Kuwait Eyes Developing Different Transport Sectors

Kuwait is looking forward to implementing "Vision 2035" where government eyes development of various transport sectors, electricity and information technology.

This development will be through the projects of the airport, railways, metro, bridges, seaports and desalination plants and modern networks, as part of a sophisticated infrastructure pillar.

Infrastructure is a main pillar to achieve the new vision as it has a close connection with the desire of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah aiming to transform Kuwait into an international financial and commercial hub so as to attract investments.

For achieving this move, His Highness the Amir laid on May 9 the cornerstone for the new terminal at Kuwait International Airport in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As a result, the government has prioritized the sophisticated infrastructure as part of its programs to direct big investments in this field to be in line with world-class standards in order to help Kuwait meet its future aspirations and achieve sustainable development.

The Kuwaiti government is keen on developing infrastructure, as it is the backbone of all economic and social activities in civilized societies for achieving development and welfare

. Kuwait has worked on investing in the development of infrastructure to be one of the top performing countries at the economic level, as it is a key factor of attracting national and foreign direct investments.

This contributes to increasing GDP by raising efficiency and productivity of capital.

The government has set out some targets to achieve the modern infrastructure represented in increasing the capacity of Kuwait International Airport, tackling traffic problem, developing the North of Kuwait as an economic and urban area and connecting it with neighboring countries, raising capacity of ports and meeting growing demands for electricity.

The infrastructure includes five programs topped with developing air transport system, which aims to speed up capacity of Kuwait International Airport through executing a new Class A passenger terminal in accordance with international standards.

It accommodates for 25 million passengers upon the completion of all phases. Meanwhile, the development of the land transport system seeks to contribute to evolving North of Kuwait as an economic and urban area, linking it to roads connected with neighboring countries in order to limit traffic congestion and help the private sector participate in construction and development of projects in the State.

The project aims to build a 37-km sea bridge through the Kuwait Bay. It includes the establishment of two islands containing buildings for traffic services and bridge maintenance as well as a fuel station and other services.

The project will shorten the distance between Kuwait City and Sabbiya City, as well as provide other services

. The scheme seeks to establish a railway network with a length of more than 570 km, develop the land transport sector and services, activate land connections with neighboring countries, as well as secure and facilitate the movement of passengers and goods.

It aims to contribute to reducing pollution resulting from the use of vehicles and trucks, and cutting dependence on roads transport for both passengers and cargo, as part of treating traffic congestion and increasing investment rates.

It also seeks to encourage the private sector to participate in construction and development projects in the country and to benefit from practical experience, which has a positive influence on local economy through transferring technology and knowledge, which enhance efficiency of employees and develop services as well as create more jobs.

The project eyes activating the connection between local areas and cities, reducing users of private means of transport and thus cutting traffic congestion, in addition to providing more than 1,500 jobs.

Concerning maritime transportation system, it seeks to maximize the capacity of ports to support the transformation of Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub.

The project seeks to establish a port with 24 berths and about eight million containers, reconstruct and rehabilitee the Boubyan Island, modernize an industrial zone, provide new jobs for citizens, receive large ships and promote tourism.

It aims at upgrading services provided by seaports, increasing their capacity and receiving modern container vessels.

The fourth project is based on developing and increasing capacity of electricity production in order to meet growing demands, as well as work to raise the strategic stock of water to meet the current and future demands because of urban expansion.

The project targets increasing production capacity of distillation plants and strengthening strategic water reserve, as well as producing 60 million imperial gallons of fresh water per day.

It will attempt to increase the capacity of power plants and the production of electric power within 250 megawatts.

The fifth project seeks to develop infrastructure of information technology, and modernize the latest techniques as well as provide new services

. The project, which covers more than 67,000 plots of land in 33 areas, aims to use the latest technology and provide new telephone services (such as Internet and video) via fiber optic cables, which are characterized by fast transmission, high quality and low prices covered in several areas.