Kuwait plans to undertake a feasibility study for the development of two artificial islands connected to the $3bn Subiya Causeway project.

According to a report by the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna), the Council of Ministers assigned the Kuwait Authority for Private Partnerships (Kapp) and the Public Authority for Roads and Transport (Part) to study the financial feasibility of tendering the two islands connected to the causeway project for “a potential investment for the private sector.”

Under the original plan, the islands will house maintenance and traffic emergency buildings, fueling stations and marina facilities. These islands will also play an aesthetic role to break the monotony of a long and uniform bridge.

MEED understands reclamation work on the two artificial islands is expected to be completed soon. “The islands are 98 per cent complete,” a source familiar with the project tells MEED.

Construction work on the scheme, officially known as the Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah bridge, started in 2013.

But it has faced repeated delays because of design changes that had to be made to allow large vessels to pass beneath and avoid environmental damage. The Public Works Ministry, the client for the scheme, reopened the prequalification process in 2010.

The contractor for the $2.45bn main link and the artificial islands is a consortium that includes South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction and the local Combined Group Contracting Company (CGCC).

GS Engineering & Construction, also of South Korea, won the shorter $542m link in late 2014.

Construction work on both packages is expected to be completed by year-end.

The causeway will cross Kuwait Bay, linking Kuwait City with the Subiya promontory and Bubiyan Island, where various major projects are proposed. It will be 37.5 kilometres long.