Kuwait has announced a new bid submission deadline for the $675m of revegetation contracts recently tendered as part of the multibillion-dollar Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp).The central agency for public tenders (Capt) has announced a new closing date of 23 July 2023.Previously the official bid deadline was 18 June 2023.Earlier this month,  stakeholders expected the bid deadline to be extended due to responses to contractor queries needing to be discussed, approved and published.The deadline had already been extended once from the previous closing date of 16 April.The four revegetation contracts being tendered by state-owned Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) are expected to be awarded to four separate contractors and include a wide range of work activities.These have been divided into enabling works and revegetation works.The required enabling works include:Health, safety and environment studiesTopographical surveysConstructing roadsInstalling temporary site officesAssessing risks posed by unexploded ordnanceCarrying out geophysical surveys for unexploded ordinance and unexploded ordinance clearanceInstalling fencingGroundwater monitoring well installationDesigning, constructing, operating and maintaining an on-site seeding nurseryDesigning and constructing permanent officesDesigning, constructing and commissioning a water pipeline and associated tankageDesigning, constructing and commissioning a permanent water treatment system and accessoriesWater well infrastructure and connectionThe required revegetation works include:Plant procurement and deliveryPlanting procedures and layoutIrrigationAftercare and maintenanceThe winners of the contracts will use the soil that is being processed to remove oil pollution in ongoing remediation projects. This soil will be distributed in multiple areas and seeded with native plants.A total of 10 different species of grass and shrub have been approved for the project, as well as two different tree species.After the contract award, there will be an establishment period of 180 days before the contract formally commences.This will be followed by a “performance period” of 2,000 days.According to the original project schedule, plant installation was to be completed by the end of March 2027, with the whole project scheduled to be finished by the end of July 2029.Due to the delays to the tendering schedule, the project completion targets will likely be pushed back.Each contractor will be required to plant several million plants over three years as part of their contract.The contractor will only be permitted to plant seasonally, from 1 September to 31 March.The project is the last to be tendered as part of Kerp.Kerp is the largest environmental remediation project in the world and was established by the UN Compensation Commission to allow Kuwait to address the ecological damage resulting from the 1990-91 Gulf War. (ICE KUWAIT)

Fonte notizia: MEED