Qatar Bahrain Causeway

The Qatar Bahrain Causeway was a planned causeway between the two Arab states of Qatar and Bahrain. It is likely to be replaced with a ferry between the two countries beginning in 2017.HistoryIt was announced on 13 December 2008 that construction would start in early 2009, and would cost approximately US$2.3 billion to complete. As of June 2015, construction had not started, and the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway project was on hold, while the contracting consortium involved with the project was said to be demobilising, according to a source at the Qatar Bahrain Causeway Foundation (QBCF). On 14 January 2011, Bahrain's Foreign Minister stated that the project should nevertheless be considered as a must for both countries: "This is one economic market, one economic zone that should be well-connected, and the bridge is an integral part of that". On 27 April 2011, an announcement was made, quoting an anonymous source of Bahrain's Al Wasat newspaper, that construction of the causeway would start in 2011 for completion in 2015, at the cost of approximately $5 billion. By December 2012, Bahrain's Foreign Minister was invoking financial turbulence to say that the bridge construction would only be completed by "a little before the 2022 FIFA World Cup."OverviewThe link between the two countries would be approximately 40km in length, and support both a road and a railway. The link was expected to consist of a number of bridges and be a natural extension of the King Fahd Causeway that connects Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, thus linking the entire region. These links include 18km of artificial dikes and 22km of viaducts and bridges. These bridges would be 40m in height at places to allow maritime navigation. The eastern-end of the causeway in Qatar would be located at Ras Ashairij, 5km South of the city of Zubarah. The opposite end of the causeway would link North of Askar in the Kingdom of Bahrain.