Kuwait Government’s 17 Projects to empower private sector and boost economic growth
Empowering the private sector is a key focus of the 2023-24 Annual Development Plan, with a dedicated program titled ‘Enhancing a Dynamic Private Sector’ allocated as part of the 9 Programs in the plan. Additionally, 8 General Policies have been set to implement and apply this program effectively.
The private sector enhancement program, as outlined in the follow-up report of the 202324 Annual Plan by the General Secretariat for Planning and Development, consists of 17 development projects.
These projects are being implemented by nine government agencies and are divided into three phases: one project in the delivery phase, seven in the implementation phase, and nine in the preparatory stages.
The ‘Promoting a Dynamic Private Sector’ program, along with its associated public policies and development projects, aims to transform Kuwait into an attractive environment for investment.
This will be achieved through fostering an easy business environment, ensuring fair competition, and streamlining government procedures.
The initiative is also aligned with Kuwait’s push towards innovation and the adoption of advanced technologies across various sectors.
Government Projects
The follow-up report highlighted that the implementation status of the ‘Promoting a Dynamic Private Sector’ program includes 7 development projects, 8 construction projects, and 2 public-private partnership projects.
The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) is working on the ‘Al-Zour Refinery’ project, which is part of the Private Sector Empowerment Program. The refinery has made significant progress, reaching 99.9% completion by the end of the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.
Parallelly, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) is engaged in seven projects, with six of them currently underway and one newly initiated. These projects are in different stages of development; two projects are in the preparatory phase, five projects are actively being implemented, and two projects have made notable progress and are nearing completion.
The ‘Development of the National Laboratory Network’ project has made significant progress, achieving a completion rate of 34 percent. Meanwhile, the first phase of the Salmon Farming project has reached a completion rate of 46%. Additionally, the ‘Operation of the Economic Production Complex for Fish and Shrimp’ project is underway.
KISR is working on several key projects, including the ‘Design and Establishment of Specialized Facilities for Marine and Resource Management Research’ project; the ‘Sustainable Economic Farm Using Modern Technologies’ project and the ‘Establishment of Specialized Facilities for Desert Development and Urban Development Research’ project.
Regarding the Public Authority for Industry’s project, ‘Establishment and Operation of the Shadadiya Industrial Zone’ project has made significant progress, with a completion rate of 82.5%. This marks an increase of 3.3% compared to the third quarter of the 2023-24 plan.
Partnership
The Public Authority for Partnership between the Public and Private Sectors is tasked with implementing two projects to boost the private sector: the ‘Al-Zour North Station – Phases Two and Three’ and the ‘Al-Khiran Station – Phase One’. Meanwhile, the Competition Protection Authority is overseeing the ‘National Competition Policy’ project.
The Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority is currently working on two ongoing projects. The first, the ‘Economic Zones’ project, has achieved 62% completion by the end of the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2023-2024. The second, the ‘Expansion in Establishing and Developing Free Zones in Kuwait’ project, has a more modest completion rate of 18%.
The Capital Markets Authority is involved in the ‘Development of the Capital Market System’ project, which has reached a completion rate of 28.6%.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Electricity, Water, and Renewable Energy is working on the ‘Supply, Installation, and Operation of Combined Cycle Turbine Units’ project, aimed at increasing electrical power capacity by 9,000 megawatts at the Subiya Electric Power and Water Distillation Site (Phase 4).
168 million dinars for the Program
In the last fiscal year, financial appropriations allocated to the program totaled 168 million dinars. By the end of the fourth quarter of the 2023-2024 year, approximately 48.7% of these funds had been spent on the 17 ongoing projects.
Increase in Projects funded by the ‘Partnership’
The follow-up report outlined eight general policies designed to enhance the private sector. These include a policy focused on increasing projects financed through public-private partnerships to boost private sector involvement. Another key policy aims to develop large-scale, high-efficiency productive economies by prioritizing and advancing sectors with significant economic potential.
Facilitating entry into the National Economy
The fourth general policy emphasizes providing equal opportunities for all by strengthening the competition framework, alongside improving the ease of doing business to facilitate the establishment, operation, and expansion of companies. The sixth policy focuses on supporting and enhancing direct investment by making it easier for businesses to enter and integrate into the national economy.
Source: Al Rai
