KUWAIT: KuwaitiMinister of Public Works and Minister of State for Housing Affairs Dr JananBushehri announced yesterday that the Cabinet has agreed to reduce the symbolicvalue of Al-Mutlaa city's residential lots from KD 5,000 to KD 3,000 (from$17,000 to $10,00). The move comes upon the directives of His Highness thePrime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. In a press statementafter the weekly cabinet meeting, Bushehri said that at the behest of HisHighness Prime Minister and his support for the housing issue and apresentation tabled at the meeting, the Cabinet decided to approve this issue.
She added thatthe Public Authority for Housing Welfare submitted to the Cabinet a study onthe symbolic value of Al-Mutlaa city's residential lots, noting that the numberof beneficiaries of this reduction exceeds 28,000 Kuwaiti families. TheMinister of Housing stressed keenness of Public Authority for Housing Welfareto support the citizens and ease their financial burdens, especially in themodern housing units and border cities, thanking His Highness the PrimeMinister for his continuous support to the housing issue and citizens.
Certificate check
Meanwhile, theCabinet commended the efforts of an ad hoc committee entrusted with checkingthe university documents of Kuwaiti citizens and residents alike. This cameduring the cabinet's discussion of the committee's report on the recentlyraised issue of forged university documents at a customary weekly meeting heldat Bayan Palace and presided over by Acting Prime Minister and Foreign MinisterSheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
The cabinet alsolistened to a briefing from Minister of Education and Higher Education HamedAl-Azmi, who doubles as the head of the committee, Deputy Premier and Ministerof State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh said in a statement following themeeting. Having checked a total 6,050 certificates, the panel has sent a numberof forged documents to the Public Prosecution as a prelude to legal actionagainst those involved in the case, Saleh said.
Al-Qabas dailyhad reported yesterday that an Egyptian man, who had masterminded the forgeriesof degrees in Kuwait and then fled to Egypt, Turkey and UAE in an attempt toescape arrest, is finally in Kuwaiti custody. After his name was sent toInterpol, security sources said UAE security authorities arrested the suspect,notified Kuwait and handed him over. During initial interrogations, the suspectadmitted that another Egyptian working at a university outside Cairo had beenproviding him with blank degrees from various Egyptian universities and that helater filled in holders' data as required. The suspect also stressed that hehas full information about those he had sold the fake degrees to, noting thatthey are mainly Kuwaitis.
Ministerscongratulated
Also locally, theCabinet congratulated the newly appointed ministers, wishing them the best ofluck in serving their respective country's national interests, he added.Internationally, the Cabinet offered heartfelt condolences to UAE PresidentSheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the victims of a recent helicopter crash.
The Kuwaitiministers also deplored a recent attack on the Libyan Ministry of ForeignAffairs, which left a number of people dead or injured. They further voicedvehement condemnation of a tourist bus blast in Egypt's Giza Governorate. Inthis regard, the cabinet resounded Kuwait's unwavering position based on decryingviolence and terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, reiterating that itstands side by side with Libya and Egypt. - KUNA