KUWAIT: Correspondence issued by the Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects (KAPP) shows that the current model for the Kuwait Metro, for which a financial study was conducted, showed that the construction cost for the first stage - if implemented with the conventional system - will be KD 4 billion, in addition to KD 1.3 billion annually for operation and maintenance for 30 years.

Meanwhile, construction of the first stage if the current system continues with partnership between public and private sectors will be around KD 3.476 billion, in addition to KD 934.8 million for operation and maintenance annually for 30 years, which means savings of around KD 900 million, Al-Anbaa Arabic daily reported yesterday.

The partnership authority said that on April 5, 2017, a higher committee decision was issued asking KAPP to correspond with the Public Authority for Roads and Transport (PART) to complete a feasibility study and decide the suitable means to execute the project.

It called the concerned departments to issue related decisions to finish the feasibility study as soon as possible. KAPP called PART on May 16, 2017 to implement what the higher committee instructed. The independent higher committee is formed of specialized persons according to a finance ministry decision.