Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry (MPW) has invited 48 groups comprising international and local contractors to bid for three major road projects.

The projects comprise construction and maintenance of roads and associated utilities in the following locations:

• Southern regional road from North Kabad to Al-Salmi
• South Surra including Damascus Street, 5th ring road and King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Road
• Northern Regional Road from Crossroad 82 and the Al-Salmi border check post

All tenders are expected to close by 3 April.

The firms invited to bid for the projects comprise mainly Chinese, South Korean, Turkish, Indian and Spanish contractors along with their Kuwaiti agents.

Kuwait has awarded several hundred million dollars’ worth of road contracts in 2015 including the construction, upgrade and maintenance of Nawaseeb road, Western section and the roads that link Mina Abdulla city and Wafra, and Mina al-Zour and Wafra. As of end 2015, nearly a dozen projects with a budget estimated at $4.5bn are currently tendering or in the prequalification stage and are due to be awarded this year. These include several sections of the northern regional road and the Al-Ghouse road schemes.

Nearly $22bn worth of road projects across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region was awarded in 2015, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

This figure, despite a 25 per cent fall from the previous year, is nearly three times the value of project awards in the region’s rail sector in 2015.