Kuwait’s Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) is in discussions with UK consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) about the development of a new hospital as a public-private partnership (PPP).

The firm and the PTB started talks in late 2010 after bids were submitted for the project in late October 2010. PwC has been identified as the lowest bidder for a mandate to act as financial adviser on the development of the 100 bed Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital.

One bidder says the PwC bid was substantially below the other bids submitted. Other bidders included UK-based Ernst & Young, Netherlands-based KPMG, and UK-based Grant Thornton.

The PTB will oversee 32 privatisation projects, which aim to raise an estimated $28bn and cover sectors including transport, power and water, tourism, communications and the postal service.

Qualification documents from consultants looking to advise the PTB on the upgrading of the postal service in Kuwait through a PPP were submitted on 9 December. Consultants also submitted qualification documents on the same date to advise the PTB on the development of the telecommunications sector under a PPP structure.

The Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Hospital in Kuwait is one of several healthcare PPPs currently being considered around the region. Ashurst is already advising Dubai’s Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms), with PwC on the development of a hospital PPP in the emirate.