Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works (MPW) has appointed local firm Bukhamseen International Group for Contracting (BIG Contracting) as the main contractor for work on a project in the Sulaibiya area.

The contractor will build the ministry’s Juvenile Housing Care Complex near to the central prison. The project, which will be made up of nine buildings, will have a total built-up area of 57,000 square metres and is expected to the completed in 2020.

The contract between the ministry and the contractor was signed on 21 March, according to Ghalib al-Shamari, the ministry’s assistant undersecretary of the special projects department.

The local Soor Engineering Bureau is the project’s main consultant.

The ministry will spend KD135m of its budget on building and real estate projects, Al-Shamari told MEED in a telephone interview on 20 March. “The ministry’s focus in the coming years will see roads and building work prioritised. Much of the building work will be government ministries and healthcare schemes,” he said.

The MPW currently has $1.4bn-worth of building and real estate work under construction.