Bahrain is to build a business, technology, retail and leisure ‘city’ at a cost of $1 billion, according to Talal Alzain, the chief executive officer of Mumtalakat Holding Company, the government’s investment arm.

Called @bahrain, the city will be built alongside the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Construction is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of next year.
The development will feature a 10,000 retractable seating arena, 75,000-sq-m exhibition centre, 25,000-sq-m convention centre, interactive technology centre, research institute, technology park as well as three-, four- and five-star hotels.
Alzain believes @bahrain will have the competitive edge over other business parks around the region through its close association with the BIC.
“This development will be the first fully-integrated development for Bahrain,” Alzain said. “It will have the right mix of business, hospitality, leisure, exhibition, retail, multi-purpose arena, technology and education – all in one setting.”
The 1 million sq m of land used by the development – which will also feature an automotive club and engineering facilities, as well as retail and leisure attractions – is owned by the BIC.
But Alzain is keen for private sector firms and businessmen to also become involved in the project.
“As well as the participation by the BIC and Mumtalakat, we really want to focus on drawing upon the private sector,” he said. “Looking at the policies and direction of Bahrain through the Economic Development Board (EDB), the focus is to use the private sector as the machine behind the economic growth of Bahrain.
“The way we want to work with this project is to pull as much as we can on the private sector and run it just like a private sector investment.”
Alzain said @bahrain was planning to draw on Bahrain’s banking sector to participate on the funding side, but dismissed suggestions that such a considerable investment in a time of global economic slowdown may be over-stretching Bahrain’s resources.
The way forward was to see the financial crisis not as a disaster, but as an opportunity to take advantage and secure a long-term future for Bahrain, he said.