Kuwait committee recommends rejecting bids for $4.8 billion airport expansion

A committee in Kuwait's public works ministry has recommended that all bids to build a new terminal at the country's international airport be rejected, state news agency KUNA reported on Sunday. In November, the tender committee for the project said a consortium of Kuwait's Kharafi National and Turkey's Limak Holding had submitted the lowest bid for the contract, worth 1.386 billion dinars ($4.78 billion).
But KUNA quoted Kuwait's minister for electricity, water and public works, Abdulaziz al-Ibrahim, as saying on Sunday that a technical committee in the ministry had recommended all bids be rejected. Ibrahim did not give a reason for the recommendation, but said the committee had studied all aspects of the bidding.
Last Thursday, Kuwait's Al Watan newspaper quoted ministry sources as saying the lowest bid exceeded the estimated cost of the project by 39 percent, and did not meet technical specifications.