'All OK with Amwaj Gateway' - developer

CONCERNS: The developer of Amwaj Gateway insists that the project has not been shelved.

The developers of a major real estate project in Bahrain have denied claims that construction has been halted and investors left out of pocket.

The Amwaj Gateway project has been beset by allegations that work has stopped on the development. The $183m project, launched in July 2006, was originally scheduled to be completed last May.

The project’s managing director Qais Al Maskati told Gulf Daily News that "all is well" at the construction site, but added that “certain things” needed to be resolved with contractors.

"We are trying to sit with the contractor and thrash out certain things, but we are not being given any firm commitments yet," he said.

The paper reported that all work ceased in December, while Turkish company Cukurova Construction, which had originally been awarded the contract, left the job in 2008.

Work was then taken over by another Turkish company, Garantikoza, the newspaper said. However, the site has reportedly been abandoned after developers failed to pay the company.

A Garantikoza source told the newspaper that the company would "work when the money comes" and "stop when the money runs out".

The development consists of six 20-storey towers that will accommodate 550 units. It includes condos, apartments, a hotel, restaurants, shops, town houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and a private beach, all within a gated community.

"Work was halted several weeks ago and there are no workers on site any more," one buyer, who claimed he had paid around 90 per cent of the cost of his property at the development, told the newspaper. "We are worried the project has been indefinitely delayed and that we shall be left for a long time without our homes being ready."

The Bahraini said he had been trying to reach the management of the company without success.

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