Page 258 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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bridge was necessary. The bridge consists of a swing span with two clear openings
of 60 feet and two approach spans of 35 feet. A roadway ten feet wide with two
five feet wide footways is provided. The roadway on the bridge is designed to carry
a super imposed line load of a continuous string of lorries or buses having a maxi­
mum loaded weight of 8 tons each. The footways will carry a superimposed weight
of 112 lbs per square foot.
The swing span is to be electrically operated from a control cabin at one end
of the causeway. The electrical machinery will be housed in a chamber inside
the central pier. An important feature of the bridge is the centre dolphin of
reinforced concrete, with vertical fenders extending from the centre pier, thirty-four
feet on each side, at right angles to the bridge. This is required to prevent boats
being dashed against the bridge when the tide is running strongly. The current in
the channel was always strong but since the gap has been narrowed by the extension
of the causeway on each side the current has become more powerful. All the steel­
work, electrical equipment and machinery, etc., are of British manufacture.

The contract price is 4128,291 and there is a clause provided for certain
eventualities arising fiom war conditions. The work is to be completed within one
year from the dute on which operations were commenced but it is possible, provided
that present conditions continue, that the bridge will be finished some months before
the specified time.
The work on the bridge was started in December but during the year the two
ends of the causeway were extended leaving in the centre little more than the space
which will be occupied by the bridge. This work was done by the two municipalities.
The two end sections of the causeway were in deeper water than has been encoun­
tered before and the cost of this was Rs. 61,376.
A toll will be levied on vehicles crossing the bridge. The details of charges
have not yet been decided but the revenue from this source is expected to be more
than sufficient to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the bridge. According to
statistics, the daily number of persons crossing to and from Muharraq is 4004
and 476 motor vehicles go to the end of the causeway every day.
B. Manamah Pier Extension The pier extension was completed during the
first half of the year. The original plan was altered and the T piece at the end of
the pier was enlarged to 216' x 75'. The new part of the pier, which is 50 feet wide,
is 1,240 feet long. The length of the whole pier i9 now 675 yards.
There is no longer any need for passengers and cargo to be transhipped, at
low water, from launches or boats into small skiffs in order to reaoh the pier. The
largest dhows and launches can now come alongside the pier at all states of the
tide. The new pier has made it possible to laud cargo without delay and has put an
end to the difficulty and inconvenience which passengers had to submit to in the
past.
The estimated cost of completing the pier extension was calculated for the
purpose of the 1358 budget on the basis of the cost of the section of the pier winch had
been finished. It was found however that much of remainder, including the T piece,
was on a soft part of the sea bed and the quantity of rock needed for the construction
greatly exceeded the anticipated amount. This and the enlargement of the
terminal caused the cost to be greater than was expected.
The expenditure on this work was Rs. 1,01,588.
The whole of this amount, except masons’ and foremen’s wages and the cost
of the wooden beams bridging the water passages which were made at intervals of
200 feet along the pier, is the cost of stone. The stone was brought by local Arabs
in their own boats and thus employment was given to many hundreds of men for
several months in the year during the season when there was no diving.
In the past one of the customs charges was described as “pier fees”, It was
originally levied in about 1918 to pay for the building of the pier which, it was then