KUWAIT: Lawmakersyesterday urged the government to take concrete actions to translate itspromises to rectify the severe imbalance in the demographic composition, whereexpatriates are more than double the number of citizens. MP Mohammad Al-Hadiyasaid issues like the demographic structure, labor cities and unmarried expatsliving in family residential areas have remained unresolved for years, althoughplans and measures have already been prepared.
He said that manysingle expats still live in family areas after the government repeatedlydelayed the construction of special towns for laborers, although the citieswere approved by the Municipal Council about 10 years ago. The lawmaker saidthe government has failed to take proper actions against visa traders, themajority of whom are highly influential people, which complicated thepopulation problem. Hadiya accused the government of not being serious inresolving such critical issues.
MP Saleh Ashoursaid solutions to the population structure and towns for laborers have remainedon government shelves for years without any action, adding that it is strangeto repeatedly hear statements from ministers and officials about these issues,but they nevertheless remain without solutions. He said that scores of studiesand researches had been made on these problems, but the government has made noprogress on the ground to implement the solutions.
Meanwhile, MPRiyadh Al-Adasani warned the government yesterday against privatizing anypublic services which could result in hiking prices of the services andcommodities. The lawmaker said allowing the private sector to control publicutilities and vital sectors is totally rejected and threatened he would use constitutionaltools against the government.
Adasani sentquestions to the government over reports of plans to privatize some state-runpublic services, saying he is totally opposed to this because it will lead toprice increases. The lawmaker also criticized the government for implementingthe early retirement law by forcing some employees to go on early retirement,saying he had warned against the loopholes of the law during its debate in theAssembly. He said he will file amendments to the law when the new Assembly termopens in October.
By B Izzak