Page 34 - Life & Land Use on the Bahrain Islands (Curtis E Larsen)

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The first experiment began with the aluminum industry, a high energy
user dependent up on electricity. Alba was established to smelt aluminum at the
energy source. Ores are shipped here, smelted, and reshipped to the various
industrial centers of the world. A newly constructed dry dock facility services
deepwater shipping and capitalizes on the location of Bahrain as a central exchange
point in the gulf. More recently, Bahrain has identified itself as a center of free
trade and offshore banking. With a favorable legal status as an incentive, Bahrain
has established a new role as an entrepeneurial center.
It should be pointed out, however, that Bahrain has also partially
maintained itself through agriculture. With the exception of grains, the ingredients
of many traditional Bahraini foods are or have been grown locally. Dates,
tomatoes, onions, and lemons are commonly seen. Alfalfa is a major intercrop with
dates and is used as fodder for the sheep and goat populations. Even an
agricultural output for only local use requires sizeable land areas and energy
expenditures. Competition for land is intense.
Industrialization has put severe pressures on the traditional agricultural
land. While a drydock may be located on the edge of an offshore reef and an
aluminum smelter in an inhospitable portion of the island, the people attracted to
these operations are less willing to give up the relative comforts of urban and
village life. Thus, rather than leaving the densely populated areas in order to
reduce travel distances, the trend has been toward increased use of the automobile
and the establishment of an arterial system of roads. The density of the urban area
is compounded.

Apparent Physical Restraints

Because it is an island state, Bahrain has definite physical restraints, The most
obvious of these is the total available land area. Others are fresh water, arable
soils, and climate. The total available land area on the main island of Bahrain is
approximately 612 km2. But, the most favorable lands for settlement are limited
and confined to the northern portion of the main island where the greatest number