Kuwait’s Public Works Minister is considering two options in order to get a final sign-off for the Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal 2 project.

“He [MPW Minister Ali Al-Omair] is considering to either send the contract for the $4.3bn Kuwait International airport (KIA) Terminal 2 back to the Audit Bureau for a second review or send it to the Council of Ministers for approval. A ministerial council approval would then override the previous decision of the Audit Bureau,” a source familiar to the project tells MEED.

While the first option is unprecedented, it is possible. “The minister can request a different team within the Audit Bureau to review the technical specifications and the commercial offer, to hopefully reverse the decision made by the first team,” the source added.

The independent Audit Bureau, which operates under Kuwait’s National Assembly, earlier rejected the award, citing that the price offered by the lowest bidder was “too high.”

The MEED source disagrees with the first Audit Bureau decision: “How could [the price] be too high, when a thorough feasibility study has been done and the technical specifications were clearly determined [by independent consultants], and the offers were made against those specifications?” the source said.

The source added that the worst case scenario, wherein the contract is rejected by the Audit Bureau for a second time or if it fails to gain the ministers’ council approval, involves retendering the project for a third time.

“It is not an option for Kuwait not to build a new terminal,” the source tells MEED. ”We are the only airport in the GCC where inbound and outbound passengers go through the same gates. It is inefficient and a source of security threat at the same time.”

A Turkish/local consortium of Limak Holding and Kharafi National offered the lowest bid for the Terminal 2 project in August 2015. However, the official award of the project has been delayed due to allegations made by members of the parliament that the tender and award process involved administrative and financial irregularities.