Under the proposed bidding schedule, prequalified companies will be announced in the second quarter of next year, with tender documents due out in the summer. A final contract award is expected by the end of 2005. The estimated construction time is 60 months.

The project involves the construction of an eight-lane causeway across Kuwait Bay to link Kuwait City with the planned new town of Subiya. The scheme's central element is a 27-kilometre-long, low-level elevated bridge across the shipping channel with a main span of 150-200 metres. The contract also calls for the construction of a 25-hectare artificial island to support the bridge, a five-kilometre-long approach road on the northern side and a three-kilometre-long elevated road through the Shuwaikh port district on the southern side.

The causeway will greatly reduce travel times between the two areas. The initial conceptual and route studies for the project were completed by Denmark's COWI (Construction, MEED Special Report 2:7:04, pages 34-35; MEED 30:4:04).