Kuwait’s Central Tenders Committee has delayed the award of the contract for the construction of roads and crossroads at South Al-Mutlaa City.

It is understood that the low bidder, a team comprising Metallurgical Corporation of China and local Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers Construction, has not given the required bank guarantee.

The team offered $314m for the contract, which was tendered last year.

The second lowest bidder for the contract is a joint venture of Turkey’s Makyol and local Contec United General Contracting, which offered $361m.

Neither the client, Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry, nor the consultant, a team comprising US-based Louis Berger and local Al-Dowailah Engineering, is available to comment on the delayed contract award.

The South Al-Mutlaa city will occupy a 104 square-kilometre area in Kuwait’s Jahra governorate, to the west of the capital Kuwait City.

Once completed in 2019, the Al-Mutlaa city will have 30,000 housing units with population projected to reach 400,000. This would comprise about 9 per cent of the state’s projected population of nearly 4.6 million by 2019, according to IMF estimates.