New dates factory to come up in A’ali

­TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Works ministry plans to build a dates factory in Howrat A’ali for processing dates produced in the Kingdom. The move comes as demand for dates has seen a drastic rise amid the pandemic and increased awareness and search for healthier sugar alternatives.

Bahrain, according to a report, produced 13,000 tonnes of dates in 2019 from about 2,490.00 hectares. However, over the last decades, the number of date palms in the Kingdom has decreased from 892,000 to 534,000.

The island currently has over 100 date palm cultivars in the Kingdom, which produces at least 23 varieties. The news also comes as Dubai’s Al Barakah had announced plans to double its dates processing capacity to become the world’s largest privately-owned date factory in Dubai Industrial City.

The Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning has also launched a tender for building the factory. According to the tender description, the upcoming factory will have a storage building, date processing machinery, refrigerators, car parks and other facilities.

The tender, the ministry says, has the option for taking up the construction of the Date factory or for constructing and operating the factory. The contract period for option one is nine months, and option 2 is 21 months. So, if interested, make bids before the 3rd of November 2021, with a BD2,500 bond and BD100 tender fees. Micro, small and medium enterprises are eligible to obtain 10% preference in the financial evaluation stage.