless and continuous work to develop the road network countrywide and ensure the provision of smooth traffic in line with Government Action Plan (2019-2022), and the pillars of the economic vision of the Kingdom of Bahrain 2030. The committee reviewed a proposal within the development plan for the system of issuing building permits "Binayat", which was was inaugurated by HRH the Crown Prince during the Government Forum 2018.