Saudi politician calls for 65km of bridges to Qatar, Bahrain

A politician in Saudi Arabia has called for a new 40km bridge to connect the kingdom with Bahrain, and one 25km long linking to Qatar, according to local media.

Reported in daily newspaper Okaz, the secretary of the Al Ahsa Municipality – Adel Bin Mohammad Al Melhem – suggested construction a vast causeway between Al Ahsa and Qatar’s west coast between Dukhan and Umm Bab. His plans for the Bahrain road was be located 100km from the existing 26km King Fahd Causeway (pictured).

Hi comments were made at a Gulf Cooperation Council municipalities conference in Qatar, during which he also spoke about a wider economic development vision for eastern Saudi Arabia including proposals for a 300 square kilometre industrial city.

No specific details were given about the bridges, and there was no mention of official backing, though government officials in Qatar have spoken about exporting ways to attracting more tourists to areas of the emirate outside the capital city.

A number of projects connecting Qatar to other GCC countries have been proposed in recent years, including causeways to Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, as well as plans for a GCC-wide rail network, none of which have materialised.