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Kuwait ministers want power plant deal scrapped

28 May 2013

Kuwaiti lawmakers have called for the scrapping of a contract awarded to a foreign consortium to build a gas-fired power and seawater treatment plant, according to a newspaper report.

The government deal was signed in January by a consortium led by French electric utility company GDF-Suez, which included Sumitomo Corp of Japan, to build the 1,500-megawatt Az Zour plant.

It was one of two major contracts awarded to foreign firms that Kuwait’s National Assembly voted narrowly to probe earlier this year through a special panel of MPs.

(Credit: James Patterson)

Newspaper Al-Rai reported that lawmakers had called for the scrapping of the Az Zour plant, without detailing why.

The panel was reported to have no objections to the other project, the $2.6-billion Subiya causeway project awarded to South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering and Construction in November.

Political setbacks have delayed projects in a $108 billion development plan announced in 2010.

The plan includes a new airport terminal and hospitals and aims to create jobs and attract foreign investment outside of the oil sector.

More here.

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