The tender process for the construction of a $135 million business park within the Bahrain Investment Wharf (BIW) has been delayed in anticipation of cheaper construction costs, it has emerged.

The Al Khaleej Development Company (Tameer) was expected to call for bids on the project at the end of last month, but instead decided to wait, according to executive director of business development Mohammed Abdul Khaliq.

'The competition between contractors is becoming more fierce, this is one factor, but we are also waiting for the cost of building materials to settle,' he told the business portal Construction Week Online.

'The big thing we are hoping for is Saudi Arabia to lift its restrictions on exporting cement and there are indications that it could happen soon.

'This would make a huge difference because the cost of all cement, blocks and precast will be affected.'

The article said Tameer was not the only company in the Gulf to delay projects in a bid to take advantage of reduced material prices.

In June Saudi Arabia halved its cement exports to Bahrain to 25,000 tonnes a week, which caused prices to rocket by up to 40 per cent, according to some ready-mix plants.

A Saudi cement supplier said the country has 10 million metric tonnes of inventory and officials were pressurising the government to lift the restriction.

Khaliq said he expects other developers to also hold off issuing tenders in anticipation that the restriction will be lifted.

He said Tameer intends to start construction on BIW's business park in mid June, regardless of whether the ban is lifted or not.

The project will consist of office blocks to compliment the industrial and logistics activities of BIW's investors.

Tameer is a closed shareholding company owned by Inovest, a Sharia-compliant investment company regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

Inovest's main shareholders include Kuwait's Gulf Investment House, Kuwait Finance House and Al Nafisi Trading Company and UAE's Dubai Islamic Bank.

Tameer's existing projects in Bahrain include the $233 million BIW, $110 million Tala Island and $1.3 billion Durrat Marina.