State-owned upstream operator Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has retendered a major revegetation project because the bids came in over budget, according to industry sources.The contract was originally tendered last year as part of the multibillion-dollar Kuwait Environmental Remediation Programme (Kerp).This project has been retendered due to bids coming in over the project’s budget.KOC went back to the drawing board and created a new scope and reduced the number of project packages from four to three.The company is now very optimistic that this contract will be tendered without major issues.A pre-tender meeting for the relaunched project is due to take place in Kuwait on 13 May.The bid submission deadline is 17 June.The three packages have each been given an initial guarantee value of KD300,000 ($974,000) and have been called Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3.When the project was originally tendered, bids were submitted ahead of a deadline of 6 August 2023.The original four revegetation contracts tendered by KOC were expected to be awarded to four separate contractors and include a wide range of work activities.The sum of the low bids for the four packages of the original project came to $394.1m.Kuwait-based Abdul Hameed Salem Sons Trading Company submitted the lowest bid on the contract for Zone 1 with a price of $88.5m.Zalzalah Company for Agricultural Services & Contracting submitted the lowest bid on the contract for Zone 2 at $68.88m.Al-Ghanim International General Trading & Contracting Company proposed the lowest bids for Zone 3 and Zone 4. It offered $104.1m for Zone 3 and $132.6m for Zone 4.In the original project, the scope of each of the four contracts was divided into enabling works and revegetation works.The required enabling works included: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 included:Plant procurement and deliveryPlanting procedures and layoutIrrigationAftercare and maintenanceIt was originally intended that the winners of the revegetation contracts would use the soil currently being processed to remove oil pollution in ongoing remediation projects.Under the initial plan, this soil would be distributed in multiple areas and seeded with native plants.Ten species of grass and shrubs were approved for the project, as well as two tree species.The original contracts were designed to have an “establishment period” of 180 days after the award before the contract formally commences.This was to 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.In the original project scope, each contractor was required to plant several million plants over three years.The contractor would have only been permitted to plant seasonally, from 1 September to 31 March.The revegetation 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