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Kuwait awards airport terminal contract worth US$4.4bn

The building is planned under a single roof canopy, which will have glazed openings that filter daylight, deflecting direct solar radiation. (Image source: DGCA)

Kuwait has signed a US$4.4bn contract with Turkish firm Limak Construction for a new terminal at Kuwait International Airport that will more than triple passenger capacity

Announced by Kuwait?s public works minister Ali al-Omair, the new terminal, due to be completed in six years, will raise capacity at Kuwait?s only airport to 25mn passengers annually from around seven million now.

It will accommodate all aircraft types at 51 gates, an addition of 30 new gates, and will be able to serve 21 Airbus 380 superjumbos simultaneously, al-Omair said.

The project has been repeatedly delayed because of claims of highly inflated costs and after technical and financial objections by state accounting watchdog the Audit Bureau.

It is ?one of the biggest projects? under the current government development plan, al-Omair was quoted as saying by Reuters

That contract is expected to cover road construction and other works, and be funded by the Kuwait government.