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.
