Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing and Welfare (PAHW) has received bids for the main construction package for public buildings of Suburb C of the Sabah al-Ahmad housing development.

The PAHW received bids from six local contractors on 24 May.

The local Alamiah Building Company submitted the lowest bid of KD34.3m ($125m). This was 4.5 per cent lower than the KD35.9m price submitted by the local Kuwait Manager for Real Estate Project Management Company.

The local Khalid Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers submitted the third lowest bid with a price of KD36.9m.

The work will involve the construction of 42 public buildings, which will include police stations, mosques and schools.

The Sabah al-Ahmad housing scheme is located 50 kilometres south of Kuwait city and will consist of 9,000 housing units for Kuwaitis, who are entitled to housing welfare. When completed, the housing development is expected to house 110,000 residents.

The development will include commercial, health, sports, educational and other private residential areas. The local Al-Dowailah Engineering is the design consultant.

In October 2010, the PAHW invited nine local consultants to prequalify for the contract to design an Islamic centre at the Sabah al-Ahmad development.

The Islamic centre will include a mosque, library and associated facilities such as accommodation for the Emir. The mosque will have a capacity of 12,000 people and the library will cover a total area of 8,500 square metres (MEED 8:10:11).