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1- Zain (MTC) bought a 25 story building in Seef for BD 14Mil to use as a regional headquarters for the group, some 400 employees and family are due to relocate to Bahrain in the next year. An investment bank in Bahrain was also interested in the same building.

2- Zain top management tried to find a place to hold a 4 day conference in Bahrain after the new identity launch but couldn’t find any available space in Bahrain hotels so they held it in their headquarters in Seef

3- A Kuwaiti family tried last week to find a place to stay after making the mistake of not booking in advance, but to no avail so it had to go back to Khobar for a place to stay.

http://www.travel4arab.com/vb/showthread.php?t=144814&page=2

4- Al Shayea wanted to rent warehouses in Bahrain but couldn’t find any so he rented in the Dammam Industrial Area.

5- 10,000 visitors to the Dilmun Water Park in Areen on the first week, Tickets are BD12 for Adults and BD8 for children, Towels and lockers are BD2 each and the food average cost is BD2.5 . So it’s not cheap.

6- A land was sold in Seef for BD180 per foot.

7- 85% of Durrat Al Bahrain Villas have been sold . villas start from BD 195,000 to over BD 600,000

8- Tameer Al Khaleej and KFH bought 600,000 sqm in Durrat at the beginning of this year to build a 400 moors Marina and marketed a fund which was fully subscribed, also they bought an additional 100,000 sqm to bring the total area of their project to 700,000 sqm.

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MANAMA: Massive infrastructure development has triggered a real estate boom in Bahrain, says a report. “These projects have positioned the country on the world’s real-estate map and transformed it into a favourite investment destination in the world,” the economic report published by the London-based Asharq Al Awsat daily said. “Four huge projects, the Bahrain Financial Harbour, Durrat Al Bahrain, Al Areen and Riffa Views as well other projects were behind the current boom,” the report added. “Thanks to these projects, Bahrain has become an international holiday destination as the number of tourists has increased from 4.6m last year to 4.8 this year and is expected to expand with the opening of Bahrain-Qatar causeway in 2010.” The report pointed out to the investment-friendly laws and no taxes on real estate and the transfer of money abroad have led to this boom.

Gas talks success

MANAMA: Negotiations to import gas from Iran have made great progress with the second round of talks scheduled in Tehran next month, Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said. He said that the Iranian delegation which visited Bahrain last week had held successful negotiations with the Bahraini technical committee on importing gas.

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Yes too, this whole transformation should depend on actualities on the ground and really changing ingrained structures rather than just sexy words and images done by whoever is chosen at the end of the day.

OBG too seems to be pessimistic – or at least appear to not believe that we have the political will – in taking this new program forward, maybe partly because it has been tried time and again or those in power have cried wolf too often, but we have to insist on this change. We really don’t have anything to lose by fully supporting it and everything to gain if it succeeds.

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Hmmm, let us be honest with ourselves people. Neither futile nihlism nor happy go lucky small town belief in our “greatness” will solve what ails this place.

The reality is that we are small peripheral society, always have been, always will be. A cultural and social cul-de-sac. A charming quaint culture maybe, but hardly one rich enough in cultural artefacts and commodities to translate into a world brand.

I agree with the above completely. i also made my comments about Dubai carefully: i didn’t say it was a great place, i said they ahd successfully promoted thier brand OUTSIDE the Gulf.

I hate Dubai, it’s hell on earth for me, and the reason (and difference with Bahrain) is that it is soulless. here we have a soul, but it’s small, it’s limited and it’s, well, … quaint. That’s it.

I cannot see anything revolutionizing this place until we have one, single, united vision on our way forward. Where is that? What is it? Who are our visionaries?

Actions speak louder than words.

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The reality is that we are small peripheral society, always have been, always will be. A cultural and social cul-de-sac. A charming quaint culture maybe, but hardly one rich enough in cultural artefacts and commodities to translate into a world brand. Perhaps the UAE has it easier because they started with a blank slate: literally.

Anyway, beyond the normative analysis the reality is that our desire for integration with the rest of the world on a realistic basis is frankly waning (thank you Adel for summarising the rejectionist view of “if they don’t like it they can go home”….and we can wallow in our mire).

I for one was astounded to read today that a country purporting to reinvent its’ Tourist economy has decided to “ban” room service during daylight over Ramadan. I doubt even the Taliban went that far. From my eyrie in Riyadh, I can order wall-to-wall room service throughout the holy month so what makes us so special?

Brainfarts like this (great neologism Mahmood) can only come from a society that has fallen out of the race and can only resort to croaking across the pond to its far more graceful – albeit ruthless – neighbours.

Other countries get branding consultants drawn from Madison Avenue, Paris and London. We get ours from the Channel Islands so all we get is watered down visions of Jersey while they get pumped up visions of Manhattan.

All hands to the oars people.

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