Bahrain awards 769 tenders worth $1.7bn in H1 2020

Bahrain awarded 769 tenders in the first half of 2020 worth a total of $1.7bn, according to new data released by the country’s government procurement regulator.

Figures from Bahrain’s Tender Board reveal that the construction and engineering sector accounted for the biggest share of contracts in the first six months of the year, with awarded tenders totalling some $588.3m.

Oil and gas came next, followed by the materials and equipment sector, and the services sector, with awarded tenders standing at $416.3m, $292.6m and $202.4m respectively. The aviation sector awarded tenders worth $172.2m in the first half of the year.

In terms of values, Tatweer Petroleum topped the list for the awarded tenders, worth a total of $396.5m, followed by the Electricity and Water Authority ($305.3m), Ministry of Housing ($238.6m), the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning ($165.2m) and Gulf Air ($156.4m).

The total value of awarded tenders for other public entities stood at around $410m, a statement said.

Some of the key service projects that were settled by the board include wrapping up several tenders to carry out construction and maintenance works at residential units under the Ministry of Housing, worth a combined $238m, as well as some $297m worth of awarded bids in the fields of sewage works, infrastructure and electricity and water services, the statement added.

Shaikh Nayef bin Khalid Al Khalifa, chairman of the Tender Board, said: “Bahrain awarded a total of 47 public tenders worth a combined $21.8m to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as per the cabinet decision to assign some public spending to the SME sector.”

Bahrain has been hit hard by the combined impact of lower oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, with the country’s budget deficit anticipated to widen to 15.5 per cent of GDP in 2020 from 4.6 per cent in 2019, according to estimates from Fitch Ratings.

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