Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) is planning six new cities for Kuwaiti housing, involving more than KD10bn ($32.9bn) in investment, according to Naser Adel Khraibut, director of planning at the authority.

The first is Al-Mutlaa South, for which Canadian WSP I Parsons Brinckerhoff is the masterplanner.

PAHW will invest KD1.5bn, with other public sector investments bringing the total cost to KD3bn. It will be located 46 kilometres from Kuwait City, cover about 100 square km and include 30,000 units. Al-Mutlaa South will have a population of 400,000 people across four neighbourhoods, each with amenities and services. The city will have more than 100 schools at a cost of KD500m, a health centre, a mall, a sports complex, parks, a university and a hospital campus.

The first tender for main highways and intersections will be issued in the next few weeks. The first package is expected to be worth about $1bn. PAHW will begin prequalification soon for the second and third phases.

Other packages will include sewage networks and wastewater plants. PAHW is also evaluating bids from programme managers, to deal with the high number of contracts to be awarded as part of the development. 

For the second new development, the KD1bn-plus South Saad al-Abdulla City, design tenders are under evaluation.

Due to the huge amount of investment required to provide homes for all Kuwaiti families, PAHW is considering the involvement of the private sector in its developments.

“It’s not feasible to continue building and exclude the private sector; we have to change our approach,” said Khraibut.

“We have hired [the US’] McKinsey & Company as strategic consultants for the new roadmap. We are looking at how to tackle this issue and construct all the new projects. They are doing feasibility studies on PPP [public-private partnership] models, as well as operating and financing models. We will go with top international design firms, programme managers and contractors, as the local market can’t handle the size of the projects.”

PAHW aims to complete at least 12,000 housing units a year to clear the backlog of 107,000 units.