PAHW implements Kuwaitization policy by replacing expat labour

No new contract for expatriates issued last year

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 30: Public Authority of Housing Welfare (PAHW) has started implementing the “Kuwaitization” policy by replacing expatriate labor force with national labor force – a move aimed at encouraging the latter, especially after the authority noticed the migration of its Kuwaiti employees to other governmental institutions, which reduced the number of Kuwaiti employees to 112 from 1195 employees in the fiscal year 2014/2015, reports Annahar daily.

According to reliable sources, PAHW will end the contracts of the expatriate workforce, who, by the start of the current fiscal year, had reached 668 employees and were being paid salaries worth a total of KD 4,112,000.

They explained that the number of Kuwaiti employees is expected to fall further to 70 during the current fiscal year. The number of those expected to resign or retire from PAHW is more than 85. At the same time, the number of Kuwaitis expected to be employed is 263.

The sources indicated that 20 positions, which were allocated for non-Kuwaitis, were replaced by Kuwaitis in the past fiscal year and that 30 other positions are expected to be included in the current fiscal year, which will in turn reduce the number of expatriates (non-Kuwaitis) by 60 and make the total number of expatriate employees 607 by the end of March 2017.

They affirmed that no new contracts for expatriates were issued last year while they are expecting 20 contracts to be signed this year in order to fill the vacant positions, which perhaps will be due to some resignations or retirements.

The sources stressed that the coming year will witness increase in the total salaries paid to expatriates to KD 5,382,000 – an increase of KD 1,296,000 from the current value – as well as KD 419,000 as bonuses, KD 33,000 as insurance, KD 480,000 as leave salaries and KD 50,000 as indemnity.

The number of registered employees expected to complete the current fiscal year is 2,045 employees including 668 expatriates (which is 66 less than the numbers in 2014/2015 fiscal year), more than 100 engineers working in various specializations under private contracts, 50 secretaries, 21 accountants and 7 legal advisors, in addition to a number of employees in services, transportation, drawing and planning positions.