China and Bahrain agree to build Dragon City
Themed retail shopping mall will provide a platform for Chinese businesses to target the market
China and the Kingdom of Bahrain have agreed to build a ‘Dragon City’ in the Gulf Arab state, it was announced on Sunday.
The project is expected to be up and running by September 2014 and will have an initial capacity to host 100 Chinese companies and businesses, a senior official on the Chinese side said. Envisaged as a Chinese themed retail shopping mall, it will have a total leasable area of approximately 32,000m2 and a built up area of approximately 46,000m2.
“This is a significant step towards further cementing the existing historic ties between Bahrain and China,” said Abdul Hakim Al Khayyat, chairman of Diyar al Muharraq, the site of the new project.
“We haven’t finished the work on the financial impact, but what we know at this stage is that this pioneering project will give new dimension to business in Bahrain and across the GCC. This project will make a significant contribution to the development of Bahrain’s economic and cultural sectors” he added.
Diyar Al Muharraq is a new mega city being developed in Bahrain by Kuwait Finance House Bahrain (KFH-B), along with other financers from across the GCC. It has signed an agreement with China Middle East Investment and Trade Promotion Centre FZCO (Chinamex) to develop Dragon City in the downtown area of the project.
Chinamex will market and manage Dragon City as a large-scale trade platform that will function as a product exhibition, retail and wholesale. The target groups will be Chinese enterprises and businessmen seeking to sell their products and services in Bahrain, local citizens and international visitors.
