WORK  on a project to build 1,560 homes in the Southern Governorate in Bahrain at a cost of BD75.56 million ($198.4 million) will start soon.

The housing contract has been signed between Bahrain’s housing ministry and Tamcon Contracting, a subsidiary of Al Khaleej Development – Tameer and Inovest, and its Saudi partner Naba International Commercial Enterprises.

It is described as the governorate’s largest housing project and is being funded from a $10-billion grant pledged to Bahrain in 2011 by its GCC neighbours.

The money is coming from Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Fund for Development and work is expected to start next year.

“The project will consist of 423 D11 type, 882 units of type Dana A and Dana B, in addition to 12 residential towers, each with five floors with 192 apartments,” said Naba chairman Mutlaq Al Qahtani.

Tamcon chairman Farid Al Fozan said the project would take 36 months to complete. “The time frame for delivery and all the necessary work plans are co-ordinated with the ministry. It is hoped that once the project date is specified, all these plans will have received their respective stamps of approval,” he said.

Tamcon’s chief executive Zuhair Abdulaziz said the project represented a boost for the construction and real estate sectors.

Meanwhile, Bahrain has witnessed a 60 to 70 per cent increase in real estate investment projects over the last year, an indication of a strong comeback in the property sector, said Bahrain Real Estate Association chairman Nasser Al Ahli.

He said that property trading is expected to top BD1.5 billion ($3.9 billion) by the year-end according to market indices.

Housing projects worth BD30 million to BD35 million ($92 million to $80 million) are set to be launched early next year, Al Ahli said.