Bahrain’s Housing Ministry has received bids for the dredging and reclamation works contract on the East Hidd and East Sitra developments.

Three companies submitted bids for the contract to carry out main dredging, reclamation and shoreline protection works on the reclaimed schemes on the eastern coast of the country.

Boskalis Westminster of the Netherlands submitted three bids for the tender, ranging from the lowest bid of BD19.6m ($52m) to BD21.5m.

The China Harbour Engineering Company submitted a bid of $20.5m, and the US-based Great Lakes Improvement Company submitted a price of BD21.4m.

The new housing developments are part of Bahrain’s plans to provide affordable housing for its people.

The East of Hidd development will offer 4,000 to 4,500 residential units, including plots of land that will be gifted to individuals by the Housing Ministry, while the East of Sitra housing scheme will feature 4,000 housing units.

The housing units planned for the schemes will consist of two to three-bedroom villas.

Bahrain currently has a backlog of 50,000 applicants for affordable housing.

“The number of applicants is increasing by around 4,000 a year for housing,” Bahrain’s Housing Ministry housing projects assistant undersecretary told local press in September.