New campus for Kuwait University planned

A new Kuwait University campus has been planned at a cost of 1.9 million dinars (about Dh24 million) and Prime Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah was expected to lay the cornerstone in Shadadiya yesterday.

The premier was to represent the Emir, His Highness Shaikh Jaber Al Ahmad Al Sabah, at the foundation ceremony for the 7.3 million square metre segregated campus expected to be completed in 13 months.

The campus with separate facilities for male and female students and administrative buildings was approved in May 2004 by the National Assembly and the contract for its construction was signed with the Canadian Construction Group in November of the same year.

KU, which was founded in November 1966, currently has about 20,000 students on its rolls.

In a related development, Jafar Al Aryan, Assistant Secretary for Planning Affairs at the Ministry of Education, said at a seminar that the immediate plan to rehabilitate schools in Kuwait will cost about 195.5 million dinars (about Dh2,468 million).

"The renovation of many existing schools, some of which are dilapidated, will cost about 160 million dinars [about Dh2,025 million] while the building of new facilities will cost 13.5 million dinars [about Dh 170 million]," Al Aryan said.