Plans to expand the capacity of the King Fahd Causeway between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could make it the second-busiest transport link in the GCC after Dubai International Airport, the GCC Rail & Metro Conference in Muscat was told on 11 January.

“This is one of the most important economic projects in the region,” said Emad Almohaisen, assistant director-general of the King Fahd Causeway Authority.

Almohaisen said the movement of people and freight across the causeway, which was completed in 1986, has been growing by more than 10 per cent a year. He said almost 27,000 cars a day used the causeway in 2014 compared with under 24,000 in 2013.

The causeway was now covering operating costs despite the low level of tolls. “We expect to have a surplus in coming years,” Almohaisen added.

Plans have been finalised to build new artificial islands close to the coast of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to increase the causeway’s capacity to deal with passengers. This will allow the existing single island between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, where passport control for both countries is based, to be converted into a tourism and leisure centre.

The authority is also considering private sector proposals to develop ferry links between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia for freight and passengers.

“A number of investors in the private sector have offered maritime transport between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain,” said Almohaisen.

He said that the study into the feasibility of the construction of a second causeway will be completed by Canada’s SNC Lavalin in the first quarter of 2015. Alignment options have now been reduced to two. Both involve constructing a new causeway north of the existing one.

The study will also encompass the challenge of using it to carry a rail link between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as part of the GCC railway. Almohaisen said the King Fahd Causeway Authority is coordinating all Bahrain and Saudi stakeholders with an interest in the expansion. Bahrain’s Transportation Ministry undersecretary, Mariam Jumaan, earlier told the conference that initial plans call for a total of 87 kilometres of main-line double track to be built in Bahrain.

The possibility of building a third causeway that would be used exclusively by trucks is also being considered.

Almohaisen said plans call for the private sector to be involved in the operation of the new causeway.