Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry has awarded Canada-based WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff a contract for the conceptual design and construction supervision of the third package of the First Ring Road.

The firm, in partnership with the local Gulf Consult, offered KD7.67m ($24.9m) for the contract.

The package was first tendered in January 2016 before it was retendered eight months later.

Package 3 of the First Ring Road is understood to include 11km of road, interchanges, road widening, tunnelling, drainage and associated works.

In March, UK-based based Mott MacDonald and its local partner for the study, Al-Dowailah Engineering Consultancy, was awarded the design and supervision contract of the 4^th Ring Road improvement, construction and maintenance project.

Kuwait awarded a total of $5.2bn-worth of road contracts mostly to local contractors in 2016, so far the best year in terms of project awards in the sector.

An estimated $10.8bn-worth of road contracts, including bridges, tunnels, streets and utility networks, are expected to be awarded this year, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.