Kuwait is poised to sign a $1 billion infrastructure contract for the planned South Al Mutlaa City, according to press reports.

A joint venture between Italy’s Salini Impregilo and Turkey’s Limak Construction is tipped to have won the work, with a deal expected to be signed within two weeks, according to Reuters.

The contract is expected to cover road construction and other works, and be funded by the Kuwait government, according to Naser Khraibut, director of planning at Kuwait’s Public Authority for Housing Welfare.

Khraibut also told reporters that Kuwait is about to sign a contract worth between $80 million and $90 million with Hill International to manage the building of South Al Mutlaa City, according to Reuters.

The $20bn South Al Mutlaa City project is expected to comprise of 30,000 homes with a population of about 400,000.

“There are more than 120 schools. We have hundreds of mosques, hundreds of shopping areas inside the neighbourhoods. We have health clinics, police stations. We have 30 different types of building in each neighbourhood and there is a lot of neighbourhoods. Schools alone will cost us $1.5 billion,” Khraibut was quoted as saying by The National.