KUWAIT’s Ministry of Public Works has signed an engineering and consultancy services contract worth Dinars 2.5m ($US 8.1m) with Turkish firm Proyapı Mühendislik to support planning and design of its 111km section of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) railway network.
The agreement encompasses design and engineering studies, soil testing, route mapping, and the preparation of tender documents for the construction phase. The new line will run from a new 200ha main station at Al-Shadadiya, Kuwait City, adjacent to the international airport, to Nuwaiseeb on Kuwait’s southern border with Saudi Arabia. Once the design work is finalised, Kuwait will proceed with inviting bids for construction contracts.
The contract was signed by Kuwait’s minister of public works, Nora Mohammed Al Mashaan, and chairman of the board of directors of Propyapi, Murat Koru. The Turkish ambassador to Kuwait, Tubanur Sönmez, also attended the ceremony.
The contract award is considered a key step in development of Kuwait’s portion of the 2177km GCC network, construction of which is already underway in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. The new network will also serve Bahrain and Qatar.
The Kuwait government confirmed earlier this year that seven tenders have been issued for the project, covering project management and control, project implementation and project supervision services for the design and implementation phases, along with the establishment of Kuwait Railways Company, and construction of the main station.
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