3 August 2007

Bahrain Indoor Ski-Resort

They'll never stop fighting like children over a bar of chocolate:

Ski Bahrain Iceberg Tower - SkiBahrain.com

Bahrain has announced the development of another multi-million dollar attraction, representing a first for the Middle East with a US$175 million indoor ski resort.

The concept involves the construction of a 1.5 kilometer ski-track in a multi-storey building with a total area of 150,000 square meters. The tower, to be called the Iceberg Tower, will be built on an island south of the Sheikh Hamad Bridge between Manama and Muharraq.

It is a unique idea to facilitate indoor-skiing on the island and will strengthen the Kingdom's objectives of becoming the Gulf's sports entertainment centre, while building on the Formula One project. Facilities will be provided for skiing, ice climbing, snow-boarding, ski-jumping and sledging.

Being built in two phases with final completion expected in 2009, the project will also include a convention hall, science park, ice-sculpture park, arctic zoo, shopping mall, medical centre and seaside resort.

Ski Bahrain Website

Again with the Gulf SO CALLED COOPERATION Council bashing each other! When will our countries learn to complement each other to benefit, rather than always fighting over the same thing?

Dubai started with building luxury hotels and tourism resorts, so instead of building things that would complement Dubai, EVERYONE in the area decides to copy it! We have luxury resorts being built in Bahrain, Saudi, Kuwait, Qatar etc.

Bahrain builds a Formula One track; a first for the region. Soon later Abu Dhabi decides to build one! And Qatar is considering building one as well!

Tallest tower in the world, in Dubai? Nope, Kuwait wants to take that title. No, Bahrain wants it. And so on.

Now a bleedin' ski resort in Bahrain? We already HAVE THAT in DUBAI! Instead of fighting over the same things, why can't the minds here work together to secure complementing products and services? What happened to the word cooperative in the Gulf Cooperative Council?

Put your minds together, and turn the GCC into a big strong community. For example, someone can find a hotel in Dubai, and use shuttle flights to go to Bahrain for a Formula 1 race, or Qatar for a business meeting, Kuwait to shop, and so on. This way, everyone can benefit, and benefit well! Stop killing out each other for the same things!

10 comments:

Mahmood Al-Yousif said...

This is old news actually. It was a plan before the Mall of the Emirates came into being and it was supposed to have been what was going to be built here. The good people of Muharraq thought that this sort of project would bring whores into Muharraq and aid in changing the good city into an un-Islamic state. They got a petition going and chased the project to Dubai.

I know the guy - personally - who built the indoor ski slopes in the Mall of the Emirates. He's doing very well there, thank you very much, and so is the hugely popular Mall of the Emirates, and Dubai and the Emirates, and the tourists, and the residents, and the workers at the Mall, and the shops, and... well, you get the picture.

Reem B. said...

This is a very interesting post actually. Makes uf think of how it would be like if things were distributed among the GCC region rather than having mini copies of Bahrain, or Dubai, or Kuwait... or Doha.. or whatever...

Made us think.

Reem B. said...

first line "us" not "uf". Sorry. lol

Ammaro said...

Mahmood; planned before Dubai? That sounds like something else. I remember when we first plan to 'renovate' our Souk area to make it traditional yet modern. The project has been years in the making now, with an actual product only recently starting to materialize. On the other hand, Dubai visualized Madinat Jumeira, a big shopping complex that looks exactly like an old souk, just in a modern way, and built it within a year. Great success.

Again, I remember that whole ridiculous issue with all Bahrainis getting a 'bonus' of 200 dinars? How many months did that go on for? After Kuwait heard about it, it took them a good week or two to give the same amount to its citizens, for no reason besides their Amir was feeling generous.

I just see a lot of things going VERY slowly here.

Missy said...

haha I think they enjoy "copycatting" each other! :D

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Qute said...

ey, its just bussiness . nothing personal ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Interesting debates. I'd like to know hox those resorts were or are planned to be financed ? Private equity ? Capital markets ? Local investors ? Thanks for help. Marc

Ammaro said...

most of these projects are financed by investment companies, who are in turn financed by mostly regional investors