Business Dubai | No end in sight to Bahrain-Saudi causeway delays

Trucks bringing goods to Bahrain are facing 24-hour delays on the Saudi side of the 25km King Fahad Causeway, with no solution in sight, an official said yesterday. The crisis is damaging trade between Saudi and its neighbours, warned Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) board member Kareem Al Shummari, Gulf Daily News reports. He said approaches by the joint committee between the BCCI and Bahrain's customs and ports directorate had proved fruitless, with business leaders in Saudi not prepared to press the issue with authorities. The gridlock is hardly encouraging for fans of open borders and free trade. Despite being open for the past 22 years, and being a major route for trade and tourism, Bahrain and Saudi have yet to smooth out customs procedures. The latest delays are believed to hitting imports of cement, kicking back into Bahrain's construction sector. Bahrain is not the only Saudi neighbour to suffer border gripes. Long queues at the Abu Samra border have left some truck drivers waiting for days for clearance before crossing from Saudi Arabia into Qatar. Three-day delays at the border during 2006 were blamed for a 25 per cent drop in Qatar's ready-mix production capacity. Bahrain and Qatar will be hoping for better luck with their own $2bn, 45km causeway, cutting out a Saudi detour. Plans have been in place since 1999, but work is only expected to start sometime this year. Backers expect 4,000 vehicles a day, 25 per cent of which would be commercial traffic.