A major expansion at a cost of BD20 million ($53 million) has been planned for the Bahrain Training Institute (BTI) in Isa Town.

Up to 10,000 students will benefit from the project that is set to transform BTI, which will be kitted out with world-class facilities and the latest technology as part of the five-year development plan.

Labour Minister Dr Majeed Al Alawi laid the foundation stone for the project during a ceremony at the site yesterday.

He said BTI provided training to 7,000 students, but the new development would give the institute the capacity to enrol up to 10,000.

'These buildings are 40 years old, they were built in 1979, it is one square kilometre and can take 7,000 trainees,' he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN).

'We want to expand information technology and other areas, so we need to invest in new buildings.

'We will start first with the academic building and when the development is finished it will be able to take 30 per cent more students, which is about 2-3,000.'

The development is being constructed by Mohammed Jalal Contracting under the supervision of the Works Ministry.

The first phase of the project will be a three-storey academic building that will cost between BD5 million and BD6 million and will be completed in 2012.

It will have 45 classrooms and 34 labs, as well as support facilities, administration and other offices and bathrooms.

'We are now trying to add a green building and design a landscape area,' said Works Ministry Construction Project Directorate architectural design group-2 head Jameel Ahmed Mirza.

'We need to shift into a technical university, so we must have a building that reflects this.'

The second phase will involve building an IT complex, which will include a business centre and IT and networking technologies.

It will cost about BD3m and will take two years to complete.

The call for tenders for the second phase is expected to be issued within the next two to three months, said Mirza.

The third phase of the development includes the creation of two multi-storey car parking facilities that will be at either end of the development, a cafeteria and a multi-purpose hall.

In the final phase students will be transferred to the new buildings and the old buildings will be demolished, added Mirza.

Meanwhile, Dr Al Alawi visited the BTI's annual programmes exhibition which began on Sunday and will continue until July 29.

It is open to prospective students Sunday to Thursday, from 8.30am to 1.30pm.

'The exhibition is for new school graduates who want to enrol at BTI,' said Dr Al Alawi.

'There are 44 different subjects they can enrol in, such as engineering, management and commerce.

'BTI takes 1,200 students but usually they have more applications.

'Those who have financial difficulties we help, but the programmes are already about 80 per cent subsidised.'-TradeArabia News Service