Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee (CTC) has approved the award of two contracts worth a total of KD45.9m ($161m) to the local branch of Switzerland’s ABB to build new and expand existing electrical substations at various locations in Kuwait City.

The CTC approved the award of the contracts to the Swiss firm in late May.

The first contract will involve building the Raudhatain W 300kV substation, in the Raudhaitan 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.

The client for both contracts is Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity and Water. CTC approval is the final stage before a formal contract award is made.

The electricity projects are the latest of a number of schemes, which the ministry has tendered in recent months, as it seeks to expand and upgrade Kuwait’s transmission infrastructure. In February, the CTC approved the award of a KD17.5m contract to Saudi Arabia’s National Contracting Company (NCC) to build the Z1 400kV substation at Sabah al-Ahmad in Kuwait.