Student faces legal action after spreading 'holiday' rumors

KUWAIT: The Municipal Council's Capital committee yesterday put on hold a decision to allocate unused and unmaintained locations on Failaka Island - part of the island's development efforts - pending the presence of representatives from the Cabinet and the island's development team. The committee also postponed discussing the Entertainment City's development project to invite the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR) and the Environment Public Authority (EPA) to attend the meeting.

In addition, the committee's chairman Hassan Kamal said that the committee discussed a request by Kuwait Ports Authority to add new commercial activities at the authority's administrative building in Shuwaikh Port, a proposal to fence jogging lanes in Adailiya, another to build multilevel parking at Kuwait University's Khaldiya campus and deducting 3000 sq m from the Ministry of Public Works' sewage pump in Daiya to build a main drainage transfer plant.

Meanwhile, Municipal Council member Abdul Wahhab Buresli proposed turning the former NGO buildings in Shuwaikh into a hotel in order to help achieve His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's vision of turning Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub. Buresli noted that those locations are close to Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre and that Kuwait will need a hotel complex to serve large delegations due to visit Kuwait as per the New Kuwait 2035 vision.

Integrated camping zone
In the meantime, Kuwait Municipality's Deputy Director General for Hawally and Ahmadi governorate affairs Fahd Al-Shutaili said the coordinates of 34 campsites were sent to the Defense Ministry, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and Environment Public Authority for approval, adding the municipality has added new sites and cancelled others, Al-Rai daily reported yesterday. He said there is a plan to allocate an integrated camping zone with a co-op society, and invest in it by renting it to citizens and expats. Shutaili said Kuwaitis can book or choose any camp regardless if they are a member of a co-op society, because camps are not exclusive for shareholders only. But co-ops can designate a day for them, adding fees will be taken from citizens. He said co-ops have sites according to rules, and the municipality decided to expand those to include small camps for marketing and entertainment services for citizens. He said 18 distinguished sites were allocated for co-ops and can be increased if necessary. Shutaili said applying the plan and its success will fight commercial camps, in addition to reducing prices and the flexibility of removing them at the end of the season, while protecting the environment and allowing all to rent camps at weekends.

New patent
The energy and construction research center at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) was awarded a new patent for inventing a new method to evaporate stainless steel and use it as a paint for metal surfaces to protect them from erosion and rust. In this regard, KISR researchers Nasser Al-Sayegh, Mariam Adnan and Feras Al-Zobi stressed that the new method involves evaporating stainless steel to manufacture the paint, then condensing it on contact with metal surfaces in nanometer layers.

Student spread 'holiday' rumors
A student faces legal action after he was identified as the person who spread rumors that went viral on social media about today allegedly being given as a holiday, Al-Rai reported yesterday. A government source said official holidays are announced through official channels and concerned government departments, denying rumors that today will be a holiday in anticipation for the return of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Kuwait. The source said if today was to be a holiday, the Civil Service Commission would've been asked to announce it. He said the public should get accurate information from official sources. The source said the student who circulated the rumor regarding the holiday will face legal action.

Alert level down
A police source said Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah issued a circular to ease alert orders from full to partial and from partial to none, Al-Anbaa daily reported yesterday. The circular was issued after evaluation of the security situation. As for leaves, the sources said they are not being issued except in cases determined by assistant undersecretaries until further notice.

Airport staff allowance
The Civil Service Commission (CSC) decided paying a unified allowance to 750 Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) employees due to work at Kuwait International Airport starting from November 2019. Notably, DGCA had sent CSC a memo with all the conditions of paying the allowance and how much it would be per employee, bearing in mind that the allowances will be paid to staff members in the operations, engineering and security sectors at all the airport facilities, and that the allowance will vary between KD 150-350 according to the grade and job description.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi, A Saleh and Agencies