Kuwait’s cabinet has approved plans for a KD1.2 billion ($4.15 billion) development for the country’s Boubyan Island.

Kuwait plans to invest more than $50 billion in housing and infrastructure projects by 2010.
The cabinet also approved setting up a KD500 million development fund and a development and construction company with a capital of KD1 billion. The plans must be approved by parliament and endorsed by the Emir to become final.
The Boubyan development company and the development and construction firm will be 80 per cent-owned by Kuwaitis.
The cabinet move followed a presentation by Finance Minister Badr Al Humaidhi on Kuwait’s surplus and reserves for the last budget year.
Kuwait has in recent years reported record budget surpluses thanks to the surging price of oil, which accounts for up to 90 per cent of its revenues.
The country, which sits on a tenth of global oil reserves, has a population of 2.7 million, of whom fewer than 1 million are Kuwaitis and the rest expatriate workers and their families.