Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) has approved the award of a contract worth KD22.9m ($80.9m) to the local office of India’s Larsen & Toubro build a number of electrical substations in the Jaber al-Ahmad area of Kuwait City.

CTC approval is the final step before a formal contract award is made. The work will involve building seven substations, the 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, 6X and 7X substations, at the Jaber al-Ahmad development. The CTC received bids from four companies in August for the contract. The client for the project is the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW).

The CTC received bids from five companies for another contract to build seven substations, Y5, Y6, Y7, Y8, Y9, Y10, Y11, at the Jaber al-Ahmad development in August. Saudi Arabia’s National Contracting Company (NCC) submitted the lowest price of KD23.1m. This was marginally lower than the KD23.14m bid submitted by the local Al-Ahlia. The local office of India’s Larsen & Toubro submitted the third-lowest price of KD24.3m.

The electricity project is the latest of several schemes the MEW has tendered in recent months, as it seeks to expand and upgrade Kuwait’s transmission and distribution networks.

In May, the CTC approved the award of two contracts worth a total of KD45.9m to the local branch of Switzerland’s ABB to build new and expand existing electrical substations at various locations in Kuwait City.

The first contract will involve building the Raudhatain W 300kV substation, in the Raudhatain area of Kuwait City, and expanding two 132kV substations at Kaifan. The second contract is to build the Raudhatain X 300kV substation and expand two 132kV substations in Salmiya.