Protecting public funds underpin Kuwait's recent decision to cancel five road contracts, according to Public Works Minister Hossam al-Roumi.

“…the decision to suspend new road tenders was made to protect public funds as well as to achieve transparency, equality and freedom of competition amongst bidders,” a local media report cited Al-Roumi as saying in response to parliamentary inquiry regarding the cancellation of the contracts.

Al-Roumi added that the measure was taken to “ensure neutrality and getting the best and least expensive bids.”

The cancelled schemes were:

• Central section of regional road south (RA/242)
• Northern regional road from Al-Mutlaa Future city to future crossroads (RA/243)
• Damascus Street, 5^thRing Road and King Faisal Abdulaziz road (RA/257)
• Northern regional road from crossroad No. 58 to 82 (RA/260)
• Northern regional road from crossroad No. 58 to Salmi border check post (RA/261)

Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) completed its evaluation of the bids for each of the five projects in the period from 2017 to 2018.

Local firm Combined Group Contracting submitted the lowest bids for both RA/242 and RA/257, while a joint venture of Italy’s Itinera and local Yousef Yahya Almatrouk submitted the lowest bid for RA/243.

A joint venture of local contracting firms Abraaj Energy and Al-Ayuni Contracting submitted the lowest bids, at KD73.8m and KD91.5m, for RA/260 and RA/261, respectively.

Al-Roumi cited that some of the qualified bidders for RA/260 and RA/261 took part in the bidding according to prequalification conditions set in 2010, which were amended in 2012. Others were prequalified according to a more recent guideline, published in 2015, which appears to not have been communicated to the CATP or published in the official gazette.