Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) has awarded the local United Building Company (UBC) a KD75m ($247m) contract to build 40 apartment buildings at Sabah Al-Ahmed City.

The forty residential buildings are six, seven and eight storeys in height and will be built on plots ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 square metres. Each building will have 720 apartment units. The contract is due for completion within two and a half years.

UBC is a subsidiary of United Real Estate Company. URC’s majority shareholder is the local Kipco Group.

Sabah al-Ahmad City is being developed on a total area of 4,000-hectares. It is planned to accommodate over 2,000 villas and a similar number of apartments, as well as 52 schools and 70 mosques upon completion.

Kuwait has other housing complexes planned including the $10bn-$15bn South Saad al-Abdullah New Town and the $3.6bn South al-Mutlaa City.

In addition to decongesting Kuwait City, the new residential projects are expected to help correct real estate prices, which have risen sharply in recent years.