Undersecretary of Public Works Affairs at the Ministry of Works, Nayef Omar Al-Kalali, has highlighted the lessons learned from coastal development based on a review of a selection of top coastal projects in Bahrain and the GCC countries since the early 1990s. This was a key element of the keynote presentation Mr Al-Kalali delivered at the Second Annual Urban Waterfronts Conference, which concluded yesterday in Sheraton Hotel in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Almost 200 participants consisting of architects, developers, planners, community leaders and professionals involved in the development, planning, designing, marketing and managing of sustainable waterfront communities from across the region and from all around the world participated in the two day event.
According to Mr. Al-Kalali, taking on board the lessons from major projects is key to examining, addressing and implementing coastal and marine development principles and to mitigating challenges each project presents.
“The lessons learned from the review of a selection of the region’s major projects are key to deepening understanding and to ensuring future projects are treated with the best application to ensure sustainability in developing valuable coastal real estate,” said Mr Al-Kalali.
Lessons have been learned spanning activities across a broad range of areas. These include reclamation; design; integration and coordination to connect existing projects to the road network; materials and techniques; habitats; value engineering; information management for planning purposes; decision-making; project planning and approach; master planning and zoning; accessibility; and Urban Vs Coastal Planning.
“By applying the relevant lessons learned from these areas to specific coastal projects we can better understand and apply essential guidelines. In addition we can adopt important precautionary measures for reclamation in consideration of factors including global warming and other environmental and climactic conditions as well as ensure proper methodologies for dredging and reclamation purposes,” added Mr Al-Kalali.
Mr Al-Kalali also noted in his presentation to the dredging and land reclamation in the country as well as of Ministry of Works Dredging and Land Reclamation Technical Manual that is currently being used in the Kingdom for coastal development projects, including offshore islands. Functional design principles and guidelines within the context of integrated coastal zone management and marine spatial planning were also featured.
As a key contributor to the development of Bahrain the Ministry of Works’ contribution to all economic, social and cultural sectors in the Kingdom includes caring and striving to protect the environment. According to Mr Al-Kalali, the topics discussed during the event were significant for the region given increasing demand and development activity that is currently taking place throughout coastal areas of the Arabian Gulf.
