Parsons hopeful its Kuwaiti experience will bring contracts.

Parsons hopeful its Kuwaiti experience will bring contracts

Parsons Corp. of Pasadena hopes to have a role in rebuilding the infrastructure in Kuwait, where it has been building roads and bridges for the past 12 years, said company spokeswoman Debbie Williams.

Parsons, a construction and engineering firm with 8,000 employees worldwide, has a 35-year history of projects in the Middle East and a 30-year presence in Kuwait. The $880 million (sales) company had just completed work on a power plant in Kuwait when Iraq invaded, and several Parsons employees were trapped there until the hostages were released shortly before the United States declared war.

But at this point, Williams said, nothing has been decided about who will obtain the major rebuilding work or even who will award the contracts - the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Kuwaiti government.

"We don't know what our role will be," Williams said. "The Middle East, overall, is a large chunk of our business. Our experience in Kuwait has been mainly in the infrastructure area; that's where most people see us having a role."

The company is continuing work on projects in Saudi Arabia, some of which have been accelerated, while other planned projects in Kuwait were cancelled or put on hold during the war, Williams said. Parsons has not been involved in recent projects in Iraq, she added.

Parsons specializes in design, engineering and construction management, Williams said, and usually subcontracts with other firms for the actual construction.