New Hospital Project in Kuwait
A 207-Million dollar, 1100-bed hospital project is planned in South Surra area of Kuwait. The bids for design and engineering of this project have already been submitted by the following international and local consultant companies:
1. NBBJ of the United States in association with the local company KUWAIT ENGINEERING GROUP.
2. LANGDON WILSON of the United States in association with the local company GULF CONSULT.
This project is expected to be the largest hospital in Kuwait. The design contracts are expected to be awarded by the end of this year.
“HERITAGE VILLAGE” in Kuwait City
Bids have been submitted by end-October for the second phase of the development of a major residential and entertainment complex in the center of Kuwait city. This is named as “Heritage Village”. The project will be awarded on a BOT basis on a 20-year concession. The cost of the project is estimated to be $155 million. The project will include theaters, cinemas, auditoriums and a cultural center on a land area of 54,700 square meters. This is the second phase of the project, the first phase being the residential area. Plans for the third phase have not yet been finalized.
Kuwait’s environment-friendly Sanitation Program
Considered to be the most ambitious sanitation program in the Middle East, the implementation of Kuwait’s sanitary master-plan is now in its 10th year and more than 50% of the planned work has been completed.
For a very long time, the sewage and wastewater were dumped directly into the bay. The practice caused so many environmental problems and the bay became heavily contaminated and the smell permeated the streets of the capital.
The Ministry of Public Works’ solution to this problem was the $1500 million Kuwait Sanitary Master-plan. Initially drawn up in the late 1980s and updated in the 1990s by a team consisting of Parsons Engineering of USA and the local Gulf Consult, a number of flaws were identified in the existing system and a radical overhaul of the
network was proposed.
The Master-plan highlighted the inadequacies and under-performance of the existing network to cope with the projected flow rate.
The Master-plan provided a framework for the evolution and development of the sanitation system up to 2035. With more than 10 years of implementation and with more than 50% of the work completed, there are clear signs of the benefits of the overhaul being experienced in Kuwait.
The ageing pumping stations are being reduced to seven to minimize the maintenance costs and odour emissions, while the 7500 kilometers of gravity and pumping pipes are being shortened to 100 kilometers and 120 kilometers respectively.With the new design, by increasing the gravity, it is expected to have less than 250 kilometers of pressure lines.
A number of main treatment stations are being built or expanded, led by Kuwait’s first Buildoperate- Transfer (BOT) project – the 375,000 cubic meter-a-day waste water treatment plant at the Sulaibiya area. Instead of being dumped into the sea, the treated water will be used for agricultural purposes for farms.
It is also planned to utilize about 48 million gallons a day (g/d) of waste water from the Riqqa Treatment Plant for the proposed Beautification plans for Kuwait. Of this, about 5 million g/d is reserved for use in Kuwait City, 6 million g/d for the Sixth Ring Road, 4 million g/d for King Fahed Road and 1.5 million g/d for a planned golf course. A further 16 million g/d has been set aside for s imilar projects in the future.
Emergency planning has also been taken into consideration. The Ministry of Public Works has bought two smaller scale portable treatment plants for satellite areas. In the event of overflows that mean sewage has to be dumped, the units can be deployed into problem areas to minimize the damage.
However such a massive undertake had its problems as well such as distribution of the work among the local contractors, high prices of reinforced steel bars, the housing explosion in Kuwait, minimizing the disruption to local businesses, strict rules of Kuwait’s Public Authority for Environment etc. However, despite the regulatory,political, technological and economical hurdles, the project is very much on track. Most of the remaining works are fairly minor when compared with what has already been awarded.
Once completed, hopefully within the next seven years, Kuwait’s sanitation network is expected to be the most modern, efficient and environmentally friendly in the whole of Middle East. As the population grows and the water demand increases, the benefits of such a system will grow ever more apparent.
Kuwait Aerospace System Plan
Bids for the master-plan contract for Kuwait’s Five-year Airspace Upgrade and Expansion Program known as the Kuwait Airspace System Plan (KASP) has been submitted by the following two consultants:
1. Wilbur Smith & Associations of USA in association with local firm Hill International.
2. Mott MacDonald of UK in association with local firm Gulf Consult.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation is expected to award the project by the end of this year.
The KASP includes several packages including the installation of control systems, a meteorology center and a command center. The other major components of the project are supply and installation of a new MSSR Approach Radar System, an Airport Data Integration Network and a Low-level Alert System.
Construction Boom in Kuwait
Kuwait projects a remarkable trans formation that has been taking place for the past two years. One can notice cranes dominate the horizon all over.
Iraq and oil were the two factors considered to be the roadblocks in the development of Kuwait and the same factors have now become the catalysts for the new-found energy. With the shadow of Saddam Hussein gone, monies that were invested in other countries have begun to flood back into the country. Many projects that have been put on hold for several years have started moving ahead. The hotel and real estate sectors are experiencing unprecedented growth, as international firms have started using Kuwait as a stable base from which to direct their works across the border. After Saddam Hussein was captured, there has been a tremendous psychological effect on the people of Kuwait and a lot of money has been repatriated into Kuwait.
With crude oil prices straddling $50 a barrel, oil revenues are no longer seen as a shackle hindering broader economic development, but as an invaluable tool in the task of revitalizing a country that has for more than a decade struggled to find its own niche in the Middle East.
Major developments are under way in every sector. Several hospitals, including a giant 1100-bed facility in South Surra, are on the cards.Education is also a priority, and plans for new places of higher education have been announced by both Private and Public Sector developers.Work on a master plan for Kuwait University’s $3000 million campus is underway, while the Public Authority for Applied Education & Training has drawn up a program for more than $400 million worth of new facilities.
In the Public Sector, the $1500 million sanitary master plan is entering its final stages, while expansions and upgrades of the capital’s ringroads are providing plenty of work for local and international contractors. The national stadium is under construction and tenders are being prepared for a new terminal building at Kuwait International Airport. |
