Kuwait's parliament has approved spending over a billion dollars on construction projects in the country. Adnan Abdelsamad, the head of the committee on budgets and final accounts, said the budget included KD339.22 million ($1.139 billion) for construction projects that have been already approved.

The committee endorsed the draft budget for ministries and other state organisations at KD583 million.

He said that the KD151.09 million had been earmarked for small construction projects and maintenance works, KD83.09 million for property developments and KD9.58 million for supplementary credits.

Meanwhile, three major projects that will boost tourism in the country are progressing after having been placed on the back burner for a number of years. They include the Pearl City, Abdullah Al Ahmed Street (a downtown development in Kuwait City) and the Failaka Island resort.

Tenders for the first package on Pearl City development, a major tourism and residential project to be built in south Kuwait near the border with Saudi Arabia, were due to be issued by the end of last month.

The contract will involve earth and marine works for the development of the seafront city to be located between the Al-Khiran resort and the King Fahd bin Abdulaziz expressway.

The project, to be developed in stages over a total area of 6,500 hectares, is planned to house 100,000 residents.

Kuwait's planners allocated funds for the prestigious KD22 million ($73 million) Abdullah Al Ahmed Street which aims to transform the street into a tourist, entertainment and commercial hotspot on the lines of the Champs D' Elysses in Paris, France.

It is expected to become the focal point of the city, and it will be undertaken in phases in hand with the private sector.

Funds worth KD11.5 million were allocated for the project during a meeting of the planning committee headed by First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Shaikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

During the meeting, the planning committee also gave the go-ahead for the development of Failaka Island.

Bids to develop the island into a tourist resort are expected to be called by the end of this year and work on the project would start by 2002, the newspaper said.

Kuwait has for years looked at redeveloping Failaka.

Among plans to develop Failaka include a 420-chalet resort by the state-owned Tourism Enterprises Company (TEC).