KUWAIT: Some MPsspoke about what some of their colleagues have said about the populationstructure, calling for legislations to be discussed during the upcoming termthat will prevent bringing expat labor to the country. Parliamentary sourcessaid the demographic issue has no presence on the National Assembly's agendafor next term which will start at the end of October. They said the populationissue is multifaceted with many government agencies involved, such as theinterior ministry, manpower authority, chamber of commerce and the civilservice commission, and it is impossible to make conclusive decisions in just afew months.
The sources saidsome MPs proposed solutions such as halting work permits for somenationalities, increasing service fees, allocating a quota for each community,in addition to imposing health insurance on every expat and an annual fee forservices. They said such proposals are made for electoral gains, but they needextensive studies and legislative amendments because they may have negativerepercussions, especially since the public sector is still suffering from aweakness in Kuwaitis' productivity. This made many government agencies toretain expats, while many are employing expats on an ad hoc basis, because thecivil service commission hasn't allocated places for non-Kuwaitis.
Licenses to build
Separately,official sources at the housing authority said the owners of land south ofSabah Al-Ahmad City will not be given licenses to build before completing theinfrastructure of the area, the first of which is the new sewerage system thatlinks the city with two stations being built south of the country.
The sources saidthe housing authority wants to avoid problems of hasty granting of constructionlicenses in Sabah Al-Ahmad, believing companies will finish their work beforecitizens build their homes, which led to the flooding of the area and damaginghomes. They said the sewer station in Um Al-Haiman, which will be ready soon,will deal with any problem in the sewerage network, adding that the city whencomplete will be named Sabah Al-Awal (Sabah I) City.
In other news,the Commerce and Industry Ministry moved 10 experienced employees from thesupervision and consumer protection department to Sharq fish market to boostthe supervisory presence there.
By A Saleh