MPW reshuffle expected

Probe continues

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 17: Minister of Public Works Dr Jinan Boushahri is expected to execute a limited reshuffling among a number of assistant undersecretaries of the ministry, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting informed sources.

They revealed that the service term of the Assistant Undersecretary for Follow-up and the Office of the minister Hussain Al-Otaibi ended in the beginning of October 2019 but there was no one to replace him, which increased the need for a reshuffle.

The sources indicated that the reshuffle is expected to include four departments – Sanitary Engineering Department, Legal Affairs Department, Government Center for Quality Control, and Construction Projects Department.

In addition, they stressed that the technical and legal committee assigned to investigate the projects for the upgrade of the drainage network in Gharnata, Sabah Al-Salem and Andalous areas at a total cost of KD 33 million is continuing its work including conducting investigations with the relevant directors and technical officials.

The sources explained that the ministry formed a technical team in 2017 to supervise and follow up the execution of the works after coming across a number of observations. The team discovered that these observations included manipulations conducted by the consultant that resulted in the expenditure of huge amount of public funds.

Based on the results of the investigations conducted by the technical team, Undersecretary of Ministry of Public Works issued a decision to form a technical and legal committee to investigate the issue.

The ministry managed to restore KD one million from just a single violation out of the many violations recorded against the consultant of the project.

The violations include mistakes in some contracts, and amendment of contracts without consulting the ministry since it is the owner of the project.