Bahrain expects breakeven in three years

The F1 Bahrain GP is budgeted to recoup the Gulf nation's initial investment in its new race circuit, amounting to 56.2m dinar, within three years. The track's general manager, Hans Geist, believes that the project has the potential to earn BD56.7m (US$150m) over the next 36 months alone from its first two F1 events, the first of which will be held over April 2-3-4, 2004. Geist said yesterday that an additional $150m would be spent on the access infrastructure for the venue in Sakhir

Sep 11, 2003, 8:05 PM

"New roads will be constructed and there will be a signage system to get traffic through Manama," he said. "The airport will be developed next month because they expect more than 400 flights on race day. Visas and immigration is a big discussion, and there have been many meetings about this issue."

Discussions are under way between five-star hotels to operate a standard rate during the event. "We've agreed a rate informally," National Hotels Company general manager Abdul Rahman Morshed told Gulf Daily News. "This is to ensure there will be no over-inflation of prices or undercutting. We have also agreed in principle to allocate as many rooms as possible to Formula One."