Kuwait's parliament yesterday forced the government to scrap a fast track plan to award power generation projects worth some $425 million, urgently needed to avoid power cuts next year.

Some 37 out of 50 elected deputies tabled the urgent debate after a decree was issued allowing an Electricity Ministry panel to award projects, bypassing what Western executives say is a traditionally long process which includes going through the country's Central Tender Committee (CTC).

At immediate stake is a vital gas turbine project, possibly worth $400 million, for which four companies had submitted tender offers to the now defunct panel.

Germany's Siemens AG, General Electric of the United States, France's Alstom SA and Mitsubishi of Japan are all in the race, executives said.

Kuwait is urgently seeking up to eight gas turbines as a first step of a major plan worth some $2.5 billion to boost power generation in the face of anticipated shortages in 2003.

Electricity Minister Talal Al Ayar told parliament in his failed defence of the panel that it was needed "for the urgent necessity to implement projects to meet the county's future power needs".

But parliament, often sceptical of state contracts and firmly opposed to allowing ministries to bypass strict bodies which check all deals, expressed strong opposition to granting the panel a separate 130 million dinar ($425 million) budget.

"They now have to issue tender documents through the CTC like for all other projects and go back to the old system which applies to all," said an executive familiar with the project.

CTC rules stipulate awarding contracts to the lowest bidder, a rule which has come under attack in recent weeks after Kuwait's vital oil sector was rocked by a fatal explosion and a refinery leak, forcing a halt in some crude and products production.

The major part of Kuwait's major power plan involves a $1.8 billion steam power plant which could adopt a build-operate-transfer (BOT) formula as part of government steps to cut capital spending on large ticket items and privatise most basic services including power and water.