Plans for a new 12-km coastal highway connecting Bahrain’s Seef District and a town being built on reclaimed land off the coast of Duraz have been scrapped.

The government planned to buy around 200 plots of private seafront land to pave the way for the traffic artery, which would have run parallel to the Budaiya Highway and Al Nakheel Highway, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Blueprints for the original project included public beaches as well as a marina for all fishermen in the area.

However, the Northern Municipal Council was yesterday informed that the BD100-million ($263.1 million) highway to the Northern Town, which is currently under construction, was axed and that a new 4-km route would be built instead.

“We don't know what went wrong but the 4 km (route) is a setback from the major project originally earmarked by the Works, Municipalities and Urban Planning Affairs Ministry,” said council chairman Mohammed Buhamood.

“It started as a 12-km stretch of public beach and highway, which then shrunk to 7 km and now it is 4 km without any plans for a marina or public space on the coast.

“Details of the new highway are yet to be revealed; we don't know where it will start and where it will end.

“Thousands of homes have already been built in the town, but families have still not moved in as part of Phase One, partly because of delays in building the highway and lack of infrastructure facilities such as a sewage network,” he said.

The new highway is expected to ease traffic on the existing road network, which should reduce congestion on Budaiya Highway and improve access to the Northern Governorate.

It will also provide a direct link to the new $450-million Northern Town, which will include a government housing development expected to consist of 1,618 low-cost housing units and another 367 mid-range units within the first phase.

Work on the new town started in 2011 and will be divided into three categories: One for buyers on government waiting lists whose wages are more than BD800 ($2,122); the second for people whose wages do not exceed BD2,000 ($5,305); and the third for everyone, including expatriates. - TradeArabia News Service