Signing of Project Agreements for the first ever Affordable Housing PPP Project in the GCC announced

Mr. Alsayed, who is also a member of the Board and CEO of Ithmaar Development Company, the Development Manager for the PPP Project, strongly hailed the government stance in addressing the housing challenge of Bahrain. He particularly cited the timely use of Public-Private-Partnerships or PPPs which is one of the tools used by governments worldwide in achieving their objectives while allowing the private sector to deliver goods and services more economically and efficiently. This method is being implemented for the first time in the housing sector in the GCC through this project in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The signing ceremony was attended by several government dignitaries including H.E. The Deputy Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalid Bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, H.E. The Minister of Housing, Basim Bin Yacob Al Hamer, H.E. The Minister of Finance, Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and senior government representatives. Naseej was represented by its Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Khalid Abdulla-Janahi and members of the Board of Naseej.

Mr. Alsayed stated that a great deal of effort had gone into the initial planning and design of the project especially in view of the critical nature of the housing sector in Bahrain. Speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony, Mr. Alsayed also said that "the robust consortium assembled for the first ever Housing PPP Project of the GCC region shows our staunch commitment to this project which involves the delivery of more than 4100 housing units of which 3110 alone are social housing units with a total cost in excess of US$550 million."

The signing ceremony was also attended by the advisors and consultants from both parties. He added that he is "proud to be associated with a pioneering landmark project in partnership with the government and help deliver on its promises on key social objectives for the betterment of its nationals."

Mr. Alsayed continued by saying that the "signing today represents the government's solid support to the private sector and reflects the leadership's consistent policy of involving the private sector in various economic fields."

Speaking about the consortium assembled for this project, he stated that it "includes Ithmaar Development Company as the Development Manager, AECOM as the Master Planners, URS/Scott Wilson and Ansari Engineering Services as the Infrastructure Designers, AECOM/Ansari Engineering Services as the House Building Designers and Davis Langdon as the Cost Consultants."

Elaborating further, Mr. Alsayed said that "Chase Manara BSC (c) is the main contractor which is a JV between a leading Malaysian contractor and a Bahraini company which knows and understands the project dimensions very well along with Olive VFM as the Facility Management providers."

Outlining the nature of discussions, Mr. Alsayed said that the signing is the result of "several months of hard work and negotiations by both sides with the active involvement of PricewaterhouseCoopers as Financial Advisors and Trowers & Hamlins as the Legal Advisors of the consortium." He explained that in the next few months the parties will work together including tying up the financial arrangements of the project.

Mr. Alsayed concluded by expressing his gratitude to the Ministry of Housing and its technical and advisory teams as well as the Ministry of Finance in working patiently through several details in converging on the commercial terms.