It would cost between $350 to $400 million to finish work on six of Bahrain's biggest stalled projects, a report said.

The projects include Marina West, Amwaj Gateway, Villamar, Marina Reef, Riffa Views and an unnamed Al Areen Holding Company residential and commercial development, said the recent study completed by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI),reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

To put that in context, $400 million is a mere four per cent of the $10 billion GCC Development Fund, which was set up in 2011 using money allocated by the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to finance development plans in Bahrain over the following 10 years.

It is also less than half of the estimated $1 billion being spent on the airport expansion, with the GDN reporting last week that the airport's new IT infrastructure alone will cost more than $100 million  to install and maintain.

According to the World Bank figures, Bahrain's GDP was $32.89 billion in 2013, the latest year for which statistics are available.

Work on many of the six stalled projects listed above ground to a halt almost half a decade ago, with no apparent site activity at Villamar, Amwaj Gateway or Marina West, in particular, since then.

In a bid to tackle this problem, on January 19 the Cabinet set up the Ministerial Committee for Reconstruction and Infrastructure, which has since investigated a number of the projects and referred them to a judicial committee under the Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry, known as the Committee for the Settlement of Real Estate Projects Facing Hardship.

Although $400 million is still an eye-watering amount of money, BCCI real estate sector committee member Nasser Ali Al Ahly said their 'comprehensive study' had found that this was what was required to kick-start the 'big six' stalled projects blighting Bahrain's skyline.

'Now the question is who will pay such a large amount,' he said. 'Will it be the banks, the developers or the authorities?'

The BCCI official said he expected developers to follow the lead of Villamar and Riffa Views, who had already 'agreed to complete their projects', and was hopeful that a resolution would be found soon to the ongoing issues surrounding the Marina West and Amwaj Gateway projects.

The Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry's Committee for the Settlement of Real Estate Projects Facing Hardship began to accept submissions last Sunday from all homeowners, contractors, debtors and other concerned parties involved the latter two projects.

According to a notice published in the GDN on that day, all interested parties have until next Sunday to submit copies of any documentation proving their claim to the committee.

'Some of the people who invested in residential units in these two projects have started submitting their documents,' said Ahly. 'We understand the committee wants to get the whole picture and know how much has been invested.'

Suggestion

He went on to suggest that a 24-hour hotline be launched in Bahrain, to deal with complaints relating to residential and commercial properties.

'We get daily calls from people in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia asking about tenancy registration procedures, problems faced by landlords and even those who invested money in some of the stalled projects,' said Ahly.

'If there was a service available, like a hotline, to give members of the public a point of contact, it would provide a great deal of relief to everybody.'

Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa issued a statement last month explaining that the judicial committee set up to address stalled projects was comprised of three judges and two industry experts, who would work on solutions that are in the interests of both investors and buyers.

He added that the committee's decisions were final and could only be overturned by the Cassation Court. – TradeArabia News Service