Vision 2035, envisaged by the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, is a strategic plan aimed at transforming Kuwait into a financial, commercial and cultural hub in the region. To realize this vision of a ‘New Kuwait’ the government launched the National Development plan, which sets the country’s long-term development priorities.
Developing a sustainable diversified economy, engaging the private sector in infrastructure projects, providing gainful employment opportunities for national youth, and making the country more attractive to investors, are among the pillars and goals of the New Kuwait development plan.
One project that brings together many of these developmental priorities is the Northern Gulf Gateway Project (NGGP), often referred to as the ‘Silk City Project’. The ambitious plan envisions mega infrastructural developments in the sparsely populated northern region of the country bordering Iraq. The plan encompasses developments on Kuwait’s largest island, Boubyan, and other nearby islands, as well as the construction of a greenfield mega-city in the largely barren Subiya area to the north of Kuwait Bay.
In a first step to realizing this multi-decade, multi-generational venture, in May 2019, the construction of Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al Sabah Causeway, one of the world’s longest road bridges was finally completed. The causeway is seen as key to realizing the country’s ambitious Vision 2035 and New Kuwait development plan.
Named after the former Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al Sabah, it was completed following five years of technical planning, bureaucratic procrastinations and environmental delays at a cost of more than one billion dinars. The 36-kilometer main span across Kuwait Bay now reduces travel time by nearly an hour from Kuwait City to Subiya on the northern shore of Kuwait Bay, and the proposed site for the mega Silk City (Madinat Al-Hareer) project.
Silk City, to be built at a projected cost of over KD 30 billion in the first phase, will encompass all new constructions coming up in the area to the north of Kuwait Bay. The project, expected to be completed in phases and over decades will include residential, work and leisure areas, an international airport, an Olympic stadium and an iconic tower soaring over a kilometer high and claiming the title of world’s tallest building. But aspirations and plans to develop the northern region are not new, they have been floating around since the 1970s.
That it took nearly half a century for the plan to be revived and prioritized is perhaps most indicative of the glacial pace of progress that has become a shameful hallmark of the country.
Nevertheless, in large measure to the efforts of late Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the then first Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, the plan was dusted off and presented in 2018 as an “economic catalyst to revive the country’s growth and to build a new geopolitical era”.
The plan forecast an addition of nearly KD70 billion to the economy, creating 400,000 knowledge-based job opportunities for national youth, attracting over three million visitors annually and thereby providing opportunities for tourism, hospitality and leisure sectors, and pulling in around KD50 billion in foreign direct investments to the project in its initial phase.
More details of the NGGP plan were sketched out at the high-profile Kuwait Investment Forum held in March 2018, where it was revealed that the initiative envisions public and private sector investment, aims to establish a world-class economic, social and cultural hub at the tip of the Arabian Gulf, and by linking to the continent-spanning Chinese Belt Road Initiative, Kuwait would have connectivity to an area extending from the Far East to Europe and beyond. The forum heard various luminaries pay glowing tributes to Kuwait’s ambitious vision and its enormous prospects. It was presented as the “next big opportunity as an investment haven with resources, land and a central location”.
Project presentations included development of a world-class airport, an economic zone with various industries, a financial hub with a stock exchange, and different zones such as an educational hub, a centre for smart industry and future technologies, and a leisure zone that would incorporate high-end medical facilities.
Anchoring the entire area and its developments would be the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port located on Boubyan Island with its two dozen berths and ability to handle over 8 million TEU of cargo annually. At an estimated cost of KD2 billion, the port is projected as a major route for regional shipping and transit services, linking the sea to the mainland and beyond through a network of highways and railways.
However, the unexpected arrival of global pandemic in 2020, which resulted in a worldwide economic downturn and subsequent low oil price scenario, put a dampener on the developments in NGGP. A liquidity crunch, increasing budget deficits and other setbacks also downshifted priority for the project, which led to claims the entire project was being shelved.
In October 2020, Kuwait Port Authority (KPA) had to deny a statement attributed to its Director-General, which suggested the mega-port project was being suspended. The Authority claimed that its Director-General Sheikh Yousef Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah was misquoted by the media and what he meant was that only ‘a constructional aspect of the project was being suspended’.
Clarification on the port notwithstanding, the entire project suffered a major blow with the demise in December 2020 of its main proponent, Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah. Luckily for all stakeholders, enthusiasm for the project has apparently not waned. Last week, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah assigned Minister of State for Municipal Affairs and Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development Shaya Al-Shaya to review seven projects, including those related to NGGP that are aimed at transforming Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub as part of the country’s Vision 2035.
The projects under reappraisal included the proposal for the reconstruction and investment of Failaka Island, a proposal for the reconstruction and investment on Boubyan Island, and a proposal to rehabilitate the Subhiya area for housing and investment projects as part of the Silk City project.
In a further sign of continued interest in NGGP, in late September, the Council of Ministers led by His Highness the Prime Minister also toured the northern area and visited the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port construction site located on Boubyan Island. He was apprised of progress on work at the port and on recent developments related to the NGGP by the Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Telecommunications and Information Technology, Dr. Rana Al-Faris.
The Mubark Al-Kabeer Port is seen as key to invigorating developments on Boubyan Island and the surrounding area, as well as to reposition the country as a major hub on the regional and international logistics, tourism and commercial domains due to its strategic location, its unique environment, and its huge benefit to the economy.
The prime minister and the accompanying cabinet members also discussed in depth other ongoing infrastructure projects related to NGGP, including tourism and entertainment facilities being developed on the two artificial islands, Bay Island North and Bay Island South, along the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway.
In addition, the ministers reviewed overall development of Failaka and Boubyan islands and progress on the Silk City projects. During the visit, the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues expressed appreciation for the steps being made towards moving the New Kuwait plan forward and realizing the country’s strategic Vision 2035.
Initial contract for building the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, as well as dredging and shoring the surrounding environs, was announced in 2011, before the project got embroiled in political and economic turmoil that stalled work on the project. Plans for the port were revived in recent years, with the first phase finally being awarded in November 2019. Though work progress once again slowed and stalled during the pandemic period, in April 2021 it was announced that work on four berths had been completed. The Mubarak Al Kabeer Port development is not only the anchor to development of the region, it is in particular crucial to the overall masterplan for development of the 850-square kilometer Boubyan Island, the largest in Kuwait’s coastal chain of nine islands.
The Boubyan Island project will include residential and industrial developments and a new multi-lane bridge linking it to the mainland in place of the current one. As part of the island’s overall development, and keeping in mind the environmental aspects of the region, which is almost entirely soft muddy flats inhabited by its own unique fauna and flora, half of the area will also be reserved as a nature park. However, reconciling the country’s development needs with environmental concerns will prove challenging for conscientious planners in this pristine area.
When completed the NGGP would completely transform the northern region, including the country’s well known islands of Failaka and Boubyan, as well as some of the lesser known smaller islands, giving the mega project the alternative title of the Five Islands project. No matter what name the project goes under — Northern Gulf Gateway Project, Silk City Project or Five Islands Project — there is no doubt that the mega endeavor is a brilliant work in conceptualizing and visualizing. However, despite the vividness in its presentation, the project remains largely skimpy when it comes to detail, especially on the funding needed to raise the project from the barren desert land.
In July 2018, while it was being initially presented to the public there was talk of a figure of around KD25 billion in estimated cost for the first phase of the NGGP, the bulk of it reportedly coming from the private sector. By all estimates this figure will have swelled by now, and is expected to burgeon even further before the first of the planned 700,000 residents begin moving in. With oil, the main revenue for the state, subject to global vagaries, and legislative hurdles to borrowing on international debt markets, a depleted state treasury and recurring budget deficits, it is not clear where funding for NGGP would come from.
The Chinese are reportedly knocking at the gates with bags of investment funds and interest in financing and managing the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port for a fee, and for a share in the management of the economic zone. Kuwait is understandably lured by the prospect of this easy money, but the country would be wise to heed the ancient adage, purportedly coined by Trojans, about ‘Greeks bearing Gifts’.
Besides funding, development of NGGP is also likely to face political and social opposition to the project. For one, lawmakers who have a precedent and penchant for opposing any project promoted by the government, have already voiced their objection, and already returned the NGGP project when it was submitted to parliament earlier in 2018. Back then the lawmakers found objection to the clause in the development agenda related to the area having its own administrative, legal and financial independence, deemed necessary to make it attractive to international investments. Many lawmakers feared that without their constant and vigilant scrutiny, the area could soon become ‘a state within a state’, where vice would flow and flourish.
Public opinion is also mixed on the NGGP. When asked about Silk City, a political activist and social media warrior remarked that people would be happy with improvements to the existing capital, starting with its roads. He added, “When they can make streets that don’t dissolve in the rain, then we can talk about economic visions.”
Entrenched business interests have also voiced their concerns about the project and its potential to draw an influx of foreign investors who will eat into their business and profits. Some even believe the project to be a white elephant that will waste resources that could be better utilized elsewhere. One business executive remarked, “I am for it, but the plans and processes must be transparent, and the benefits to citizens from investing KD150 billion in the desert should be apparent.”
However, proponents of NGGP say the project is key to diversifying the economy and weaning it away from oil exports, for developing the private sector and for providing employment to youth. Giving a different perspective on legislative and public opposition to reforms and development plans in general, Governor of the Central Bank of Kuwait, Dr. Mohammad al-Hashel, told a banking roundtable in March 2019, “There is increasing resistance toward reforms in Kuwait. It is a case of a sick body that is not willing to take the medicine. But without addressing our structural imbalances, we cannot make much progress.”
No matter what opponents and proponents of NGGP say, changing economic, social and environmental pressures will soon make it imperative for Kuwait to find a way to bypass the hurdles that prevent its need to change and move forward, if it is to move forward at all.
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