Kuwait receives bids for retendered hospital contract

04 March 2014

Local company submits low bid for Jahra New Hospital project

Kuwait’s Amiri Diwan has received bids for the retendered construction contract for the Jahra New Hospital expansion project.

The low bid of KD364.97m ($1.29bn) was submitted by the local Mohammed Abdulmohsin Al-Kharafi & Sons, followed by the local Bayan National Trading Company with a price of KD376.2m. The local Combined Group Contracting submitted the third-lowest bid of KD412.3m.

The scheme entails the construction, furnishing and operational maintenance of a 1,157-bed hospital adjacent to the existing Jahra hospital in the Jahra governorate of Kuwait. It is part of a plan to expand nine hospitals across the country to improve the provision of public health services. The expansions will add 5,000 beds to the current capacity of the state’s hospitals.

Last year, the local Burhan International Construction Company submitted the low bid of $1.3bn for the deal, but it was cancelled when the firm failed to submit a performance bond. The contract was retendered in January.

Several contracts have been awarded by the Ministry of Health and a few tenders are still being reviewed under the programme.

The first tender to be awarded was for the construction of a 240-bed expansion to the Al-Razi hospital. The local Alghanim International signed a $112m deal to perform the work in November 2012.

In May 2013, a joint venture led by Kuwait’s Associated Construction Company signed a $343m contract with the ministry to expand the Al-Amiri hospital, which will add 460 beds to the existing facility.

The following month, a joint venture of Metallurgical Corporation of China and the local Al-Tawbad General Trading and Contracting Company submitted a low bid of $184m for a deal to expand the Infectious Diseases Hospital in the Al-Asimah governorate.

In November, India’s Shapoorji Pallonji, along with local partner Al-Sager General Trading & Contracting Company, submitted the low bid for a contract to build an annex to Kuwait’s Al-Sabah hospital. The Health Ministry received a total of nine bids for the deal.

The Health Ministry also recently extended the deadline for bids to 29 January for the expansion of Farwaniya hospital and Al-Adan hospital.

A tender issued in 2012 for the expansion of the Kuwait Cancer Control Centre has yet to be awarded, while a plan to expand the Ibn Sina hospital as part of the programme is still in the design phase.

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