Kuwait's $1.1bn Jaber Hospital: retendered, fined a record KD 18m, opened years late

In 2008 Kuwait's Ministry of Public Works tendered what would be one of the Middle East's largest hospitals: the 1,168-bed Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Hospital in Surra. A Posco E&C-led joint venture bid KD 319m and won ministry approval in February 2009 — but the ministry scrapped the result and retendered, arguing construction costs had fallen. In September 2009 the Central Tenders Committee awarded the job to a JV of Arab Kuwait Contractors Company and Egypt's Arab Contractors for KD 304m (~$1.1bn). The whole exercise saved about KD 15m — and cost a year.

Construction began in December 2009 on a four-year schedule, but the project slipped badly. By August 2017 an inventory by MPW Undersecretary Awatef Al-Ghunaim found KD 71m in debts across government projects, and Jaber Hospital carried the single largest delay fine of any of them — roughly KD 18m. The building was essentially finished, yet it still was not open.

The last delay was bureaucratic, not structural. In January 2018 the cabinet was still undecided about who would run the hospital and how, with one government estimate putting operating costs at KD 10bn over 50 years. A completed $1.1bn hospital sat dark while ministries argued over its management model — the opening had been 'expected this year' for several years running.

KD 304m ($1.1bn) contract; ~KD 18m delay fine — the highest on any Kuwaiti government project; opening slipped ~3+ years past 2015

The ministry voided an approved KD 319m award to retender, saving only ~KD 15m and resetting the schedule

Contractor-side delays piled up until the job held Kuwait's record delay fine of ~KD 18m

After physical completion, the Ministry of Health failed to staff, budget or commission the facility for years

No single owner was accountable for the finish line — construction, health and planning bodies each stalled in turn

Retendering a valid bid to chase falling prices rarely saves money — it resets the clock, and in a boom-bust market the second price is seldom much lower.

Jaber Hospital finally began receiving patients around 2018-2021, roughly a decade after the first tender and years after its ~2015 target. It operates today as one of the largest hospitals in the Middle East. The episode became Kuwait's canonical example of megaproject drift: a record fine, a finished building nobody could open, and a retender that saved 5% of the contract price while costing years.