Kuwait’s Syed Hamid Behbani & Sons has submitted the low bid of KD86.4m ($306.6m) for the contract to build the new Ahmadi hospital and surrounding residential buildings in Kuwait.

The local Al-Ahmadiah Contracting & Trading Company submitted the second-lowest bid with a price of KD86.9m. The third-lowest price of KD88.4m was submitted by the local Al-Ghanim International Trading & Contracting Company.

Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) received bids for the project from 10 local contractors on 12 October.

The hospital development will be located in the Ahmadi township, which is located about 40 kilometres south of Kuwait City. The client for the project is Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

KOC originally tendered the contract in 2006, but has decided to retender the project, as the first bids were too high above budget.

The local Kuwait Company for the Process Plant Construction & Contracting (KCPC) was the low bidder when the contract was originally tendered with a price of KD75.6m ($260.7m).

The scope of the project includes the construction, operation and maintenance of the hospital and residential buildings, associated buildings and utilities. The project will have a total built-up area of 74,000 square metres.

The new contract involves provision and installation of medical equipment, which was not included in the scope when the contract was tendered in 2006.

The Ahmadi project is one of nine new hospitals Kuwait is planning to build by 2016 at a cost of more than $4.5bn.

In November last year, a joint venture of Kuwait Arab Contractors Company and Egypt’s Arab Contractors (Osman Ahmed Osman & Company) was awarded the KD304m contract to build Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah Hospital in Surra, a district in Kuwait City. The hospital will have 1,050 beds and is scheduled to open in 2013 (MEED17:2:09).