KUWAIT - Kuwait signed 400 million dinars ($1.31 billion) of three-year road maintenance contracts with 18 local and foreign companies at a ceremony in the Sabhan industrial area on Wednesay.

"This is the first time in Kuwait that 18 contracts have been signed, covering all areas of Kuwait," said Khaled Al-Osaimi, head of the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport.

The three-year contracts are aimed at improving poor road conditions that have become part of daily life and public frustration in the oil-rich country.

The companies involved include Turkey's Limak, Qatari Al-Mohannadi For Roads and Kuwaiti-listed Combined Group Contracting Company CGCK.KW among others.

($1 = 0.3065 Kuwaiti dinars)

(Reporting by Ahmed HagagyEditing by David Goodman)