The Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP), which replaces the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB), is again responsible for tendering the Kuwait City Metropolitan Rapid Transport and Kuwait National Rail projects.

Both transport projects were transferred to the Ministry of Communications in 2013 while the PTB struggled with the tendering process for Al-Zour North Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) phase 1.

The PTB originally aimed to develop the metro in five phases up to 2035, with the total intended length of the rail link reaching 170 kilometres.

The Ministry of Communications revived the project and issued a request for prequalifications for design and supervision contracts in October 2014.

The Ministry also received prequalification documents from consultants for the project management role on the Kuwait National Railway in September 2014.

The 500-kilometre national railway network is planned to be built in two phases. Completion is expected by 2018.

The news will end speculation that the partnerships body would be sidelined after reforms to Kuwait’s public private partnerships (PPP) law in mid-2014.

The law refines the tendering process for build, operate, transfer (BOT) projects and converts the PTB into a more autonomous body, KAPP.

KAPP expects to issue the bylaws which will regulate its work by the end of March 2015. Once they are issued, KAPP will tender a number of projects simultaneously.

The first projects to be tendered under the new law will be:

• Umm Al-Hayman Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) phase 1 (500,000 cubic metres a day)
• Kabd Municipal Solid Waste Treatment Facility (3,000 tons a day)
• Kuwait National Railroad (511km)
• Kuwait Metropolitan Rapid Transport System (170km)

IWPPs such as Al-Zour North phase 2 and Al-Khiran phase 1 are not affected by the changes and should be tendered soon. A separate 2012 law updated the tendering process for IWPPs.