Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders has extended the bid deadline to 21 January for the contract to build roads in South Ratqa, located in the northern part of the country close to its border with Iraq.

The initial deadline for the bids submission was 19 November, which was subsequently extended to 19 December.

South Ratqa is located in the northern part of Kuwait close to its border with Iraq.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is the client for the scheme.

Ratqa is home to the Kuwait section of the giant Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq.

Kuwait has awarded road contracts worth $1.77bn in 2017, according to data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

This is under half of the overall contract value awarded in 2016, so far the best year for Kuwait’s road projects sector.

The package for road projects at South al-Mutlaa City is one of the key  road contracts that the country expected to award before the end of 2017, but the award has been delayed.

MEED earlier reported that Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is  expected to award the contract to a team of Turkey’s Makyol and local Contec United General Contracting, which submitted the second lowest bid for the contract .

The team offered $361m for the contract, which is higher than the $314m offer made by a team comprising Metallurgical Corporation of China and local Ali Al-Kharafi & Brothers Construction.

MEED understands the Chinese/local team was unable to raise the performance bond required to win the contract.