Gulf Construction Online - Indians invest $130m in Bahrain Bay

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Bahrain Bay ... $2.5-billion waterfront development.

Indians invest $130m in Bahrain Bay

01 November 2010

INDIA’s Ajmera Mayfair consortium intends to invest up to $130 million (BD50 million) in a twin-towered residential development as a third-party developer within Bahrain’s Bahrain Bay in the near future. A senior management team from the Ajmera Mayfair Group has announced the completion of its land payment and the transfer of title from Bahrain Bay to Ajmera Mayfair.

The Ajmera Mayfair residential development within Bahrain Bay – a $2.5-billion landmark waterfront community located off the north shore of Manama – will have about 200 apartments consisting of one, two, three and four bedrooms. Construction on the freehold property will start in the third quarter of next year.

The project, which is being designed by world-renowned architects Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), will offer state-of-the-art freehold high-end residential apartments. Other consultants appointed include Mohamed Salahuddin Consulting Engineering Bureau (MSCEB) and Baker Wilkins Smith (BWS).

Bob Vincent, CEO of Bahrain Bay, said: “We are very pleased that Ajmera Mayfair chose Bahrain Bay as their first real estate investment outside of India. Their team understands the Bahrain Bay vision and the goals we are looking to achieve and we will continue to support their project and its team as it moves through the various development stages.”
About its recent investment, Dhaval Ajmera, a director of the Ajmera Group said: “When we were looking at foreign expansion, we didn’t want to invest in places that had oversupply and wanted something new. That’s when we came across Bahrain Bay and saw that this development was going the way we wanted.

“Another point of encouragement was the fact that the Bahrain Bay project is the same both on paper and in reality. It is perhaps one of the few major projects with such immense planning behind it.”

The project is already on the way to doing concept design. “We will take care of all minute details to ensure that the final project is practical and livable. So we have appointed companies that are specialists in their respective areas,” Ajmera said.

Nayan Shah, CEO, Mayfair Group, said: “This is our first investment outside of India and is one of great importance. Bahrain Bay is an excellent masterplan development and offers significant benefits to developers, such as land parcels complete with infrastructure as well as a world-class living and working environment, and we are very pleased to be a part of it.”

Giving an update of the developments in Bahrain Bay, Vincent said: “We have sold 65 per cent of the land. And over the past two years, despite the financial crisis, we haven’t had any developer terminate his contract. The vision hasn’t changed since the project started and we promise to deliver in the long run.”

He said the entire infrastructure of the project had been completed and focused had been laid on giving third-party developers a complete project with all available services before they started their respective developments.

Vincent said the Arcapita headquarters building was complete and would be handed over to its owners soon. Other major developments at the bay including the Four Seasons hotel and the Cooperation Investment House (CIH) commercial tower have started recently.

The development he said had spent $230 million in the last three years on infrastructure and utilities on the ground, and had committed another $50 million to developments in the public realm and on open spaces that had already started.

Land worth $120 million had been transferred in the last 12 months to new investors. “That is a very strong statement about the commitment of these investors to our project. And if you add that land transfer value to what is under construction now, which includes the Four Seasons Hotel, the completion of Arcapita headquarters building, the construction of CIH commercial tower and the North Manama causeway road works, all this amounts to over $1.5 billion worth of construction under way in and around Bahrain Bay despite the financial crisis,” he added.

The financial downturn, Vincent said, has had a silver lining. “We found materials, contractors and machinery all available in the market, and so work accelerated on our project.”

Meanwhile, Abdulla Faisal Al Doseri, deputy CEO of Bahrain Bay, said companies from many countries including Singapore, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE and most recently India had invested in the project. Of the 16 investors in Bahrain Bay at the moment, the developments of 13 were in the final stages. Al Baraka bank will be starting construction on its project soon, he added.

About the iconic Four Seasons hotel, the first in Bahrain, Al Doseri said it was being built on an independent island connected to the rest of the bay area by an exclusive flyover, which too was 95 per cent complete. The hotel, which will cover over 64,000 sq m, will be a luxury spa resort and will be a boost to the hospitality industry of Bahrain.

“The government is also improving the road infrastructure, and had recently announced the expansion of King Faisal Highway worth BD50 million ($132.6 million). It also announced the flyover project that will link King Faisal Highway to Al Fateh Highway, and to Muharraq via the Shaikh Isa bin Salman Causeway to Muharraq. This too is worth BD4 million ($10.6 million),” he added.

The new flyover, he said, extends from the Diplomatic Area into Bahrain Bay and surrounding the bay to the Bahrain Financial Harbour (BFH).