KUWAIT CITY, 26 December 2004 — Kuwait is seeking investors for a multi-billion-dollar project to turn an island off its coast into a major tourist attraction, a government official said yesterday. “The countdown has started for the largest development project,” since Kuwait’s liberation from seven months of Iraqi occupation in February 1991, said Jassem Al-Oun, head of Kuwait Islands and Mega Projects Development Agency.
Nine consortia have already been chosen to bid for the project to develop Failaka Island, which lies 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Kuwait City and which became a heavily mined military base during the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.
On Dec. 29 and 30 the agency will distribute documents containing the “Terms of Reference” to the consortia which consist of more than 120 companies most of them Kuwaiti, Oun said. The consortia must submit their bids within three months and the winner will be picked between April and June, said Oun who expected the deal to be signed in September 2005.
The 26-square-kilometer (10-square-mile) project calls for the construction of a holiday resort complete with hotels, chalets and entertainment facilities on the basis of build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreements. BOT agreements will last for 30 years and can be renewed for a fresh term.
Construction is expected to take up to 10 years to complete and investments required range from $2 billion to $3 billion, Oun said.
Failaka is home to Kuwait’s most important archaeological site. It is 43 square kilometers (16.6 square miles) in size, boasts 38 kilometers (24 miles) of coastline and is almost completely flat.
During the Iraqi occupation, Kuwaitis on the island moved back to the mainland, although some families have since begun renovating their properties. After the Iraqi occupation, the Kuwait government bought up many of the residences on the island and the Kuwaiti armed forces today maintain a major presence. A new harbor with a capacity for 300 boats will be built on the Island to link it with the mainland, Oun said.
Following the ouster of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in April 2003, Kuwait has embarked on several mega projects estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars.
As part of a drive to bring more tourists to the region, another Gulf emirate is currently building the world’s largest two man-made islands, The Palm Jumeirah and The Palm Jebel Ali, with a third due for construction. A cluster of 300 islands, shaped like a world map and dubbed “The World”, is also gradually surfacing on Dubai’s Gulf waters at a cost of three billion dollars.
Kuwait has sovereignty over nine islands in Gulf waters in total, the largest being Bubiyan in the north, but only Failaka is inhabited by more than a coastguard crew. Kuwait also has sovereignty over the Warba, Miskan, Auhha, Kubbar, Qaruh, Umm Al-Maradim and Umm Al-Naml islands, the white sands and coral reefs of which make them popular weekend destinations.