23 January 2011
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is set to award the contract for the major Jaber Bridge project to the Hyundai Company, despite the collapse of a bridge previously built by the firm in India, according to a Central Tenders Committee (CTC) insider who said that the decision was revealed in the MPW's official statement on the matter.
While there had been some debate over which of the bidding contractors was to be selected, the insider said, the MPW had studied the issue in depth, meeting with officials from all the bidding firms before deciding that the bid from Hyundai most closely met with all the specifications put forward for the project.
Extra conditions have been included in the contract with the MPW stipulating that the company must comply fully with all the construction regulations and that the finished bridge must satisfy all the necessary criteria; these were included after the bridge previously constructed by the firm in India subsequently collapsed.
On a separate issue, it's been reported that the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) is to reopen the bidding for the construction of low-cost housing projects after no companies put forward any bids for the previous tender. A PAHW insider said that although the major project does not currently fall under the housing construction laws as the parliamentary housing committee has called for, if this latest tender is again unsuccessful it may be amended to ensure that it complies with this legislation.
Meanwhile, on another subject, a parliamentary team is reportedly set to request access to the findings of a previous investigation into the series of power cuts and other electricity problems that plagued the country in 2007 and to investigate what action was taken to ensure such problems would not recur.
The team will be looking into whether the contracts signed as a result of those electricity problems were fully executed and, if they were not, what penalties were issued against the companies responsible. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an MP close to the investigation said that if the team finds major failings in action to resolve the situation, the government should be fined KD500 for every day that the problems remain unresolved.
The parliamentarian insisted that since a number of the companies contracted to carry out repairs and resolve the various electrical problems had not performed their duties and had entirely disregarded the time limit placed on them, they should be referred to the Public Prosecution Service and fined for their negligence, adding that these penalties could run into the millions of dinars.
KUWAIT: The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) is set to award the contract for the major Jaber Bridge project to the Hyundai Company, despite the collapse of a bridge previously built by the firm in India, according to a Central Tenders Committee (CTC) insider who said that the decision was revealed in the MPW's official statement on the matter.
While there had been some debate over which of the bidding contractors was to be selected, the insider said, the MPW had studied the issue in depth, meeting with officials from all the bidding firms before deciding that the bid from Hyundai most closely met with all the specifications put forward for the project.
Extra conditions have been included in the contract with the MPW stipulating that the company must comply fully with all the construction regulations and that the finished bridge must satisfy all the necessary criteria; these were included after the bridge previously constructed by the firm in India subsequently collapsed.
On a separate issue, it's been reported that the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) is to reopen the bidding for the construction of low-cost housing projects after no companies put forward any bids for the previous tender. A PAHW insider said that although the major project does not currently fall under the housing construction laws as the parliamentary housing committee has called for, if this latest tender is again unsuccessful it may be amended to ensure that it complies with this legislation.
Meanwhile, on another subject, a parliamentary team is reportedly set to request access to the findings of a previous investigation into the series of power cuts and other electricity problems that plagued the country in 2007 and to investigate what action was taken to ensure such problems would not recur.
The team will be looking into whether the contracts signed as a result of those electricity problems were fully executed and, if they were not, what penalties were issued against the companies responsible. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an MP close to the investigation said that if the team finds major failings in action to resolve the situation, the government should be fined KD500 for every day that the problems remain unresolved.
The parliamentarian insisted that since a number of the companies contracted to carry out repairs and resolve the various electrical problems had not performed their duties and had entirely disregarded the time limit placed on them, they should be referred to the Public Prosecution Service and fined for their negligence, adding that these penalties could run into the millions of dinars.
© Kuwait Times 2011
