Deputy Prime Minister inspects Al Fateh Highway underpass 

Manama, July 25 (BNA): The Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, conducted an inspection visit to the partial opening of the tunnel at the intersection of Al-Fateh Street with Awal and Bani Utbah Streets (intersection of Al-Fateh Grand Mosque).

The meeting was attended by Minister of Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Wael bin Nasser Al-Mubarak, Minister of Works Ibrahim Hassan Ali Al-Hawaj, and Sultan bin Abdul Rahman Al-Murshed, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development.

The development project is an essential part of the vital highway development, funded within the Gulf Development Program by the Social Fund for Development, at a total cost of about 35 million Bahraini dinars.

The preliminary deputy praised the efforts of the Ministry of Works in developing the infrastructure of the Kingdom of Bahrain, especially the Al-Fateh Expressway development project, which is being implemented according to the highest standards of accuracy, taking into account the traffic flow on this strategic street during construction, which, once completed, will reduce traffic congestion on the roads of the capital, Manama.

Al-Hawaj explained that the project works to meet the current and future development needs of Bahrain, as well as to revitalize the economy, as it connects the Mina Salman intersection with the North Manama causeway, which connects to the Gulf of Bahrain.

He added that within the framework of the ministry’s plans to improve traffic flow with the completion of the remaining parts of the project, the partial opening of the tunnel will provide additional work spaces that can be used to complete the rest of the project on schedule.

The minister indicated that a new diversion at the intersection of Al-Fateh Mosque will operate three lanes of the tunnel, with two lanes for southbound traffic and one lane for northbound traffic. At the existing traffic light, two additional northbound lanes will be provided over the underpass, providing the necessary space for the remaining underpass segments on the southwest side of the Gulf Hotel.

The CEO of the Social Fund for Development said that the Al-Fateh development project is one of the projects of the Gulf Development Program to develop the infrastructure of the Kingdom of Bahrain and promote sustainable development and economic growth, as well as contribute to the development of the transport sector.

It is noteworthy that the Al-Fateh Highway development project aims to increase the capacity of the street to reach 140,000 vehicles per day, an increase of 61% over the previous situation of the traffic volume used on the same street, which was 87,000 vehicles per day. As for the three-lane Al-Fateh Highway tunnel, which will be fully operational on schedule, it will extend for 600 meters in both directions.

ZH