The local Khalid Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers Construction Contracting Company in joint venture with China’s Metallurgical Construction Corporation has submitted a low bid of KD185m ($675m) for the contract to build the College of Science and Faculty Club for Kuwait University at the Sabah al-Salem campus.

The low bid is about 10 per cent lower than the KD204m price submitted by the joint venture of Al-Hani Construction & Trading Company and China’s Sinohydro Corporation.

The complete list of bidders and prices is:

• Khalid Ali al-Kharafi & Brothers Construction Contracting Company (local)/Metallurgical Construction Corporation (China) – KD185m
• Al-Hani Construction & Trading Company (local)/Sinohydro Corporation (China) – KD204m
• Mohammed Abdulmoshin al-Kharafi & Sons Company (local) – KD215m
• Burhan International Construction Company (local)/Orascom Construction Industries (Egypt) – KD221m
• Kuwait Company for Process Plant Construction & Contracting (local)/Pizzarotti (Italy) – KD222m
• Consolidated Contractors Company (Athens-based) – KD230m
• Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting Company (local)/Al-Habtoor Leighton Group (UAE/Australia) – KD232m
• Falcon General Trading & Contracting (local) – KD239m
• Al-Syed Hamid Behbehani & Sons Company (local)/Posco Engineering & Construction Company (South Korean) – KD239m
• Combined Group Contracting Company (local)/Arabtec Construction (UAE) – KD259m

The development will comprise three primary elements – a men’s campus, a women’s campus and a faculty club. The separate male and female campuses will each involve about six structures linked by bridges. The faculty club will be a single building located between the male and female sections, which will also be connected by bridges (MEED 1:7:11).

The winning contractor will be in charge of building the main buildings and a vehicular tunnel. The scope of works includes landscaping and the provision of irrigation systems (MEED 12:6:11).

Kuwait University has received bids of 3 July for the contract to build the College of Business and College of Women at its new $3bn Sabah al-Salem campus.

The approximate built-up floor area of the College of Women is expected to be 117,000 square metres and the College of Business will be 124,700 sq m.

The university had prequalified 12 contracting groups for the contract.