Kuwait’s $7bn metro gets green light

Kuwait is pushing ahead with its new metro rail system, with the company in charge of building the first phase of the project announcing that it will begin procurement “shortly”.

Construction of the 160-km Kuwait Metropolitan Rapid Transit System Project (KMRT), which will have 69 stations on three lines, is worth an estimated $7bn.

According to a statement provided by the Partnerships Technical Bureau (PTB), a government committee recently signed off the feasibility study into the metro.

That study, which was conducted by Ernst & Young, Ashurst and Atkins, covered the railway’s procurement stage, including infrastructure, control systems, rolling stock, depot and operations.

As a result, PTB said it would “shortly” be issuing an expression of interest for the procurement of the Integrated Rolling Stock and Systems PPP Company.

That firm will provide rolling stock and systems for all five phases of the metro.

PTB is currently focusing on the first phase of the project, which will include around 50km of rail, with 28 new stations, 30 percent of which will be underground.

No timeline has been given for the start of construction on the project, or the eventual finish. However, last year, a local businessman said that work could start in 2013.

The GCC states are individually planning cross-country railway systems that will eventually link to create an entire infrastructure across the six states.

The first train on the UAE’s Shah Habshan-Ruwais railway will start running in around 2013, while Qatar is pushing ahead with plans to build a metro system in Doha.

Saudi Arabia is also upgrading and extending its already-substantial rail network.