Bahrain is pushing ahead with massive developments as much of the world cowers in the face of recession, said the head of the government's investments arm.

Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company chief executive officer Talal Alzain, was speaking as he detailed the $1 billion (BD378 million) @bahrain development, a business, technology, retail and leisure 'city' to be built alongside the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

Alzain was speaking yesterday on the second day of this year's Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, which @bahrain and Mumtalakat are using as the platform to launch the project.

Construction is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of next year.

The development will feature a 10,000 retractable seating arena, 75,000 square metre exhibition centre, 25,000 square metre convention centre, interactive technology centre, research institute, technology park as well as three, four- and five-star hotels.

Alzain believes @bahrain will have the competitive edge over other business parks around the region through its close association with the BIC.

'This development will be the first fully integrated development for Bahrain,' Alzain told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News yesterday.

'It's going to be a controlled development that will have the right mixture of business, hospitality, leisure, exhibition, retail, multi-purpose arena, technology, education - all in one setting.

'I don't know of any development - not just in Bahrain but in the region - that will have these types of collective businesses within one area.'

The one million square metres of land used by the development - which will also feature an automotive club and engineering facilities, as well as retail and leisure attractions - is owned by the BIC.

But Alzain is keen for private sector firms and businessmen to also become involved in the project.

'As well as the participation by the BIC and Mumtalakat, we really want to focus on drawing upon the private sector,' he explained.

'Looking at the policies and direction of Bahrain through the Economic Development Board, the focus is to use the private sector as the machine behind the economic growth of Bahrain.

'The way we want to work with this project is to pull as much as we can on the private sector and run it just like a private sector investment.'

Alzain said @bahrain was planning to draw on Bahrain's banking sector to participate on the funding side, but dismissed suggestions that such a considerable investment in a time of global economic slowdown may be over-stretching Bahrain's resources.

'If I look at Bahrain over the past five years, the economy has grown between six and eight per cent per annum and even with the slowdown the forecast is that growth will be north of 3.5 per cent, which is very healthy,' he said.

Alzain believes that Bahrain's banking sector is one of the healthiest sectors in the world, putting the country in good stead despite the financial crisis.

'In my mind this is the perfect time to invest, because when the economy starts to stabilise and grow, we want to be in a position to take advantage of growth,' he said.

'I'm not going to wait until the financial crisis is over and growth is shooting up - as then it is too late.

'If anything, we're at the perfect time to invest in the future and we are in a very strong position, especially in regards to the financial sector.'

The financial crisis has undoubtedly affected Bahrain, but the effects have not been as potent as they have been across the rest of the globe, said Alzain.

'We will and have been impacted by the financial crisis, but I do feel that the impact will be somewhat limited,' he said.

'I will repeat what His Majesty K