Bahrain’s Housing Ministry has received bids for three projects worth an estimated $30m to build townhouses in the kingdom. The contracts involve building houses, site preparation and earthworks.

The Housing Ministry received 15 bids for a contract to build 198 townhouses at Madinat Hamad, which is located in northern Bahrain.

The local Ahmed Essa Construction submitted the lowest bid with a price of BD7.3m ($19.4m). The local Almoayyed Contracting submitted the second lowest bid with a price of BD7.39m. The local Al-Zayani Trading submitted the third lowest price of BD7.4m.

For the second project, the ministry received 13 bids for a contract to build 61 town houses at Jaww village on the southeastern coast of Bahrain.

The local Al-Zayani Trading submitted the lowest bid with a price of BD1.95m. The second lowest price of BD1.967m was submitted by the local Luqman Alhaddad Contractors. The local Ahmed Essa submitted the third lowest price of BD1.969m.

The ministry received bids from 14 groups for a third housing project, which involves building 60 townhouses at the village of Askar on the southeastern coast of Bahrain.

The local Ahmed Essa Construction submitted the lowest bid with a price of BD1.94m. The second lowest price of BD1.95m was submitted by the local Al-Hedaya Contracting. The local Abdul Aziz al-Sayed Trading & Contracting submitted the third lowest price of BD1.96m.

The Housing Ministry is also currently tendering contracts for a government-sponsored social housing project in Bahrain. Contractors have until 12 August to submit bids.

The project involves the construction of 5,000 housing units, featuring a minimum of 3,500 social housing units. Bidders can opt to build more units on the sites if they think it will improve the viability of the project. Three sites have been selected for development and the land will be given the preferred bidder for free.

The government wants to develop around 20,000 homes under a public-private partnership basis (PPP) to address a chronic housing shortage that is one of the country’s most contentious political issues.

The Housing Ministry is being advised by Ernst & Young, the UK’s Mott MacDonald and law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.