Aluminium Bahrain announces BD50m investment

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) yesterday announced a record-breaking year in terms of productivity, profitability and safety.

The claim was made by Chairman of the Alba Board of Directors, Dr Esam Abdullah Fakhro, after he chaired the 104th meeting of the  Alba Board of Directors yesterday.

During the meeting, the Board of Directors also reviewed plans for the year ahead and approved plans to spend more than BD50,000,000 on projects to boost the plant's efficiency and further improve employee morale.

The plans include investments of more than BD750,000 on the development and further training of Alba's human resources. The plans also include the reconstruction of the Alba Training Centre Building at a cost of BD350,000 and a BD370,000 project to upgrade the main kitchen used to serve employees.

Dr Fakhro said: "The year 2006 has been a record year for Alba in many ways. Metal production this year has already reached its highest levels ever and is projected to reach a record-breaking 851,271 metric tonnes by the end of the year.

"Meanwhile, the Alba marketing teams have been capitalising on buoyant market trends to set a new sales record of 900,000mt by selling around 40,000mt of inventory metal."

He also hailed the company's safety achievements during the last year, saying: "In 2006, Alba also continued to invest on developing a culture of safety across its operations. This has paid off dramatically well and, on 18 November, Alba set a new world record when it recorded 6,000,000 working man-hours without a single Lost Time Injury."

Dr Fakhro also thanked the Government of the Bahrain for its support and, in particular His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa; the Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa; and the Crown Prince and Commander-in-Chief of the Bahrain Defence Force, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

Dr Fakhro also expressed gratitude to the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia for its cooperation, especially in the area of industrial development as represented by the strategic partnership between Alba and SABIC, which continues to strengthen the bond between the people of the two kingdoms.

The board meeting, which was held at the Alba complex, was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Alba Board, Nader K. Al Moayyad and Board members Fawzi Ahmed Kanoo, Mahmood H Al Kooheji, Osama M. Al Arrayedh and David Meen representing the Government, Mohamed H. Al Mady, Mutlaq H. Al Morished, Mohamed S. Al Jabr representing SABIC Industrial Investments Company, and Urs Bergmann representing Breton Investments.