KUWAIT: Head of the National Assembly budgets committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad said yesterday that capital spending in the 2016/2017 budget will reach KD 2.7 billion, a rise of KD 560 million from the past year. He said the arrangement of the new budget has been changed, and accordingly, the distribution of expenditures has also been modified. Abdulsamad however said that the committee still contradicts the government in its insistence that the projects in the development plan are reflected in the budget.

He said the panel points out that some financial allocations for the development plan projects are being exploited for other projects not listed in the development plan. The lawmaker said the committee also pointed out that the government should determine that it has the capacity to implement the projects before listing them in the five-year development plan. The committee has asked ministries and government departments to restructure their procedures of reviewing, awarding and implementing contracts in a bid to cut expenditures. MP Yousef Al-Zalzalah called for dismissing senior officials who failed to perform their duties with regards to the development plan.

Meanwhile, head of the women’s affairs committee in the Assembly MP Saleh Ashour said yesterday that a law will be issued soon giving priority for government jobs to children of Kuwaiti women married to expatriates immediately after citizens. He said that this priority is currently given to Arab residents in the country after Kuwaitis.

The Assembly’s priorities committee said yesterday that the forthcoming session of the Assembly will approve a set of laws including those on the municipality, pharmacy and a law to stiffen penalties against violations of the laws in the private sector. It will also discuss the tenders law and amendments to the internal charter of the Assembly, among a host of issues. Sessions during the holy month of Ramadan will start from noon.

By B Izzak