Area to be reclaimed divided into 3

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 28: The MEED magazine has disclosed that four local contracting companies are bidding for the second major soil remediation and removal of oil pollutants contract in southern Kuwait, known as the Second South Kuwait Project for Drilling, Transport and Processing (SKETR-2), reports Al-Anba daily. The documents obtained by the magazine show the area to be reclaimed is divided into three areas, and the total value of the three lowest bids submitted by the companies is $455.2 million. The scope of work in the three packages includes treating 8.5 million cubic meters of contaminated soil.

Lowest bids
The lowest bids for the three packages were as follows -- Area A consists of (L1 bidder is Contractor Company for General Trading and Contracting $148.52 million) and (L2 - Al-Sayer General Trading and Construction Contracting Company $155.17 million) Area B bidders are (L1 - Alghanim International General Trading and Contracting Company $153.9 million; L2 - Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Company $176.73 million) and Area C (L1 - Contractor Company for General Trading and Contracting $152.8 million and L2 - Al-Sayer General Trading and Construction Contracting Company $165.08 million).

The magazine said that the Kuwait Oil Company has not yet announced the formal award of contracts to the winning companies, and it had mentioned before bidding for the project that each of the three different contracts would be awarded to a different company. But it is not known what will be done with the contracts for Area “A” and Area “C”, as the Contracting Company for General Trading and Contracting submitted the lowest bids for both contracts. The magazine quoted a source in the oil industry as saying, “The Kuwait Oil Company said before bidding that it would not award several packages of the project to one company, but it seems that it might change its mind and award the contracts for areas A and C to one company.”

Separate documents obtained by MEED show that the Contractor Company for General Trading and Contracting has partnered with China’s Zaopin Technologies, which specializes in crude oil tank cleaning and tasks related to pollution and bio remediation of oil contaminated soil. It should be noted that the SKETR-2 is focused on addressing pollution in the south of the country, where there is a greater amount of contaminated soil, and is the third contract of its kind to be offered under Kuwait’s multibillion dollar environmental reform program. The deadline for submitting bids has been extended several times after contractors requested more time to prepare their bids.