KSA-Bahrain agreement on King Hamad Causeway hailed

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Bahrain entering into an agreement to work on a new causeway project parallel to the King Fahd Causeway linking the two countries evoked an overwhelmingly positive response from businesses and travelers describing it as evidence of the distinguished relations between the two neighbors.
They hailed the historic agreement between Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain to conduct a study funded by the private sector on the new King Hamad Causeway.
The business community here on Saturday welcomed the project agreement as a much-needed move to bolster the economies of the two countries in particular, and the Gulf region as a whole.
Majed Abdullah Al-Hedayan, in charge of legal affairs at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), told Arab News: “This historic agreement reflects both countries’ keenness to take bilateral cooperation to a new high.”
He added that the project would reinvigorate trade and commercial exchanges as well as further improve traveling between the two countries by cutting time and distance.
Al-Hedayan said the new bridge will also ease pressure on King Fahd Causeway through which currently some 50,000 vehicles pass daily.
With plenty of international events taking place in both countries, the new causeway will come in handy for people making frequent trips.
Wael Al-Qasim, a Riyadh-based businessman, called it a very positive development and said: “I am very confident that the new causeway would further consolidate bilateral cooperation by bolstering trade and increasing people-to-people contact, as the second terrestrial link parallel to the existing one will help eliminate the traffic problems on the King Fahd Causeway, especially during holidays.”
“It will certainly hasten economic integration with more trading and frequent traveling,” he said adding that a railway network will add value to the bilateral cooperation.
Mohammed Zeyad, a regular traveler to Bahrain, said it will certainly ease congestion on the King Fahd Causeway. Describing it as a milestone, he said the agreement is evidence of the distinguished fraternal relations between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
People in Bahrain also welcomed the project as a much-needed boost for Gulf economies. Bahraini Minister of Transport and Communications Kamal Ahmed Mohammed greatly appreciated the directive to conduct a study on the project. He said his ministry is ready to implement the project in cooperation with the concerned parties in Saudi Arabia.
“Everybody is keen to implement the project,” he said, adding that the project will soon witness its next stage.
The funding for the project from the Saudi side will be through the private sector, he added.