Kuwait Invites Bids for Port

Kuwait has invited bids for building the first phase of a state-of-the-art container port on Bubiyan Island at a cost of around $2 billion, the emirate’s public works minister said yesterday. About 17 international and local companies have been prequalified for the project which is expected to start operations by the end of 2008 or early 2009, Bader Al-Humaidi told a press conference. The first phase involves building a 34-kilometer (21-mile) road linking the new port to Iraq’s Umm Qasr port, dredging works and the main infrastructure of the port at a cost of around $1 billion.