Less than two kilometres off the northeast coast of Muharraq, a number of artificial islands have been created which will soon accommodate a world-class mixed-use residential, commercial and resort-type community. Some 2.79 million sq m of land have been reclaimed off the coast of Qalali village to create the islands offering about 9.

Bahrain's tallest skyscraper - the BD20 million ($53 million) Almoayyed Tower in the Seef District - is close to touching its final height of 172 m with the completion of casting of the central core at the end of last month up to level 47.

Bahrain's Ministry of Works was busy with key infrastructure, sports and educational projects last year. These included the Formula One race track and Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa library (see separate reports).

Dubai-based Cleveland Bridge and Engineering Middle East undertook the prestigious contract to fabricate all the structural steelwork for the marine bridge of the Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Causeway which links Hidd with Mina Sulman.

Coil Tech/US Chiller Services (Bahrain) is one of only three organisations in the entire Middle East which are factory and industry certified to service all the major manufacturers chillers, including Carrier, Trane, York, and McQuay, says a spokesman for the Bahrain-based specialist firm.

Cybarco Bahrain, a wholly-owned Bahraini contracting company, has seen itself grow from strength to strength over recent years, bagging some of the major projects awarded in Bahrain over the past year. These include the prestigious Formula One race track, the Shaikh Isa bin Sulman Al Khalifa library and the Seef flyovers.

Bahrain flagged off a major milestone in its history last year when it was given the green light to stage Formula One motor racing in the Kingdom - fighting off competition to become the first country in the Middle East to host this prestigious sporting event.

The foundations for a landmark tower that will rise up as a gateway to the old suq in Bahrain's capital Manama are nearly complete. A total of 239 piles have just been installed, setting the base for the Al Zamil Tower which will be a 'gateway' to the northern end of Bahrain's traditional suq area in central Manama.

Projects SA (Construction) is beginning to reap the rewards of a five-year growth plan it launched three years ago, according to Michael McAuley, commercial manager of the Bahrain-based building and civil engineering contracting firm. The company has been restructured and its workforce doubled.

2002 was Installux Gulf's best year ever, with the aluminium firm setting new records in the number of orders it executed, the size of the projects, the number of new customers it won and growth opportunities it was presented with, says general manager Basim Al Saie.

A marvel of Islamic architecture with first-class finishes befitting a facility that will bear the name of the late Amir, Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa - these are the specifications set for the Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa Library and Conference Hall which is set to take shape in Manama this year.

Work is progressing on a massive island resort off Bahrain's southeast coast, that will larger than the country's capital, when completed.

Paschal's formwork will help shape the VIP tower at Bahrain's Formula One race track, among a number of other projects that are drawing on the benefits of the system, according to the Bahrain-based Paschal Concrete Forms Company, the main Middle East branch and stockist for the German formwork system.

The Kingdom is awash with new projects - both from the public and the private sectors. And an even wider spectrum developments are on the drawing boards, right from mega cities to hospitals and road construction.

Bahrain Precast Concrete Company (BPC) steps into its silver jubilee year on the heels of a busy year which has seen its production facilities extended, effectively doubling its output of hollowcore slabs. 'We have doubled our capacity of hollowcore slabs last May to 2,400 sq m per day on two shifts," says general manager Flemming Nielsen.

The behaviour of tension fabric structures is little understood even among structural engineers, says Osama Al Thawadi, general manager of Gulf Shade, a Bahrain-based specialist in tensioned fabric structures.

Touch of Arts Trading Establishment, a recently-established supplier of ceramics and porcelain tiles for walls and floors, aims to provide a touch of elegance to interiors and exteriors with products from leading manufacturers in Italy, Spain and Turkey.

The Durrat Al Bahrain Aqua Park, which is expected to open during the summer, is being enhanced so that it conforms to a special theme while the construction area is being expanded. The BD6 million ($15.9 million) park was earlier scheduled to open in July in time for the two-month Bahrain Summer Festival but was completed in November.

The foundation stone for the first phase of the proposed Bahrain Financial Harbour development project was laid late last month by the Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. The $1 billion (BD378 million) financial city to be built on Manama's coastline is aimed at reinforcing Bahrain's position as a regional financial centre.