KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait plans to sign a large number of multi-billion-dollar projects despite lingering political disputes, officials told a development forum Wednesday. The deputy premier for economic development, Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, said authorities will sign next month a contract to construct a long-delayed causeway. The 25-kilometer (16-mile) causeway, which has been delayed for more than 10 years, will link Kuwait City with the Subbiya area in the north to pave the way for the execution of the Silk City project at a cost of $90 billion (67 billion euros). The Gulf state will also soon establish a special authority to oversee the implementation of the Silk City project that will continue until 2030, Sheikh Ahmad said. When complete, the city is expected to be home to around 700,000 people and is estimated to create over 300,000 new jobs. Work is underway in the nearby Boubyan container harbor and a number of motorways linking Silk City and the harbor with the rest of Kuwait, Sheikh Ahmad said. "In the past, political disputes used to halt development, but today it is no longer the case," said the minister, who is overseeing the $104 billion four-year development plan. The head of strategic planning at national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Shaima Al-Ghuneim, told the conference KPC plans to spend $93 billion on projects over the next five years. Major projects in the pipeline include a new refinery and upgrading two of three refineries to raise crude refining capacity from 930,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million bpd, she said. The two projects are estimated to cost around 30 billion dollars, according to previous statements by KPC officials. Ghuneim said almost half of the spending is planned for exploration and production projects as part of the emirate's plans to raise output capacity from around 3.2 million bpd now to four million bpd by 2020. The deputy head of the government partnerships technical bureau, which oversees mega private-public joint ventures, Hashem Al-Tabtabai said the office has already completed reviewing 16 mega projects, expected to be tendered or signed this year. A project to build a new power and water desalination plant at a cost of $2.7 billion at Al-Zour area near the Saudi border, is expected to be tendered either this month or in February, he said. The plant is projected to produce 1,500 MW of electricity and 100 million imperial gallons of desalinated water daily. Other projects include building two cities for expatriate workers, each with a capacity of 40,000 people. Around 10 public shareholding companies will be established to implement various projects, he said. The office is also preparing feasibility studies for a metro system, a railway project and a development project of Failaka Island, he said. Kuwait, OPEC's fifth largest producer, says it sits on 10 percent of the world's proven crude reserves and is pumping 2.3 million bpd. – Agence France
