Dubai: Kuwait has announced over 1,100 projects with a joint value of about Dh458.9 billion ($125 billion) to be completed over the next 20 years.

The projects include an overhaul of the district of Silk City, Subbiya, north of Kuwait City, which is worth an estimated Dh282.7 billion ($77 billion). The new business district will include its own metro and railway system.

"The city will span 250 square kilometres and will include 30 communities including a finance city, an entertainment city, an ecological city, and an educational and cultural city," a government statement said.

According to the Kuwait Metropolitan Rapid Transit, a 171-kilometre metro will cover Kuwait City, including four new lines.

"Sixty kilometres of the metro will be underground and will cover all the country," the department said.

Olympic stadium

Construction is expected to start this year and will be completed in 2016. Among the other projects is the 2,000-kilometre Gulf railway line costing Dh24.5 billion.

The line will link the Saudi border in the south with the Iraqi border in the north, and also connect the eastern and western parts of Kuwait.

It added that the city will include an Olympic stadium, residences, hotels and retail facilities and an iconic 250-storey tower, said the statement.

Construction in the Silk City will be completed in 2023, turning it into an urban centre for 750,000 residents with over 175,000 residential units.

Abdullah Kandari, a Kuwaiti economist and professor at the University of Kuwait, told Gulf News yesterday that the projects were part of an effort to be more pro-active on the part of the government.

Highways

"We need new cities. The land prices in Kuwait are very high for business investment. This is why the government started bidding for tenders of state-owned lands in order to improve the investment opportunities. There is a dire need to head forward with ventures for the future generations," he said.

Kandari added that increased oil revenues would pay for the projects.

As well as the new city and rail network, Kuwait is also looking to build highways and flyovers over the next three and a half years.

"The Ministry of Public Works and Housing is currently designing highways which the ministry will tender three years from now at a cost of Dh23.13 billion [$6.3 billion]," the statement said.