Manama/Doha: A long-planned $3 billion (Dh11 billion) bridge linking Bahrain and Qatar has been put on hold and the project team scaled back, sources close to the project said, amid escalating costs and increased political tension.
The 40km causeway linking gas exporter Qatar to the island kingdom of Bahrain was set to play a key role in improving infrastructure connections between members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but has been beset by problems.
The project, first announced in 2001, had already been delayed in 2008 to change the project scope to include trains, and late last year the countries said work would start in the first quarter and be completed by 2015.
That date came and went, however, and the project prospects were further dampened in May, when Bahrain said Qatar's coast guard shot and wounded a Bahraini fisherman who had entered Qatari waters.
The exact reason for the suspension of the project was not immediately clear, although Jasem Ali, a member of the economic committee of Bahrain's parliament, said "the project has been on hold for some time, but it is not cancelled," adding cost increases and financing issues had played a role.