Despite hard times and run-away inflation that has not spared the Gulf region, many expatriates from Saudi Arabia will be crossing the King Fahd Causeway to spend their holiday season and New Year's Eve in Bahrain. Holiday travelers will either be traveling in groups or as families on their own. Danielle, the leader of an expatriate group in Dhahran, has made arrangement for his group, composed mostly of Westerners, to spend the coming weekend. “There will be two trips – this holiday weekend and another on New Year's Eve until the following day,” he said. Elvira and Donato from the Philippines will also be traveling to Bahrain this Thursday to join their daughter who is studying in Bahrain. “It is an opportunity to be together in a friendly place like Bahrain,” said Donato, who is the manager of a steel fabrication plant in Dammam. Aravind from India is also spending the holidays in Bahrain together with his family. He has a son studying at a technical college in Bahrain. Donato's and Aravind's are among the many expatriate families who will be trekking to Bahrain this weekend. “Bahrain has already spruced up its avenues and streets, shopping malls, hotels, and buildings in preparation for the holidays; there is already a festive mood here,” said Bandar Ali Hussain, a Saudi residing in Bahrain and working as supervisor in a consultancy firm in Dammam. He said holiday season's parties and New Year's Eve parties are already scheduled in all five-star hotels in Bahrain. “The hotels are vying to attract visitors and are offering lots of special prices for those intending to celebrate the New Year. The King Fahd Causeway Authority (KFCA) is also prepared to serve the expected influx of travelers who will be crossing both sides of the 27-km-long bridge during the holiday season, starting this Thursday. Causeway officials said they are bracing themselves to receive more than twice the number of passengers and vehicles crossing the causeway, compared with the ordinary traffic, beginning this weekend until the first week of the New Year. “We are now ready to receive the expected daily entry of around 70,000 passengers on board some 30,000 passenger cars by opening more lanes and fielding more customs officers,” a supervisor at the Saudi side of the causeway said. The average number of travelers crossing both sides of the causeway every day this year is about 45,000, while the number of passenger cars is 20,000, according to the supervisor. “That makes an average of more than two passengers per car, but this holiday season we expect that a single passenger car will be carrying more than three passengers,” he said. He said group travelers in small buses and vans are also expected to cross from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain. In addition to the passenger cars, light vehicles, and small to large trucks that can carry up to 25 passengers will make their way across the causeway this holiday season. The planners of the KFCA did not foresee the future rapid increase in commercial and passenger traffic. Now that heavy traffic at the causeway, especially during the weekend, has become a perennial problem, a study has been finalized that proposes the increase of immigration lanes to 45 on both the Saudi and Bahraini sides. The study reported that by the year 2020, the causeway will find itself unable to contain the traffic. The causeway has two kinds of lanes – regular lanes and express VIP lanes. The latter is used exclusively by government officials and VIPs, including diplomats. Both types of lane are jammed during rush hours, usually in the morning at the Saudi side and in the evening at both the Saudi and Bahraini sides. To ease the traffic in the regular lanes, heavy trucks carrying merchandize and construction materials are now allowed to cross the causeway for a 24-hour period, unlike before when these vehicles were only allowed to travel on the causeway at specific times of the day. During the holiday season, the earnings of the KFCA from the payment of car passage charges will increase to about SR600,000 per day, based on the daily inflow of 30,000 passenger cars at the rate of SR20 per car. Traffic at KFCA, which opened 22 years ago, has been increasing every year. In 2001, 2.7 million cars, carrying over 10 million passengers, crossed the causeway. The number of vehicles that passed the KFCA toll gates in 2007 was 7.188 million, compared with the 6.5 million in 2006, an increase of 11 percent. The total number of passengers who crossed the causeway in 2007 was 16,287,280, a daily average of 44,623, an increase of 9 percent from 2006. Motorists crossing the causeway are required to present their passport, vehicle registration certificate, authorization to drive the vehicle, and a valid driving license. Travelers, other than the driver, must have valid exit or exit-reentry visas stamped in their passports. The causeway, which is 30 minutes away from the Eastern Province and some four hours drive from Riyadh and Kuwait, has significantly contributed to Bahrain's becoming a regional tourist and business hub, as well as a family retreat for both citizens and expatriates.
