Italy’s Impresa Pizzarotti has bid low, with a price of KD220m ($727m), for the contract to build a new maternity hospital in the Shuwaikh area of Kuwait City.

Greece’s Aktor submitted the second-lowest offer, with a price of KD224m.

Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works issued a tender for the hospital. It will have 600 beds for adult women and 216 neonatal intensive care beds.

The hospital will be located adjacent to the existing maternity hospital and will have 11 storeys as well as cover a total area of 2.2 million square feet.

The work involves designing, constructing, equipping and maintaining the hospital.

The surgery department includes 26 obstetric and gynaecology operating suites, as well as 42,000 sq ft of diagnostic imaging space with two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units. The facility will also have 228 labour, delivery, recovery and postpartum (LDRP) rooms.

The hospital will include antenatal and gynaecology, maternal and foetal assessment and early pregnancy assessment outpatient units. There will be an education and training centre, and several public retail and dining venues.

US-based TRO-JB is the design consultant.

The project is part of a plan by the Ministry of Health to expand nine hospitals to improve the provision of public health services in Kuwait.