Efforts to separate Municipal Council chairman's office from ministry

KUWAIT: There are 20,000 citizens who are annually appointed in private sector jobs, including those appointed for the first time and those reappointed in different areas, the Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) Secretary General Fauzi Al-Majdali said yesterday. Majdali added that with new developmental projects opened and putting proposals ensuring the protection of national labor rights in the private sector into practice, this number would increase over the coming few years. Majdali stressed that citizens would be prioritized in utilizing job opportunities to be created by the developmental projects, followed by children of Kuwaiti women and bedoons.

Chairman's office

Municipal Council Chairman Osama Al-Otaibi urged Minister of State for Municipal Affairs and Public Works Hossam Al-Roumi to undo a decision subjecting the Municipal Council chairman's office to the minister until further studies are made. Otaibi argued that the decision would make it harder to run the council properly.

Separately, Municipal Council member and head of its Jahra committee Ahmed Hadyan Al-Enezi stressed that an alternative land plot would be allocated soon for the fodder market along Salmi highway. Enezi said that in support of the livestock and fodder trade, the new location would substitute the current one which was destroyed in a recent fire. Enezi said he met Sheikh Mohammed Al-Yousif, Director of the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR), who promised to allocate the new location soon.

In other news, Municipal Council member Abdullah Al-Roumi filed an inquiry concerning schools in private and ideal residential areas, their total number, licensed ones, ones with expired licenses and the process of applying to open new ones.

Food bank

Kuwait Food Bank (KFB) launched an initiative to establish an international union for food banks in the Muslim world with the aim of widening KFB's vision to create a world without hunger through the land of humanity. KFB's deputy board chairman Meshaal Al-Ansari said that the initiative was a voluntary one made in response to instructions from KFB's board chairman and businessman Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi, who called for supporting the efforts exerted by various food banks in the Arab and Muslim world and coming up with creative solutions for various humanitarian issues in those countries.

Ansari added that the main reason to establish the union was to exchange expertise concerning all forms of voluntary and humanitarian activities and projects. "Being a center for humanitarian work under the leadership of HH the Amir, Kuwait embraced the initiative," he underlined. KFB's Manager Salem Al-Hamar expressed his joy over the initiative and stressed that it aims at professionally providing food supplies and basic needs as well as boosting public awareness in Muslim communities, limiting food waste, helping poor and needy families and using excess food for the benefit of Muslim communities. Notably, KFB had suggested the initiative in a meeting with Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, who highly welcomed the idea and approved it.

Oil sector

Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Bakheet Al-Rasheedi announced his full support of oil sector employees, responding to their rightful demands and resolving any problems they are facing. Rasheedi's statements came on receiving the Chairman of Oil and Petrochemical Industries Workers Confederation (OPIWC) Mohammed Hamad Al-Hajri and Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) workers syndicate member and OPIWC executive board member Adel Al-Fadl, who conveyed a number of demands. Speaking during the meeting, Hajri called for amending the contracts of employees appointed from Aug 8, 2014 until Dec 31, 2014. He also expressed his total rejection of discriminating amongst oil sector employees and stressed that law number 110/2014 was a clear violation of oil sector employees' rights and the private and oil sector labor acts.

Zbaidi fishing

Chairman of Kuwait Fishermen Union Thaher Al-Sowayyan stressed that local Zbaidi (silver pomfret) is back on sale with the beginning of its fishing season yesterday after a 45-day suspension. He also expected large numbers of consumers to attend the morning auction as this type of fish is the most favored amongst Kuwaitis.

Poisoning

The Ministry of Health (MoH) announced that a large number of construction workers who were poisoned while working at the Mutlaa residential city project have been discharged from hospitals and only a few of them are still receiving treatment, with none of them in critical condition.

Free trade zone

Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) is currently preparing to take over assets in the free trade zone in Shuwaikh and run them instead of the public authority if industry, said governmental sources. The sources also announced a plan to build five more free trade zones with a primary cost of $8.5 billion to include warehouses, rentable storage areas, construction areas, display areas, banks, hotels, post offices and insurance companies. A report by KDIPA stressed that studies and international talks are underway to develop free trade zones in collaboration with well-experienced GCC and Turkish partners with the aim of providing a minimum of 14,000 job opportunities for Kuwaitis. KDIPA stressed that foreign companies investing in these areas would be given remarkable exemptions as well as the privileges of getting commercial and industrial licenses without having a local sponsor.

Pilgrimage

The Public Authority for Minors Affairs announced accepting all the minors it patronizes who applied to perform hajj this year upon direct instructions from Minister of Justice and Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Fahd Al-Afasi. The authority announced it would pay all the expenses for those who cannot afford it as well the cost of a companion for each minor. "One hundred minors and companions applied this year and they were all accepted," the authority underscored, noting that they were all registered in one of the hajj convoys.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi and A Saleh