Mondelez launches construction of $90 million factory

By Farishta Saeed Manama, Feb. 24 (BNA): Mondelez, launched today the construction of its new $90 million biscuit plant at the Bahrain International Investment Park. The food and beverage giant said the factory will be the first of its kind in the region. The ceremony was attended by Ministry of Industry and Commerce's Undersecretary for Industry Affairs Osama Mohammed Alarrayedh; senior ministry officials; senior executives of Mondelez as well as officials from the project’s main contractor Mercury Mena. The factory will source all raw materials and other supporting services from nearby companies and will have an annual capacity of 90,000 tonnes. It will reach full commercial production early next year and will produce Oreo, Ritz, belVita, Prince and TUC biscuits. It will create as many as 400 direct jobs and hundreds more of indirect jobs. The Bahrainisation rate will be around 35 per cent initially. Mercury Mena will be employing the Building Information Modelling (BIM) system in the construction of the factory. Adopting BIM on a project can increase efficiency, reduce risk and optimise the decision-making process throughout the lifecycle of the project. Mercury Mena operates a BIM level 2 (according to UK standards) environment adopted to reflect and satisfy Middle East needs and enhanced with augmented reality (AR) solutions, intelligent virtual tours, laser and GPR scanning, drone surveying and 3D reality capturing, virtual reality and many more cutting edge technologies.