Kuwait’s Health Ministry has extended the submission deadline for the construction packages on three of its hospital renovation and expansion projects.

Contractors now have until 23 August to submit bids for the project to expand the existing Al-Razi hospital, and 11 September has been set as the new submission date for the projects to expand the existing Al-Amiri hospital and build a cancer centre.

The previous submission date for the projects was 9 August. The deadlines have been extended to allow contractors more time to submit bids.

The Al-Razi expansion project will add an additional 192 beds to the capacity of the existing hospital.

The proposed extension to the Al-Amiri hospital will consist of a tower with up to 10 storeys, a basement level and a four-storey podium. The development will cover a total area of about 90,000 square metres and will contain 65 speciality clinics, a physiotherapy department, laboratories, a radiology department and a pharmacy. The extension will increase the capacity of the existing hospital by 360 beds.

The 600-bed cancer centre will be located in the Sabah area and its main function will be for diagnosis to complement an existing hospital for cancer treatment.

In October 2010, the Health Ministry awarded a KD1.8m ($6.2m) contract to the US/local team of Hill International and System Development & Project Management (SDPM) to provide project and construction management services for the expansion of nine hospitals (MEED 25:4:11).