INVESTMENTS at Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP) from operational projects and other projects in various stages of development have reached BD689 million ($1.82 billion), the government has announced.

Minister for Industry and Commerce Dr Hassan A Fakhro said 30 new investment projects were approved during 2013.

Eighty per cent of all approved projects are in manufacturing with the remainder in internationally traded services.

Giving a breakdown of the total investment figure, Dr Fakhro said 53 operational projects had total investment of BD262 million. The position of other investors is as follows: projects under construction, 12, BD130 million; new project leases signed 8, BD45 million; projects at pre-lease stage, 32, BD252 million.

The projects have the commitment to employ more than 10,000 people at full production.

In summarising the 2013 performance, the minister selected the following milestones:

• Companies in production at the park have grown from 31 in 2011 to 43 in 2012 to 53 in 2013.

• In March Mondelez (Kraft Foods) celebrated the fifth year of production and confirmed plans for a further expansion on the site.

• In June Reckitt Benkiser officially opened their new manufacturing facility – the first to be located in the Middle East.

• In September Abahsain confirmed the finalisation of their joint venture agreement with CPIC China to build a new plant and increase output to over 200,000 tonnes of fibreglass per year by 2016.

• In November JBF India completed the construction of their new $200 million plant and commenced production of specialised polyethylene film. The entire output will be exported to the US.

• In December Arabian Sugar Company completed construction and commenced production of  white sugar in Phase 1 of their new $140 million refinery.

• Some of the top global companies have now established international services projects at the park include Alstom, France; NCR, USA; American Express USA; Alfred Talke, Germany; Kintetsu Japan; Thyrocare Laboratories India; and TUV Nord, Germany. 

• By December of 2013 employment at the park has already surpassed 3,000 people.

KEY ISSUES

The minister commented on three issues that will impact on the continued success of the park in 2014, saying:

• Delays in delivering goods to Saudi Arabia-based customers through the King Fahd Causeway is still an issue for most companies at the park. While there have been some improvements recently, it is still a concern and more work must be done to completely remove this barrier.

• It is important that construction begins of the second office building in 2014.

• In order to cater for the expansion needs of existing companies and the attraction of new companies to Bahrain, it is important that a further 1.5 million sq m  of serviced industrial land be made available immediately.

Only 17 per cent of the existing land at the park remains to be allocated at the end of 2013.