China asked by Kuwait to build housing for foreign labourers

• Accommodation for 220,000 needed
• Company with global reputation sought
• Aim is to improve living standards

Kuwait has asked China to appoint a construction company to build six projects to house 220,000 foreign labourers, after accidents that claimed the lives of overseas workers because of improper conditions.

The plan has been on the cards for several years but gained momentum last year after a fire in a labour housing complex in Kuwait’s north-western Jahra governorate killed nearly 50 workers, mostly Indians.

“We are waiting for the Chinese government to name a government company which is capable of undertaking this major project,” Samih Hayat, an aide to Kuwait’s foreign minister, told the newspaper Alqabas. 

“This company should have a global reputation of being able to execute such large projects.”

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Kuwait presented the housing project to Beijing during a visit to China two years ago by the then crown prince, Mashal Al-Ahmed.

Newspapers in Kuwait said in 2024 that the plan involves China constructing six complexes to accommodate nearly 220,000 foreign labourers.

“The project aims to address the shortage of labour housing, improve the living standards of low-income workers and reduce traffic congestion,” Alqabas reported.

Like other Gulf oil producers, Kuwait relies on expatriate labour from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines and other Asian countries. 

At the end of September, expatriates accounted for more than a fifth of Kuwait’s population of almost five million, or 2.1 million people, excluding another 700,000 domestic workers.