An ambitious plan to create an island of fun, sun and sand off the coast of Muharraq island in Bahrain took concrete shape with the launch last month of participating shares in the tourism and residential project.

The Amwaj Islands project, being developed by Ossis Property Developers, will have marinas, hotels, malls, cinema, bowling alley, health clubs, entertainment park, aqua park and ice skating rink.

Amwaj will also create an attractive residential community with a master plan providing a wide range of serviced plots. The individual plots form part of a large water front community with areas identified for residential units, apartment buildings, hotels and marina club.

The plan includes 1,350 residential plots facing the sea in addition to 40 plots for four-storey apartment towers and 40 plots for eight-storey apartment towers.

The Amwaj will be a quality resort that is capable of attracting family tourism from across the Gulf and Europe, the promoter said.

The project, estimated to cost about $1 billion is to be created on approximately 2.79 million sq m of reclaimed seabed to the north east of Muharraq island. The reclaimed land will be linked to Muharraq by a single causeway.

During the official launch of the project at the Gulf International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Ossis chairman Saud Abdulaziz Kanoo said 69,675 participating shares of BD100 each were being offered in a private placement.

The offer was made by Amwaj Property Development Company with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE as target markets.