Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the deadline to 20 February for companies to submit prequalification documents for the construction of package three at Kuwait International airport.

Companies were initially due to submit prequalification documents by 13 January. However, a source at DGCA says the deadline has been extended by four weeks due to the holiday season.

Package three includes building a new 4.5-kilometre runway, the reconstruction and extension of the existing eastern runway to 4km and primary and secondary access roads and taxiways, says a source at the DGCA.

The progress of package three has been delayed since it was first tendered in 2009. Australia’s Gulf Leighton together with local Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting Company was the low bidder for the $485m tender, but it was subsequently cancelled in July and restructured (MEED 1:7:10).

The development of Kuwait airport consists of three major packages. Package one comprises the upgrade of the existing two runways, including taxiways, aprons and access roads.

The DGCA expects packages one and three to be completed by 2014.            

Package two involves the construction of an administration building, car parks and two fire stations. The local Mohammed Abdulmohsin al-Kharafi & Sons General Trading & Contracting Company won this contract in April 2010.

The planned $747m terminal is a separate project. The UK-based Foster and Partners is preparing the design of the terminal, which will have capacity for 13 million passengers a year, bringing the airport’s total capacity to almost 20 million passengers a year when it opens in 2016.