Project to have positive impact on Arab countries, primarily Iraq and Syria

KUWAIT: Sheikh Jaber Causeway is a mammoth Kuwaiti and Arab development project that will have developmental and economic impacts on Kuwait and neighboring countries. The causeway, which is considered the world's fourth longest, would positively affect several Arab countries, primarily Iraq and Syria. Generally speaking, a causeway cannot only act as a geographical connection, but also a link for development, welfare and prosperity. Sheikh Jaber Causeway would link Kuwait City to the future Silk City project, which, in turn, would be a significant development landmark in the region, benefitting as many as 140 million people in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.

In May, Kuwait inaugurated the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Causeway Project, one of the country's massive projects going down in history as the fourth longest causeway worldwide, used as part of the New Kuwait Vision 2035 of a residential and investment boom in the northern region. Sheikh Jaber Causeway shortens the distance between Kuwait City and Subiya area, initially driving 104 kilometers in 90 minutes, to a shortcut of about 37.5 kilometers in less than 30 minutes. The causeway starts from the intersection of Al-Ghazali Highway with Jamal Abdel Nasser Street at Shuwaikh Port to Al-Subiya Highway, ending at the new Al-Subiya City north of Kuwait Bay.

Construction works started on November 3, 2013 and were divided into two parts: the first one, Al-Subiya link, cost KD 738 million (approximately $2.4 billion), covering a low 27-kilometer height causeway, with the main causeway for ships passing to Al-Doha port, across a shipping lane passage that is 120 meters wide, a navigational opening that is 23 meters high. The second part includes a 4.7-kilometer-long Doha highway, with five 725-meter-high causeways and a 7.7-kilometer-long sea causeway, three traffic lanes and a safety lane in each direction costing KD 165.7 million (about $544 million). The sea causeway starts from Shuwaikh Port to the west and passes beside Umm Al-Namel Island to Doha area and then connects to the Doha Highway.

The causeway was built with over 1,500 pillars, each about three meters wide, while some of them with a depth of 72 meters at sea bottom. The project contains the construction of two artificial islands, the first near Kuwait City and the second near Subiya to provide maintenance, emergency services and coast guards patrolling the bay leading to the coast of a length of six kilometers. Environmentally aware, the utmost structural techniques are applied in order to protect the marine environment in compliance with the standards and regulations implemented studiously by Kuwait's Environment Public Authority (EPA). - KUNA