Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry has extended the bid deadline for the contract to design and build the estimated $1bn Doha Link bridge, which will link Shuwaikh to the port village of Doha in the Jahra region of Kuwait.

Prequalified consortiums now have until 13 January to submit bids for the tender. It is the second time that the deadline has been extended, with bids initially due in November. The proposed Doha Link bridge will be about 16 kilometres long and will contain three traffic lanes and an emergency lane in each direction.

The ministry prequalified 12 local/international consortiums for the tender in July last year.

Prequalified consortiums for the tender are:

• Alamiah Building Company (local)/Strabag (Austria)
• Abdulaziz Abdulmohsin al-Rashed & Sons (local)/Samsung C&T (South Korea)
• Khalid & Khalid Abbas General Trading & Contracting (local)/GS Engineering & Construction Corporation (South Korea)
• Bayan National Trading Company (local)/Salini Costruttori (Italy)
• Green Line General Trading & Contracting (local)/China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCEC)
• Gulf Environment General Trading & Contracting (local)/Daewoo Engineering & Construction Company Limited (South Korea)
• Tarbili Holding Company (local)/Daelim Industrial Company Limited (South Korea)
• Al-Hani Construction & Trading Company (local)/Sinohydro Corporation (China)
• Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting (KCPC) (local)/Pizzarotti (Italy)
• First United General Trading & Contracting Company (local)/Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL)
• Copri Construction Projects Company (local)/China Major Bridge Engineering Company (CMBE)
• Hamad Mohamed al-Wazzan General Trading & Contracting (local)/Saudi Binladin Group

The Public Works Ministry hopes that the bridge will reduce road congestion in Shuwaikh and along Ghazali Road, as it believes many large trucks exiting from Shuwaikh port would use the new bridge instead.

The Doha link bridge will link up with the planned $2.6bn Subiya Causeway project, for which the main construction contract was awarded in October.