The Bahrain office of Cyprus Building and Road Construction Company (Cybroc) is associated with three main components, with a total value of BD40.10 million ($106.371 million), of the Riffa Views project – two of which are nearing completion, while the third is due to be ready by April next year.

Cybroc has been carrying out work on two of these components – the Riffa Views International School (RVIS) and the Golf and Country Club – as the main contractor, while for the third aspect – the infrastructure package – it has entered into a joint venture with Tabet Enterprises.
The BD24.90 million infrastructure package involves the installation and commissioning of all new services for the 3 million sq m Riffa Views development and their connection to existing networks, comprising cabling, sewerage, drainage, potable water, high-voltage and low-voltage streetlighting, telephone and irrigation networks, says general manager Costas Demou.
The project, which commenced in December 2006, is due for completion in April 2009.
“Being the infrastructure contractor at Riffa Views, we have a key role to play for the successful and timely completion of the whole development,” says Demou. “Work is ongoing with about 50 per cent of it having being completed.”
The package also involves the construction of 18 km of primary, secondary and tertiary roads including all footpaths and kerbs; 42 electrical substations of various sizes, four sewerage pumping stations, one potable water pumping station and a 4,000 cu m potable water balancing reservoir, all associated with the service installations, says senior project manager Mamas Demetriades.
This apart, the infrastructure package also includes the construction/erection of boundary walls and fences along the perimeter of the development entailing 4.2 km of precast concrete boundary walls, 3.5 km of wall incorporating framed chainlink panels and 1.2 km of chainlink fence as well as the construction of four guardhouses and the associated security system and network.
The other two packages being undertaken by the company – the school and the golf and country club – are in their final stages of completion.
Work on the BD8.2 million package for the RVIS, which was started in June last year, is to be completed in phases. The first phase – comprising the junior school, library and gymnasium – is due for completion next month (September) in time for the new academic year, while the rest of the works are scheduled for handover by November-end.
The two-storey school building, which boasts of state-of-the-art technology, has up to three floors in certain areas and a aluminium and glazed façade. With a total covered area of 24,000 sq m, the building will accommodate an auditorium, library, indoor gymnasium, two swimming pools, and tennis courts, in addition to the regular facilities of a school.
Commenting on the third package handled by the company at the prestigious project, Demetriades says: “Cybroc commenced work on the fast-track BD7-million package for the Golf and Country Club at Riffa Views last November.”
“The package, which is due for completion in October, comprises the complete renovation of the existing Riffa Golf Club. It also involves the provision of extensions to the existing club and introducing a circular building, which will function as the Golf Club’s Forum. It also includes the construction of new buildings to house a Country Club and a golf academy with all the necessary facilities, including a swimming pool as well as a large underground parking area,” he explains.
 “Since both the International School and Golf and Country Club projects were fast-track contracts, the time factor has been critical due to design changes and to a shortage of basic materials such as concrete, reinforcement, aggregates, cement as a result of the construction boom not only in Bahrain but in the Gulf area as a whole,” says Demou, while explaining the challenges involved with the project. “This had an impact on the cost due to the steep price increases of such materials. Our company has tackled such challenges by enforcing timely attendance of all matters concerning the execution of the projects and by implementing various acceleration measures.”
 Commenting on the challenges within the infrastructure package, Demetriades continues: “Interfacing with all other contractors on the same site and assisting in resolving numerous design issues that have cropped up through the course of the project has been one of the other challenges of the infrastructure package. However, good co-ordination and collaboration with all concerned parties has helped us sort out these issues.”
Although much of the focus of the Bahrain office of Cybroc has been on completing its works on the Riffa Views project, the company has also been associated with several other projects in the region including those in Qatar.
“Business has developed well over the past year,” says Demou. “There has been a good improvement over the previous years and we look forward to maintaining a high level of business in Bahrain. The company has expanded its presence in the kingdom over the past year, increasing both manpower resources and facilities, in line with the projects in hand. With two of these projects being concluded later this year, we are in the process of bidding for a number of new projects in Bahrain, to maintain Cybroc’s high level of services in the country.”
Turning to the country’s construction sector, he comments: “Bahrain’s construction industry is in a booming phase that offers great potential for growth for all companies involved provided the current problem of shortage of construction materials is resolved.”
Cybroc is a civil construction company specialised in building and civil engineering works including construction of housing projects, hotels and other building and infrastructure projects, road construction, drainage works, sewerage treatment plants, sewerage and potable water pumping stations, electrical substations and others.
“Our aim is to provide excellent and quality services which can benefit both our clients and the community,” says Demou.
The company is a subsidiary of Cybarco of Cyprus, which has been operating in Bahrain since 1993 under a partnership with a local Bahraini company and has executed various projects in Bahrain. Cybarco has expanded its business in Qatar with the formation of its subsidiary company under the name Cybarco Qatar, which is involved in the execution of two commercial buildings in Qatar. Cybarco Qatar is also a member of a joint venture called ADCC JV handling two packages in the New Doha International Airport under a QR3.15 billion ($865 million) contract.
Cybarco also operates in Greece and the UK. In Bahrain, the company has its main office in Manama where it has a 90-member team of qualified engineers and foremen assisted by senior and junior staff. Cybroc also has 300 tradesmen and workers directly employed by it.
While it has currently rented housing facilities for all its employees, the company has leased a land and intends to construct its own labour accommodation compound which will include stores/warehouses. 
Among other projects that the company was involved in Bahrain market is the Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al Khalifa National Library and Conference Hall project under a joint venture partnership with a local company. The development was substantially completed in December 2006 at the final value of BD16.650 million.