Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) expects to issue the tender for the contract for a new package under the first phase of the Mubarak al-Kabeer Port on Bubiyan Island next month.

The package is called 3B1.

Firms that have been prequalified to bid for the contract include:

• Abdulmohsin al-Kharafi & Sons (local)
• Ahmadiah Contracting & Trading (local)
• Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting (local)
• Combined Group Contracting (local)
• Consolidated Contractors Company (Lebanon)
• Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting (local)
• United Gulf Construction Company (local)

Kuwait said last year it plans to restart the procurement process for a key dredging and reclamation package for the port, whose various construction phases have been significantly delayed.

Called package 3A under the first phase of the project, the scope of the contract includes dredging works for the port basin as well as the approach channel. Ten companies specialising in marine and dredging works were prequalified for the deal between 2012 and 2014. They include:

• Hyundai Engineering & Construction (South Korea)
• Penta-Ocean Construction Company (Japan)
• Sinohydro Corporation (China)
• Boskalis (Netherlands)
• China Harbour Engineering Company (China)
• Dredging International(Belgium)
• Great Lakes Dredge and Dock (US)
• Jan De Nul (Belgium)
• Rod Nielsen and National Marine Dredging Company (Denmark/UAE)
• Van Oord Dredging (Netherlands)

However, the procurement process for package 3A has not progressed since then.

Two earlier packages under the first phase of the project have been completed. Package 1, which entails bridge soil treatment works and the construction of a road bridge, was completed last year. The contract, worth $449m,  was awarded in 2006 to a team of China Harbour Engineering, Oman’s Galfar Engineering and the local Gulf Dredging.

Package 2, which entails the construction of a container terminal and 16 berths, was completed in 2014, according to regional projects tracker MEED Projects.

Mubarak al-Kabeer Port was originally scheduled to open in 2010. However, contract awards began falling behind schedule after the first award in 2006. The second package for the construction of the quay wall and berths and dredging work was awarded only in 2010. This forced authorities to revise the target opening date to 2016, which has also been missed.

The port is expected to handle up to 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo upon completion.