Kuwait signs $4.4-bn airport project with Turkish firm

Kuwait's Public Works Minister Ali al-Omair Monday signed a $4.4-billion (3.9-billion-euro) contract with Turkish firm Limak Construction for a new airport terminal that will more than triple passenger capacity.

The new terminal, due to be completed in six years, will raise capacity at Kuwait's only airport to 25 million passengers annually from around seven million now, the minister said.

It will accommodate all aircraft types at 51 gates, an addition of 30 new gates, and will be able to serve 21 Airbus 380 superjumbos simultaneously, Omair said.

The project has been repeatedly delayed because of claims of highly inflated costs and after technical and financial objections by state accounting watchdog the Audit Bureau.

The oil-rich Gulf state's cabinet intervened in the row between the public works ministry and the Audit Bureau two weeks ago and gave the go-ahead for the project to proceed.