Mega project: Chairman of the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation Dr Ahmed Al Hassan Al Hammadi (left) and Vinci Construction Gulf Area Manager Yanick Garillon exchanging documents after signing a memorandum of understanding for the works of the causeway linking Qatar with Bahrain. The project is slated to begin seven months from now and expected to be completed in 48 months.

Doha • The 'Jissr Qatar-Bahrain' (Qatar-Bahrain Causeway) Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium of five international firms to build the causeway project.

The project is slated to begin seven months from now and is expected to be completed in 48 months.

Ambassador Dr Ahmed Hassan Al Hammadi, Board Chairman of Jissr Qatar-Bahrain Foundation, signed the agreement with Vinci Construction Gulf Area Manager Engineer Yanick Garillon representing the partnership between Qatari Diar and the French firm Vinci Construction and several other major international firms at a function held at Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday.

The signing ceremony was attended by board members of Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation including, from the Qatari side, Muftah Jassim Al Muftah, Engineer Ali Abdullah Al Abdullah, and Nasser Hassan Al Ansari and from the Bahraini side, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, Sheikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa, Dr Yousef Abdel Karim Mohammed and Engineer Raed Mohammed Al Salah.

Speaking prior to the signing of the agreement, Al Hammadi said that the MoU underscores a new drive in the constructive relations between Qatar and Bahrain.

He added that the causeway would contribute to strengthening ties between the two brotherly countries and their people.

The MoU, Al Hammadi pointed out, represents a general outline of all aspects related to the mega project with a final agreement to be reached within a period not exceeding four months which will include in-depth technical and engineering details of the project.

Later, Al Hammadi told a news conference that the project's total costs will be determined once the final designs of the causeway are completed, but estimated they would not exceed $2bn.

He noted that the 40km-long causeway will be one of the world's biggest which will comprise several traffic lanes, an emergency route, in addition to a railway line for high speed trains that will eventually link the capitals of the two countries.

The beginning of the causeway in Qatar will be located at Ras Ashairij area, five kilometers South of the city of Al Zubara, and a similar spot will be located North of Askar village in the Kingdom of Bahrain.