Bahrain’s construction sector recorded growth of 5.7 per cent in 2016, as spending on new projects increases after contract awards on major new developments.

According to the latest figures published in the Economic Development Board’s (EDB’s) Bahrain Economic Quarterly, construction was one of the country’s strongest performing sectors, along with finance, which grew by 5.2 per cent, and social and personal services, which grew by 9.1 per cent.

The construction sector has benefited from Bahrain’s $32bn priority programme of infrastructure projects, and according to data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects, there was a record $8bn of contract awards across all sectors in Bahrain in 2016, which is more than double the 2015 total and the highest total on record.

The schemes for which major contracts have already been signed include Alba’s $2.5bn Pot Line 6 and associated $800m power station, the $1.1bn airport expansion project and a new $355m gas plant for Banagas.

The GCC Development Fund is also playing an important role and the volume of active projects has doubled from $1.6bn in the first quarter of 2016 to $3.2bn in February 2017.

There are also future projects that are at the early stages and are not included in the EDB’s $32bn priority programme. They include the new causeway that will connect Bahrain with Saudi Arabia, and a new airport built on reclaimed land that will cost at least $10bn to develop.

Overall, economic growth in Bahrain reached 3 per cent in 2016.

The growth is a slight improvement on the 2.9 per cent increase achieved in 2015, and was largely driven by a 3.7 per cent uptick in the non-oil sector, which was also up slightly from 3.6 per cent in 2015.