‘Strategic projects among plans to become commercial hub’

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 2: Despite the crisis of low oil prices and the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in the country as well as the subsequent measures taken by the Ministry of Finance to rationalize spending in the current budget to reduce it by about 20 percent, Kuwait is implementing about 38 projects worth KD 26.5 billion, equivalent to about 86.77 billion dollars, during the current fiscal year of 2020/2021, reports Al-Anba daily.

According to an official document, the plan includes a number of strategic projects aimed at supporting the state’s vision of being transformed into a financial and commercial hub. These projects are implemented by government agencies or through the partnership system between the public and private sectors.

Cost
The cost of the four partnership projects is estimated at KD 988 million, or 4.2 percent of the total cost of strategic projects, in addition to one project in the form of a joint stock company at a total cost of KD 611 million, representing 2.6 percent of the total cost of strategic projects. The five-year plan includes 32 development programs at a total cost of approximately KD 23.5 billion. These programs aim to improve Kuwait’s position in the global competitiveness ladder, and are based on seven pillars.

Based on the executive position of the major projects that Kuwait is currently implementing during the 2020/2021 fiscal year until last June, their financial costs exceed KD 100 million, and the number of projects has reached 38. The largest of it has been allocated to the Kuwait oil sector to implement three mega projects worth KD 11.7 billion such as the bio-fuel project, Al-Zour refinery and Al- Zour petrochemical complex. According to the executive position of these projects, they are close to completion and delivery by the end of the current year. As for the petrochemical complex project, it will be completed on June 31, 2025.

The new Kuwait Airport project (Terminal Building 2) is among the major projects. The huge amount currently spent for its execution by the Ministry of Public Works is KD 1.4 billion. It is expected to be completed in September 2024, and the government allocated KD 324.5 million for the project during the current fiscal year of 2020/2021. Based on the information of the executive position of the projects as per the latest official census, six developmental projects will be completed during the current year. About eight projects will be completed during the next fiscal year. Most of the other projects will be implemented to be received latest by the year 2026, and this includes the development of the Fourth Ring Road at a value of KD 417.7 million.

Projects
The Ministry of Public Works is implementing five mega projects worth KD 3.1 billion, foremost of which is the Terminal 2 project at Kuwait International Airport and Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port at a value of KD 990.8 million. About KD 30 million have been allocated for spending during the current fiscal year, and the project is expected to be completed in 2021. This is in addition to the implementation of the new Maternity Hospital project by the Ministry of Public Works at a value of KD 220.7 million, as well as the Children’s Hospital project with a value of KD 400 million. Finally, there is the project of the purification and lifting plant in South Mutlaa with the complementary works which cost KD 159 million.

The project is expected to be completed in 2025. As for the Ministry of Health, it has six projects worth a total of KD 971.6 million. This include the new building at Ibn Sina Hospital with a value of KD 100 million, and will be completed in 2021, the new building project of the Amiri Hospital at a cost of KD 101.5 million, new buildings in Farwaniya Hospital of value KD 265.1 million, new building at the Kuwait Cancer Center of value KD 175.9 million, and the new Al-Sabah Hospital of value KD 179.1 million.

The Health Insurance Hospitals Company is implementing, establishing and operating a healthcare insurance system worth KD 230 million, and this is expected to be completed on December 31, 2023. As for the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), it is implementing four projects worth KD 2.6 billion, foremost of which is the Al-Mutlaa Residential City project of value KD two billion. It is expected to be completed on September 30, 2023. Then is the Jaber Al-Ahmad City project with a value of KD 325.2 million and an expected completion date in 2022, then the Dhahiya Abdullah Al-Mubarak project of value KD 140.5 million, and finally, the South Saad Al-Abdullah City project worth KD 136.7 million.

Annual
In terms of the annual financial appropriations allocated for strategic projects in the plan, it should be noted that there are nine projects that do not need annual financial appropriations, represented in partnership projects, which are four projects, and the General Warehouses and Border Ports Company (Abdali) project of the Kuwait Investment Authority, which is a joint stock company. This is in addition to four projects at a total cost of KD 987.5 million, one of which is the construction project of the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Bridge that has been completed. The other is related to establishing and operating a health care insurance system, and it is affiliated with the Health Insurance Hospitals Company.