Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry has prequalified four international consultants to submit bids for the contract to design the main buildings, utilities and infrastructure for the Bubiyan port project.

The work will involve designing stages 3B and 3C of the first phase of the port project, which will include the design of main buildings, roads, utilities services, container yard and handling equipment.

The prequalified consultants are:

• Ineco (Spain)
• Louis Berger (US)
• SMEC (Australia)
• Typsa (Spain)

The four firms have until 23 September to submit bids for the consultancy deal.

Bubiyan port was originally scheduled to open in 2010, after a local/Chinese consortium of Gulf Dredging & Contracting, Shaheen al-Ghanim Roads & Bridges and China Harbour Engineering Company started work on the first-phase construction contract in 2006.

However, the project fell behind schedule after three years of limited progress. The Public Works Ministry began retendering packages on the port in October 2009. The port is now scheduled to start operating in 2016, with a capacity to handle 2 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs).

In July, the Public Works Ministry has prequalified three additional companies to bid for the Bubiyan port dredging works for phase two of the Bubiyan port scheme. Phase one involved infrastructure works such as the construction of roads and bridges.

The new companies are:

• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Penta-Ocean Construction Company (Japan)
• Sinohydro Corporation (China)

Seven firms were prequalified for the tender in 2012:

• Boskalis (Netherlands)
• China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
• Dredging International (Belgium)
• Great Lakes Dredge and Dock (US)
• Jan De Nul (Belgium)
• Rod Nielsen and National Marine Dredging Company(Denmark/UAE)
• Van Oord Dredging (Netherlands)

The contract, which has yet to be tendered, oversees the construction of an access channel to the Bubiyan port, officially known as the Mubarak al-Kabeer Port. This will entail creating a channel with a depth of 14.5 metres, deep enough to allow port access to some of the world’s largest container ships.