By Ahmad Al-Furaij
KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (KUNA) -- Visiting Kuwait's Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Moussa Al-Sarraf said on Friday the prime objective of establishing Boubyan port is securing a main station for regional transport.
Al-Sarraf, interviewed by KUNA during his official visit to the country, indicated at Kuwait's need to obtain expertise for operating and managing the planned port from countries with experience in this domain, such as Hong Kong and Singapore.
The Kuwaiti official also indicated at a plan for renovating the docking infrastructures of some Asian countries, that would be implemented simultaneously with the establishment of the mega port in Kuwait, so they could make use of the advance services of the Kuwaiti harbor.
Shedding light further on the project to upgrade Boubyan island, Al-Sarraf said that a plan in this regard warranted to undergo some paper work and amendments, hinting at the need to alter the depth of the docking sites. Following preliminary sketches, the ministry of labor will float a tender to international contracters for involvement in some sections of the mega venture.
Kuwait will contact states that operate international ports, namely China, Hong Kong and Singapore for using their expertise and averting possible operational defects, Al-Sarraf elaborated. The first project of the containers port on the eastern side of the island will constitute the main nerve of the venture of developing the island, he added.
The ministry had signed a tender worth 117 million Kuwaiti dinars for construction of a causeway linking Boubyan island with the Kuwaiti mainland in May last year.
Execution of the the Boubyan port venture, to be launched according to an agreement signed with a government-run Chinese company in June last year, would last 42 months.
Copyright Kuwait News Agency 2008.
