Kuwait has extended the tender closing date to 3 November for a contract to build a passenger support building at Kuwait International airport. The original closing date was 10 October.

Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has prequalified 15 groups to bid for the deal. They are:

• China Communications Construction Company (China) / Kharafi National (local)
• Limak (Turkey) / Mohd Abdul Mohsen al-Kharafi & Sons (local)
• TAV (Turkey) / Bader al-Mulla & Bros (local)
• Larsen & Toubro (India) / Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC; Athens-based)
• Avic International Holding Corporation (China) / Al-Dar Engineering & Construction (local)
• Daewoo (South Korea) / Alghanim International (local)
• Obermeyer (Germany) / Arab Contractors (local)
• Metallurgical Corporation of China (China) / Khaled Ali al-Kharafi & Bros Construction Contracting Company (local)
• Sacyr+Tomaso de Oliviera (Portugal) / KCC Engineering & Contracting (local)
• China State Construction Engineering (China) / Bayan National Construction Contracting Company (local)
• Sinohydro (China) / Al-Hani Construction & Trading Company (local)
• Wehai International and Economic Technical Corporation (China) / Engineering Specialities Building General Contracting Company (local)
• Cengiz Insaat Sanayi Ve Ticareta (Turkey) / First General Trading & Contracting (local)
• Corsan Corviam Construction + Isolux (Spain) + Kolin (Turkey) / Al-Toubad General Trading & Contracting Company (local)
• Losberger RDS (France) / New Emirates Trading & Contracting Company (local)

The passenger support building will provide an additional capacity of up to 4.5 million passengers annually to support the existing terminal, Terminal 1, until Terminal 2 becomes operational by 2020. The $4.3bn contract for Terminal 2 was awarded in August to a joint venture of Turkey’s Limak and the local Kharafi National.

The tender specifies that the passenger support building is to become operational 450 days, or about 15-18 months, from the date of contract signing.

The building will be located next to the existing air cargo facilities, and roughly 1 kilometre away from Terminal 1.

In addition to a terminal, the scope of the tender includes a multi-storey car parking facility that can accommodate up to 1,600 cars, a pedestrian bridge between the car park and the passenger support building, as well as access roads and utilities.

The scope further includes a five-year operations and maintenance (O&M) contract starting from when a substantial segment of the new building has been completed.

It is likely the tender period for the project will be relatively short, following the award of the Terminal 2 deal within two weeks of bid submission and due to the urgent need to expand and improve the country’s airport infrastructure.

The DGCA is inviting bids for the construction of a runway and anchors at the airport. The tender is open to category one contractors of roads and drainage works. Submissions are due on 10 October.

Widening the airport’s runways, in addition to constructing new passenger terminals and enhancing control tower facilities, are part of the the $6bn redevelopment plan for the airport.