Hamad Town

Madinat Hamad or Hamad Town is a primarily commuter city within northern Bahrain. It was a municipality of Bahrain in the central part of the country. It was split from the municipality of Ar Rifa' wa al Mintaqah al Janubiyah in 1991. Its territory is now in the Northern Governorate. Its name refers to the current king of Bahrain, Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah. The city is culturally diverse, housing a proportionally mixed Shia-Sunni population of varying socio-economic backgrounds. Today, Hamad Town is an epitome of Bahraini multiculturalism, with no single ethnic or religious group making up the majority of inhabitants.HistoryHamad Town was set up in 1984 as a 'housing town', where the government built council houses for those who could not afford the ever increasing house prices in other parts of the country.In 1990 the government opened the door of Bahrain to the Kuwaiti people who were suffering from the effects of the gulf war with Iraq. It provided free houses and schools in Hamad Town allowed them to use the town’s facilities. The Kuwaitis returned home in early 1991 at the end of the war. In 2001 the government gave the council houses to the people of Hamad town for free.GeographyHamad Town is 18 km from the capital Manama and 19 km from the airport. It is close to the Sakheer area which contains the huge Formula One motor racing circuit (Bahrain International Circuit), which is the biggest circuit in the Middle East.