69% of new Kuwait education ministry HQs project completed

The Ministry of Public Works revealed Monday that 69 percent of the new Education Ministry headquarters project has been completed so far. In a press conference at the project site, Ministry of Public Works Assistant Undersecretary for Construction Projects Talal Al-Athaina said the KD 67.7 million-worth project is expected to be entirely completed by February 2015, eight-month later than the scheduled time. The project execution began on 6 June 2010 and was planned to be finished by 4 June 2014. He blamed the expected delay on some major causes the forefront of the suspension of work after the huge fire at Kuwait University project. He disclosed that a number of small changes in the design have been made recently. He noted that the Ministry oversees currently the execution of 89 projects. For his part, the Project Manager Abdullateef Abbas said the MOE Headquarters Building, located in the South Surra Government Zone, uses an Arabian Gulf sailing vessel, as its design metaphor. The Dhow concept is manifested as two curved, intersecting buildings coming to rest on the new, lush MOE site. "The project is built on an area of 135,705 square meters to accommodate nearly 3647 employees," Abbas said. He added that it includes an auditorium with 600 a seating capacity of 600 people and functions as both a presentation space for large audiences, and as a venue for student activities. The presentation capabilities are similar to those in the larger conference rooms, but with the addition of several other translation and hearing impaired features.