KUWAIT: The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor (MSAL) tends to suspend the applications and transactions of ten co-operative societies upon the minister's instructions as the concerned co-ops had not been cooperating in recruiting more citizens. Controversy took place concerning an agreement signed by MSAL, co-ops and the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program to provide more job opportunities for Kuwaitis.

Seafront development

Sources at the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) said that the ministry had included a project to develop the seafront within the development plan projects for the fiscal year 2018-2019, which was recently submitted to the Supreme Council of Planning and Development, as well as the Finance Ministry. The sources added that the project's estimated cost would be KD 90 million and that it will be executed in two years to develop 1.8 kilometers of the seafront and achieve substantial development in its public services. The project includes building restaurants, cafes, an outdoor sports club, jogging lanes, facilities for various marine and beach activities and parking spaces for 1,950 vehicles. "A meeting will be held on May 10 between MPW and the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC) to discuss further details," the sources concluded.

KPC budget

A governmental document showed that Kuwait Petroleum Corporation's (KPC) budget by the end of the fiscal year 2016-2017 included extra KD 4 billion it had made in the years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 making the 2016-2017 fiscal year's actual revenues add up to KD 17 billion with a 31.2 percent increase higher than the estimate. The document also revealed that KPC's expenditure had increased by 23.6 percent compared to budget estimates making KD 15.6 billion that is 3 billion higher than estimates.

MOH violations

The parliamentary budgets and final statement committee yesterday discussed the State Audit Bureau report and remarks for the fiscal year 2016-2017 as well as the remarks made by the Civil Service Commission's (CSC) recruitment supervisors in 2017. The committee explained that the report included monitoring 59 government bodies and showed that violations detected in 2016-2017 had dropped by 8,400 compared to the previous year. The report also showed that the Ministry of Health (MOH) made the highest number of violations with 13,700. The committee also noted that auditors usually faced obstacles on performing their duties in some government bodies where internal auditing departments are too week. A job vacancy ad made by the State Audit Bureau sought the employment of experienced auditors and stressed that it should rather employ new graduates to help them acquire knowledge and experience.

By A Saleh