The procurement of Kuwait’s national railroad and metro is facing new major setbacks due to the ongoing restructuring at Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP).

“The [rail] projects are not a priority,” a source familiar with the project tells MEED.

In 2014, the Kuwaiti government attempted to launch the project for the third timesince 2005, when it first announced its plan to build a metro in Kuwait City as well as a national railroad system.

In 2016, the KAPP said it expected to release the request for interest on the rail projects in the first quarter of 2017.

The delay in the release of an expression of interest (EoI) was earlier attributed to the restructuring of Kuwait’s land-based transport networks, where administration was transferred from the Ministry of Communications to the newly-created Public Authority for Roads & Transportation (Part), as well as the ongoing delay in the GCC railway network project, which Kuwait railroad is planned to connect with.

It now appears that the KAPP restructuring, which has resulted in the departure of key personnel involved in the study and review of both the metro and railroad plans, has caused the latest setbacks for the projects.

The Kuwait national railroad scheme consists of six packages that include:

• Civil works: design, build, finance, and major maintenance of all infrastructure works
• Track, rail system and a passenger station in Kuwait City: design, build, finance, and maintenance structure
• Passenger train operating company: operations and maintenance under a services contract
• Freight train operating company: operations and maintenance under a services contract
• Programme manager: responsible for delivery and managing interfacing
• Rolling stock: this may be purchased by the Kuwaiti government or the GCC rail authority, depending on joint GCC decisions

Under the most recent rail plan, KAPP was tasked to procure the first two main packages under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Kuwait first announced its plan for a metro and a national railway network in 2005. The first unsuccessful procurement attempt for the scheme was undertaken in 2011. The rail projects have faced major delays previously due to disagreements in terms of the procurement model, as well as which client would be ultimately responsible for delivering and managing the scheme.