KUWAIT: Ministry of Interior statistics show that 9,696 people have been granted Kuwaiti citizenship in the period of 2010-2016, according to various citizenship articles. Meanwhile, the Cabinet's citizenship committee has referred the files of 200 children of people who recently acquired Kuwaiti citizenship to the criminal evidence department to undergo DNA tests to grant them citizenship as well. Informed sources said that the 200 people were summoned in batches to undergo the procedure along with their children.

North Zour  plant

Kuwait has invited two out of three consortiums applying to execute the North Zour power plant's tender. Informed sources said officials from the Kuwait Authority For Partnership Projects and the Ministry of Electricity and Water held special meetings with the Japanese Marubeni Corp and Fuad Al-Ghanem and Sons Co and Sumitomo Corp, Osaka Gas Co and National Industries Group. The sources added that a third consortium led by Saudi Aqua Power Co and a Japanese company was not invited to the meeting. The three consortia had filed their bids on June 21, 2016, but the bids will not be opened until after the final technical assessment. Notably, the new plant will produce at least 1,500 megawatts of electricity and desalinate 102 million imperial gallons of water a day.

Land transport

Deputy director of the roads public authority Saud Al-Naqi said the land transport department would be shifted from the ministry of communications to the authority next month. Naqi added that the authority's organizational structure was completed pending review by board members for approval, before submitting it to the Cabinet for final approval and naming a director.

Billionaires

A report issued by CNBC on the top cities favored by millionaires and billionaires around the world showed that 97 out of the world's 2,473 billionaires reside in New York. Among Arabs, the report said Kuwait came in sixth and 37th in the world with 11 billionaires. The report showed that the Arab list was topped by Dubai with 35 billionaires, followed by Riyadh (13th worldwide) with 24 billionaires, Jeddah (16th worldwide) with 23 billionaires, Cairo (32nd worldwide) with 13 billionaires and finally Abu Dhabi (35th worldwide) with 12 billionaires.

Free Trade Zone

Managing Director of the Public Authority for Investment (PAI), Bader Al-Saad said that there has been no feasibility study for building a free trade zone in Salmy. In a letter responding to a proposal made by municipal council member Hassan Kamal about building free zones at the three land border exists in Salmy, Abdaly and Nuwaiseeb, Saad said that a study about the Abdaly free zone has been completed, but he denied plans to build any zones in Salmy and Nuwaiseeb.

By A Saleh