Turkey-based Limak Insaat, the main contractor for the $4.3bn Terminal 2 at Kuwait International airport, is still evaluating bids for the airport’s baggage handling system (BHS) contract.

The final bids were submitted in January, a source with knowledge of the scheme tells MEED.

Major BHS suppliers are understood to have submitted an offer for the contract.

MEED understands other packages including the one for lifts, escalators and travelators are also at the bidding stage.

Limak said in May it has commenced construction of the airport’s superstructure, including the commissioning of what it describes as the region’s largest steel and concrete cassette factory, a precast arch factory and 33 tower cranes with a lifting capacity of 100,000 tonnes.

Construction work on the terminal is to be completed by 2022.

Terminal 2 is expected to handle 25 million passengers a year upon completion and accommodate all aircraft types through 51 gates and stands.

In May, Limak  signed a KD249.2m ($830m) syndicated credit agreement with the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) and Kuwait Finance House (KFH) to partly finance the construction of Terminal 2.

Under the agreement, the two banks will each provide KD124.6m of financing, a statement by NBK said.

Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry (MPW) awarded Limak with the KD1.3bn ($4.3bn) contract for the new terminal in 2016.

At the time, the award was made to a team comprising Limak and local firm Kharafi National, whose role, sources say, was limited to serving as local agent for Limak during the project bidding phase.