Kuwait’s PART issues consultancy services tenders for Phase One of railway network
The 110km network will run from Kuwait’s southern border to the Shaddiyah region
Kuwait’s Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport (PART) has issued consultancy services tenders for Phase One of its railway project network. The network will run for 110km, extending from the country’s southern border with Saudi Arabia through to the country’s Shaddiyah region.
According to local media reports, the scope of work for the tenders includes a detailed study and design work for the rail network, as well as preparation of documents for the tender of Phase One of the railway project.
The reports added that the floating of the tenders comes after the go-ahead by the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT). Citing sources within the industry, they added that the winning consultant will be appointed by the end of May, while the final designs and studies for the project will be completed by the end of 2023.
Once this is achieved, PART will offer contracts for the construction of the railway line for Phase One; the deadline for submitting tenders has been fixed as 21 February 2023. It is estimated that five to seven consultancies are expected to submit bids, while the overall project is slated for completion between two to three years.
In early November 2022, authorities said that construction work on Kuwait International Airport had progressed significantly.
The issuing of the tenders comes in the wake of Kuwait’s Ministry of Finance agreeing to a grant of US $1.62mn to PART for covering the cost of contracting with a global consultancy for the railway project, reports said.
As per informed sources, the earlier plan was to allocate $3.25mn for the global consulting contract, but the ministry trimmed it to 50% on the grounds of there already being a previous study in place, and that the new consultancy office should review and amend it.
In November 2022, it was reported that the procurement committee in the Ministry of Public Works agreed to proceed with the procedures for submitting a project for detailed study and design work, and preparing the railway tender documents (first phase) at a value of $3.25mn.
The Ministry of Finance had previously given the green signal to PART to start the study, preliminary design and preparation of railway tender documents (first phase) within the limits of the estimates included in PART’s draft budget for the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
In late November 2022, Kuwait’s TEC said that its tourism and entertainment projects would be completed by mid-2023.
The Ministry of Finance stipulated, with its approval, that the awarding and contracting procedures should not take place before the issuance of a law tying the authority’s budget for the said fiscal year.
In mid December 2022, CDE said it would supply wet processing equipment for a major land remediation effort in Kuwait.
