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Bahrain Other Industry
By 1965 the government recognized that the island's
long-term
prosperity could not depend on the limited extent of its
oil
reserves. Accordingly, the government adopted industrial
diversification as a primary objective of its economic
policy.
Tax incentives and low-interest loans encouraged private
entrepreneurs to construct several small-scale
manufacturing
plants, including factories producing plastics, ceramic
tiles,
paper products, and carbonated beverages. The government
assumed
a more active role in the establishment of large-scale
industry,
as a result of which manufacturing contributed 13 percent
of the
gross domestic product
(GDP--see Glossary)
in 1986 (see
table 16,
Appendix). The two most important examples of large-scale
industry were the aluminum plant and the ship-repair yard.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) was incorporated in 1968 as a
joint
government and private investment company for the
construction of
a mill to process imported raw alumina. Located near the
Bapco
refinery, the Alba plant began production in 1971 with an
initial
capacity of 99,000 tons of aluminum ingots. Since
commencing
operations, the Alba facilities have expanded considerably
and by
1990 had an annual productive capacity of more than
215,000 tons.
Associated with Alba are two other aluminum factories
built
during the 1980s. The Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill Company
(Garmco), a joint venture of the six member countries of
the GCC,
produces aluminum strip and sheet. The Bahrain Aluminium
Extrusion Company (Balexco), owned 100 percent by the
government,
produces aluminum doors, window frames, and other products
used
by the construction industry. A third concern, the jointly
owned
Bahrain-Saudi Aluminium Marketing Company (Balco), markets
Alba's
products throughout the Middle East and Asia.
In 1977 the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company
(ASRY)
was inaugurated near Al Hadd. ASRY was a joint venture of
Bahrain
and the six other members of the Organization of Arab
Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OAPEC). This large dry-dock facility
has
accommodations for up to ten supertankers simultaneously,
and it
annually repairs an average of seventy ships.
Data as of January 1993
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