Kuwait has prequalified an additional five groups for major upcoming road building contracts.

The prequalified joint ventures are:

• Khaled Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers Construction Contracting Company (local)/Metallurgical Corporation of China (China)
• Al-Manawar General Trading & Contracting Company (local)/Nurol Group (Turkey)
• Kuwait Group Company (local)/Archirodon Construction (Geneva registered)
• Canar Trading & Contracting Company (local)/STFA (Turkey)
• Al-Shuaiba United General Trading & Contracting Company (local)/Societe Egyptienne D’Enterprises (Egypt)

In June the Public Works Ministry prequalified 28 companies for major road projects. The selected firms are:

The prequalified international contractors are:

• Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) (Athens-based)
• Strabag (Austria)
• Sinohydro Corporation (China)
• China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China)
• China Major Bridge Engineering Company (China)           
• Corsan Corvian Construction (China)
• China Railway 18^th Bureau Group Company (China)
• China Railway International Limited (China)
• BCEG International Company (China)
• Arab Contractors Osman Ahmed Osman Company (Egypt)
• Orascom Construction Industries (OCI) (Egypt)
• Aktor (Greece)
• Larsen & Toubro (India)
• Societa Italiana Per Condotte (Italy)
• Salini Costruttori (Italy)
• Impresa Pizzarotti (Italy)
• Saudi Binladin Group (Saudi Arabia)
• Daelim Industrial Company (South Korea)
• Daewoo Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Doosan Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• GS Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Samsung C&T Corporation (South Korea)
• SK Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Ferrovial Agroman (Spain)
• Obrascon Huarte Lain (OHL) (Spain)
• Taeyoung Engineering & Construction Company (Spain)
• Habtoor Leighton (UAE/Australia)

In February this year, the assistant undersecretary of the Public Works Ministry for Roads, Saud al-Naqi, said that KD4bn ($14bn) had been allocated to implement 88 road projects over the next five years. These will include some major highway projects.

Kuwait is already moving ahead with a series of projects to upgrade its road network. In early October, the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) approved the award of four infrastructure contracts worth a total of KD121.9m ($433m).

The largest contract approved is the KD34.9m contract for the construction of roads and intersections on the western part of the Jamal Abdul Naser Street in Kuwait city. The local Al-Ahmadiah Contracting & Trading Company was selected to carry out the work.

The second largest contract approval was the KD34.4m bid from the local Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting (KCPC) to build the roads, bridges and rainwater drainage systems for the Second Ring Road and Damascus Street.

The CTC also approved the award of a KD28.9m contract to the local Mushrif Trading & Contracting for the construction of roads and intersections on expressways for the service of the Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed town.

The local Alghanim International had its KD23.7m bid to build roads, bridges and rainwater drainage for the third ring road approved.