Bahrain has approved a financing agreement framework to fund the construction of the next phase of the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah Highway upgrade project.

According to local media reports, King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa approved the framework agreement on 8 April, following approval by the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives.

In March last year, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Bahraini government signed a KD10m ($32.4m) loan agreement to fund the second phase of the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah Highway project, which is expected to cost about $404m.

This was followed in September by the appointment of US-based Parsons Corporation on a $1.5m contract to provide pre-contract engineering consultancy services for the project.

The scope of the contract includes preparing designs to widen the highway to at least five lanes in each direction, updating utility corridors, revising the stormwater design, and producing contract drawings and tender documents.

According to data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects, construction of the project’s first phase was completed in 2020.A joint venture of local firm Nass Contracting and Kuwait’s KCC Engineering & Contracting undertook the main construction works.