(With photos) KUWAIT, Sept 13 (KUNA) -- Chairman Kuwait's Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB) Adel Al-Roumi said Tuesday the a consultant working out the feasibility studies of the Failaka Island development project will finalize the studies within the coming six months.

"The project, to be cast to bidders in early 2012, will be developed in two years," Al-Roumi told reporters during a tour of the island together with representatives of a consotrium of global consultants led by the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD).

"The project aims to turn Failaka Island into an international tourist destination capitalizing on the island's rich natural, ecological, archaeological and historical resources," he pointed out.

"The impressive nature reserves and the historical archaeological resources on the island need to be protected not submerged with a view to transforming the area into tourist landmark," Al-Roumi stressed.

The project envisages launching huge tourist and recreational facilities as well as medium-, and small-, size enterprises such as TV studios, he revealed.

Al-Roumi appreciated the great efforts made by the PTB technical committee and the Ministry of Public Works, and Ministry of Commerce and Industry to advance the project.

He noted that the government committee overseeing the projects includes representative of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) who will help identify the sites which have archaeological and humanitarian values.

Meanwhile, director of NCCAL's relics and museums division Shihab Abdulhamid Shihab said the island has been a human habitat since 2200 BC.

"The NCCAL aims, through active participation in the development project of the island, to shed light on humanitarian aspects of the area and put the island on the map of world cultural heritage," he noted.

Dealing with the archaeological sites on the island, Shihab said they range from castles, administrative centers and places of worship to marinas and old markets.

On August 17 the PTB signed a KD 2.12 million worth contract with an NBAD-led consortium on providing consultancy services for project over 27 months.

Established under Decree No. 146 of 2008, the PTB considers government projects and proposals to identify the potential development of partnerships between both the relevant public entities and interested parties from the private sector in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 7 of 2008 regulating all Public Private Partnerships (PPP) projects in the country.