Bahrain Real Estate Investment (Edamah), a unit of the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, is set to develop a major tourism project on over one million sq m area on the Hawar Islands, said a report.

The planned development scheme follows royal directives from His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to turn Hawar Islands into an attractive investment area, while also conserving land and marine wildlife, said a report in Bahrain News Agency.

Once completed, the Hawar Islands is poised to become a prized tourism destination.

The project, which covers a third of the 3.4-million-sq-m archipelago, will develop Northern Dohat in Hawar Islands, said the report.

The scheme comes as part of efforts to diversify sources of revenues amid acute fluctuations of oil prices. However, funding for the project has not yet been confirmed.

Representatives of Edamah, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat), briefed the committee members on details of the project, the report said.

No specific details on the scheme’s components were made public.

Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister, head of the ministerial committee for reconstruction and infrastructure, however, directed the committee to plan the infrastructure and services required for the project to commence as well as study ways of financing the project.