sorry but on 02 Aug I was sleeping off sight near Shwaibah doing a general update of the refinery when I got a call at 0430 which told me to "grab your passport and head south" (no explanation) which I did - the KSA border was open and we "hid out" in Jubail (which I knew from an earlier Contract).
Returned afterwards to rebuild Shwaibah, Ahmedy and Abdullah under KNPC-RRP where we first had to find the booby traps left by the former occupiers before we could repair the damaged refineries (I wrote the Contracts) that had been hit to stop the oil flowing into the Gulf (that plus emergency shutdowns had internally damaged the refinery opererations).
Anyhow, wound up living at the Intercon on Ring Road 6 down from the stadium where the Iraqi tanks were towed in from Jarra Road but don't recall much else as I was working 14-hour days, 7-days a week for 14-months writing the reconstruction contracts.
I do recall the area where 3 massive residences were built along the Cornish along with the twin towers that had like other places been shot up and Salwa does ring a bell, but memories failing at my "old age"
Originally Posted by
khabah
Hi guys -
I know this one's a long way off but after nearly three decades of having left the Kuwaiti market, Hyatt is FINALLY returning with a Grand Hyatt in 2020.
Hyatt originally managed a beachfront hotel in the Al-Bida'a area of Kuwait in the 1980s called the Hyatt Regency Kuwait. It left Hyatt and rebranded before the Iraqi Invasion of 1990 as an independent hotel called Kuwait Regency Palace, which was then burned down and all but destroyed during the Invasion itself.
The Iraqis also burned the Sheraton, Radisson Blu and Ramada Al Salam hotels down; they also torched the lobby of the-then Le Méridien [now JW Marriott].
Do you remember where the residential districts of Salwa and Rumaithiya are? The current Regency is located on the seaside just north of Salwa and across from Rumaithiya. It's essentially a major gutting and reconstruction of the bones of the old Hyatt/Regency Palace.
Back to the new Grand Hyatt though: the site is located in Al Zahra, an upscale residential district within five minutes of Kuwait International Airport and just down a highway from downtown Kuwait. The location is quiet but convenient; 360 is a posh mall with the likes of Cartier, Saint Laurent and Gucci occupying prime space with a Bloomingdale's coming next year. I live right behind the construction site so I'll keep a keen eye on the development.
Great news, however; I expect nothing less than the best quality from the developers.
khabah