Tender processed for 19,000 meters
To be installed ahead of tariffs increase
A committee formed to study the bids made for a tender to supply electric meters (types A5/300, A-5/200 and A-3/125) recommended awarding the tender to bidders with the lowest bids after approval by the supreme tenders committee at the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW). The tender involves purchasing and supplying 19,000 meters to cover consumer needs in various sectors - be they commercial, investment or residential, MEW sources. The meters should be installed at apartment buildings and commercial facilities before May, when the new electricity tariffs become effective.
Power grids
The Gulf Cooperation Council Interconnection Authority (GCCIA) is working on expanding interconnection to exchange power with North African and Turkish power grids, GCCIA’s CEO Ahmed Ali Al-Ibrahim said. Ibrahim added that GCCIA also encourages members to commercially exchange power in 2017 and make better use of the project. Ibrahim stressed that GCCIA is working on increasing GCC investment opportunities in renewable energy such as solar and wind energy.
Companies closed
Assessment and follow-up director at the Public Authority for Manpower Sabah Al-Mutairi said 1,090 companies - including 90 fake ones that were closed down according to code 71, had been referred for investigations for violating labor laws in 2016 and expected these companies to be referred to prosecution. Mutairi added that the committee includes elements from the manpower authority, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Kuwait Municipality and managed to arrest 1,238 peddlers and laborers who were deported for violating labor laws. Mutairi added that a recent inspection campaign at Abdali and Wafra farms resulted in detecting violations in over 240 farms and that some of the farms had more laborers than needed.
Parliamentary committees
Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah is scheduled to take part in the parliamentary financial committee’s meeting today to discuss a bill on amending law number 15/1979 pertaining civil services and its leading positions. Parliamentary sources said that the government has no objections for passing the leading positions law, which had been demanded by lawmakers in several parliaments previously. The financial committee will also discuss reports about the 2014-2015 annual plan and Capital Market Authority’s response to the remarks made in a report about its violations.
Meanwhile, the parliamentary interior and defense committee is scheduled to discuss withdrawal of citizenships in today’s meeting as well as lawmakers’ suggestions on amending the citizenship law, said informed sources, noting that the committee will also discuss proposals to amend the election law to cancel some of its conditions, but will reject them.
Bedoon teachers’
Minister of Education Mohammed Al-Fares discussed the bedoon teachers’ issue with the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Administrative Affairs Fahd Al-Ghaiss and the Civil Service Commission’s (CSC) letter which bans granting these teachers any vacation time. Fares urged Ghaiss to contact CSC demanding more privileges for bedoon teachers including equal salaries as expats, changing their contracts and giving them equal vacations as their peers.
The Ministry of Education announced its need to locally hire teachers in 10 subjects including Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Geology, Arabic, English, French, Physical Education and Music for the academic year 2017-2018, said educational sources. The sources also noted that assistant undersecretary for public education Fatima Al-Kandari officially contacted undersecretary Haitham Al-Athari concerning the ministry’s needs for teaching staff members for the coming school year. The sources expected the ministry to officially announce receiving applications by the end of the month and said that Gulf nationals, bedoons and those whose mothers are Kuwaitis and those married to Kuwaitis will be exempt from the experience condition.
Housing plots
The Public Authority for Housing Welfare announced that 2,932 applications had been filed to get plots in South Khaitan and South Saad Al-Abdullah and stressed that those who filed applications in the period of 1985-1998 will have better chances.
Municipal Council
Head of the structural plan follow-up committee at the Municipal Council Ali Al-Moussa expressed gratitude to Minister of Municipality Affairs Mohammed Al-Jabri for approving the decisions made at the Municipal Council’s extraordinary meeting. “This proves that the meeting called for by six members was legal, which is the opposite of the what the legal department believes,” he underlined, pointing out that article 15 of the municipal council law allowed holding extraordinary meetings held upon requests from the minister, the municipal council chairman and five of its members.