US-based KBR, a leading engineering, construction and services company has clinched the design management contract for Bahrain-Qatar Causeway.

The contract was awarded by the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation (QBC Foundation) to KBR for providing design management, project management, and construction management services for the causeway.

The QBC Foundation was created in 2006 for developing and managing the causeway project.

'The Foundation is pleased to have KBR, an international company of the highest reputation, working in partnership with us to manage this prestigious project,' said QBC Foundation chairman Dr Ahmed Hassan Al Hammadi.

'KBR's management and engineering team was selected after two competitive tendering events from among five international companies that expressed interest,' he noted.

KBR's work on the contract, in association with Halcrow, a UK-based engineering company, is expected to begin immediately with the first two phases consisting of management planning and design oversight.

The Qatar Bahrain Causeway is a four lane, 40km long, highway corridor consisting of roadway sections on reclaimed embankment and natural islands, low level bridge structures and signature suspension bridges.

The project also includes freight and passenger rail lines, providing a direct connection for high-speed freight and passenger rail between Qatar and Bahrain.

It is envisioned that the railway will eventually be extended in each direction connecting Istanbul, Turkey to Muscat, Oman, and becoming the main rail link for the Middle East Gulf Coast Countries.

'KBR is honoured to be selected as the project manager for this significant bi-national transportation infrastructure project,' said KBR government and infrastructure President Bruce Stanski.

'I am confident that, working in partnership with the QBC Foundation, KBR's expertise and unwavering commitment to our client will lead to the successful completion of this long awaited project.'

Once complete, the causeway will be the world's longest marine causeway, connecting the two countries.-TradeArabia News Service