South Korea’s GS Engineering has been awarded the estimated KD169m ($585m) contract to build the Doha Link bridge in Kuwait.

Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry signed the contract with the South Korean contractor on 22 October. GS had submitted the lowest bid for the tender in January, and saw off competition from five other bidders to win the construction contract.

The signing of the contract marks the end of a protracted tendering and negotiation process, in which the submission date was extended several times following the prequalification of 12 companies in July 2012.

The Doha Link bridge, which will connect Shuwaikh to the port village of Doha in the Jahra region of Kuwait, be about 16 kilometres long, and will contain three traffic lanes and an emergency lane in each direction. It will connect with the planned 37.5km-long Subiya Causeway, which will cross Kuwait Bay, linking Kuwait City with the Subiya promontory and Bubiyan Island, where various major projects are proposed.

The ministry awarded the contract to build the Subiya causeway to a consortium led by South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction in October 2012, after Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) had approved the $2.6bn low bid from the consortium, which includes the local Combined Group Contracting Company (CGCC), in February 2011. The award of the deal was delayed until it received final approval from parliament.

In October 2013, the ministry appointed Lebanon’s Dar al-Handasah as the design review and construction supervision consultant for both the Subiya Causeway and Doha Link schemes.