ShareKUWAIT: Minister of Education Hamed Al-Azmi defended closing the educational and scientific museum due to construction faults and the falling of some parts of the ceiling of the natural history auditorium. Responding to an inquiry by MP Osama Al-Shaheen concerning suspending maintenance operations at the museum since it was shuttered, Azmi said that a public-private partnership (PPP) project contract had been signed to build a new educational and scientific museum because there was no economic feasibility in restoring the old building. Azmi added that a mobile van is being currently used as an alternative for student visits as the van tours various educational zones and schools where students can see various items displayed for their benefit.
Express logistics
In order to achieve HH the Amir's vision of turning Kuwait into an international financial and commercial hub, Kuwait has set futuristic plans to develop various strategic sectors and enhance their competitiveness through several projects, such as developing ports, airports, roads and railways. Accordingly, an economic report titled 'Kuwait Express Delivery and E-Commerce Logistics Market Outlook till 2022' provides a comprehensive analysis of express and e-commerce logistics services in Kuwait.
The report focuses on overall market size for express logistics as well as e-commerce logistics in Kuwait, express delivery market segmentation by air express and road express, by delivery type (international express and domestic express), by business mode (B2B, C2C and B2C), Kuwait e-commerce logistics market segmentation by channel (e-commerce merchants and 3PL companies), by time duration (same day delivery beyond five hours, delivery within five hours and others)and by payment method (cash on delivery and others).
The report also covers the overall competitive landscape, growth drivers and trends and the government's role and regulations. The report concludes with market projection for the future and analyst recommendations highlighting major opportunities and threats. The report also predicted that in view of the rise in online shopping, e-commerce will grow to $1.1 billion by 2020 and that logistics and storage markets will positively and annually grow by 9 percent during 2018 to 2022.
Indian power plant
The Resurgent Power Company, in which Kuwait Investment Authority is a major investor, recently acquired a 75.01 percent stake in Jaiprakash Associates' 1,980-megawatt Indian power plant. In this regard, Renascent Power Ventures; a subsidiary of Resurgent Powers, signed an agreement to purchase the shares from the lenders' group led by State Bank of India.
KD 8 million
The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) recently lost over KD 8 million in fines and compensations ordered by final court orders in cases filed against the ministry over the past nine years (2009-2018). According to statistics presented by Minister Bakheet Al-Rasheedi on responding to an inquiry by MP Essa Al-Kandari, the largest amount in fines and compensations (KD 2,893,675) was paid in 2013-2014. Rasheedi added that MEW won 215 cases and lost 27 cases filed by companies or individuals. Rasheedi explained that the oil ministry has only lost a limited number of cases and paid only KD 1,230 in compensation, compared to the cases it won.
Housing welfare law
Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem listed six proposals to amend the housing welfare law that had been all rejected by the government on the National Assembly's agenda. Notably, the housing ministry had rejected a proposal to grant bachelor citizens older than 45 any housing loans on grounds that such a privilege will encourage more youth to remain unmarried. The ministry also justified the decision by the possibility of exhausting the Credit Bank's capital.
By A Saleh
