Register for MEED's guest programme 

Kuwait's Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) has received bids from contractors for a tender covering the infrastructure development works at its South Sabah Al-Ahmed township project in Kuwait's Al-Asimah Governorate.

The contract includes the infrastructure works for 6,568 residential units in neighbourhoods N1, N2, N3 and N11.

The tender was issued on 31 March and the bids were submitted on 10 June.

The bidders include:

• Avic International Holding Corporation (China) ($293m) 
• Sinohydro Corporation (China) ($317.4m)
• Mohammed Abdul Mohsen Al-Kharafi & Sons (Kuwait) ($329m)
• Kuwait Factories Construction & Contracting Company (Kuwait) ($363.4m)
• China State Construction Engineering Corporation (China) ($373.9m)
• Combined Group Contracting Company (Kuwait) ($385.1m)
• Al-Ghanim International (Kuwait) ($415.1m)
• United Gulf Construction Company (Kuwait) ($460.4m)
• Bayan National Construction Contracting Company (Kuwait) (undisclosed)

UK-based Foster + Partners designed the masterplan for the South Sabah Al-Ahmad township project. The scheme includes constructing a residential development with over 11,000 housing units.

The South Sabah Al-Ahmad project covers an area of 6,150 hectares and is located 70 kilometres south of Kuwait City.

In May, PAHW awarded two contracts worth over $550m for the development of roads and infrastructure at the South Sabah Al-Ahmed township project.

The first contract, for the roads and infrastructure networks for 7,623 residential units in the N5, N7, N9 and N10 neighbourhoods, was awarded to Beijing-headquartered China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The contract is valued at KD93m ($304m).

The other contract, for the roads and infrastructure networks for 6,189 residential units in the N4, N6 and N8 neighbourhoods, was awarded to Sinohydro Corporation. The contract is valued at KD78m ($255m).

Kuwait construction market

According to data from regional projects tracker MEED Projects, the construction sector has $7.8bn of projects under execution, making it the second-largest sector in Kuwait after transport in terms of projects under execution. 

The largest subsector in terms of work under execution is mixed-use, with $29bn-worth of work under way, followed by residential with $11.1bn. 

PAHW is the largest single client in construction, with $1.8bn-worth of projects under construction.

About $49.5bn-worth of construction projects are in the pre-execution phases of development in Kuwait. The majority of the upcoming construction projects are in the design phase, followed by the study, bid evaluation and main contract prequalification stages.