KUWAIT: Makingsure that proper infrastructure is in place for key residential projects isamong the government's chief priorities, Minister of Public Works Dr JenanBoushehri said yesterday. The minister's remarks came in response to a questionby a lawmaker, during yesterday's parliament session, over a residentialproject planned for Kuwait's southern suburb of Khaitan. Boushehri, who alsoserves as minister of state for housing, underlined that "responsibilityfor infrastructure is primarily held by the ministry of public works."
Meanwhile,Finance Minister Dr Nayef Al-Hajraf said that the government is taking thenecessary measures to reclaim retained earnings found in a number of statebodies including Kuwait Port Authority, in addition to the oil sector. "Wehave taken back $12 billion worth of retained earnings from the oilsector," the minister revealed.
Amir's motivation
In the meantime,the Minister of Justice said that he is quite motivated by His Highness theAmir's confidence in him, pledging to sincerely serve Kuwait in any post. DrFahad Al-Afasi, who doubles as Minister of National Assembly Affairs, said in astatement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that he has been deeply honored with theconfidence accorded to him by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-AhmadAl-Jaber Al-Sabah in the cabinet reshuffle. "I have been placed in frontof a great challenge; a challenge that spurs me to work more diligently and serveKuwait continuously at any position I am assigned to," minister Afasiadded.
Afasi said thatduring his service as minister of awqaf he had made several accomplishments;such as a new administrative structure separating divisions' jurisdictions andcreating new posts. Elaborating, Afasi said he was co-architect of the"new mosque covenant" for regulating activities at the mosques,enactment of waqf funds laws, regulations for research and manuscripts'authentication.
Manpowerauthority
Meanwhile, a dailyreported yesterday that a resolution is expected to be made soon to put thePublic Authority for Manpower under the jurisdiction of the newly-appointedMinister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel. The fact that thePublic Authority for Manpower was not subjected to the newly-appointed Ministerof Social Affairs Saad Al-Karraz or the newly-appointed Minister of State forEconomic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel was cause for surprise, as the three bodies -the ministry of social affairs and labor, ministry of state for economicaffairs and the manpower authority - had all been within former minister HindAl-Sabeeh's jurisdiction, Al-Rai reported yesterday.
Official sourcesquoted in the report noted that the manpower authority is presumed to be underAqeel's jurisdiction along with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and theManpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP). The sources added thatover her years in office, Sabeeh worked on gathering all labor market anddemography-related bodies under the umbrella of the ministry of state foreconomic affairs.