Kuwait’s Public Works Ministry (MPW) is preparing to tender a road project that will link Kuwait City with the passenger terminal under construction at the Kuwait International Airport.

Japan-based Oriental Consultants is understood to have completed the design of the project, with a tender expected to be released in the first quarter of 2017, according a source familiar with the project.

The new road will extend from the 2^nd Ring Road to the southern part of Terminal 2, which is currently under construction.

The $4.3bn Terminal 2 is expected to be completed in 2022. The project is being executed by a team of Turkey’s Limak Construction and local Kharafi National, which won the contract in mid 2016.

A separate contract for the construction of a new runway and the upgrade of an existing runway and other related facilities is awaiting final approval before it is awarded to the low bidder, which comprises a team of China’s Avic International and local Al-Dar Engineering & Construction (HOT). The team offered $497.2m for the contract.

Kuwait awarded close to $4bn-worth of road projects in 2016, according to data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects. This value is the highest ever awarded in Kuwait over a 10-year period.

The $955m contract for the infrastructure of the South Al-Mutlaa City was the largest road contract awarded in Kuwait in 2016. Other contracts include the northern regional road from 6^th Ring Road to Intersection 82, the 6.5 Ring Road, and the upgrade and rehabilitation of the Shaikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah Road.