BIIP (Bahrain International Investment Park): Latest Developments and Overview

Gerry Sharkey,  Project Director at BIIP (Bahrain International Investment Park), describes the progress and development of the BIIP.

BIIP has been a successful project, “We have allocated 75% of our land at the moment. There are currently 45 projects up and running. By the end of 2013 we are confidently expecting to have 60 projects in operation. The impact that this is having for us is very important, for example the people who run the port are coming to talk to us now about how we can work together to make things happen. This didn’t happen in the past, we were a little bit isolated before as our park was developing independently of all these things, but now there is a synergy and a collectivism happening between us and other parties here in Bahrain. We can see that other people are constantly coming to us and asking to be involved with us, so it is obvious that the park is really beginning to make an impact at this stage.” Sharkey adds.

As for the remaining 25%, Sharkey is optimistic about companies from Asia , US and also Europe, “We are putting an increased effort on this, for example the King and our Minister have visited Asia in recent times, visiting countries like Japan, Thailand, Korea, India, and China. We are going to see more emphasis coming from Asian companies because of the market opportunities that the Middle East offers. Also we are putting an increased effort into America; again because of the free trade situation there is always going to be a market opportunity for us with the USA. In the last two or three years Europe has been a very significant investor in the park, from Germany alone we have had 7 business propositions come to us in the last 3 or 4 years and we hope to continue to build on that in the future.”

Sharkey is also specific on what industries he would like to see in the park, “We have put a big emphasis on secondary food processing. There are also plenty of opportunities for engineering companies who are supporting the oil and gas industry. We would like to see more medical related projects here, we have one or two that have really come through but we would like to see more in terms of medical devices and maybe in the generic pharmaceutical industry where for example India is powerful and strong along with South Africa. These are two opportunities for the Middle East and there is a market opportunity in those areas. Further to that I would say downstream activities within the fibreglass field again because we have a frontline fibreglass company on the park. There are opportunities for other companies to come along and leverage off their product.”