KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of State for Development and Planning Hind Al-Subaih (left) speaks during the Municipal Council’s reform and development committee meeting yesterday. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh

KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor and Minister of State for Development and Planning Hind Al-Subaih said that more than 70 percent of the delay in planned development projects was due to executors rather than monitoring bodies.

Speaking at the Municipal Council's reform and development committee meeting Subaih noted that more than half of the projects discussed were completed. She said that the government had faced very limited obstacles but she hoped delay rates would be at zero soon.

Land not allocated

Subaih explained that some projects had faced problems because no land had yet been allocated for it. Thus it was decided that no future projects would be included in Kuwait's development plans until land was allocated. Subaih also explained that some projects had been delayed for more than 15 years due to contingent changes in budgets, conditions or other basic elements.

Commenting on the issue of accountability for those responsible for the delays, Subaih stressed that as a minister herself, she works with officials under her supervision and that other bodies and ministries report those officials to the cabinet to take proper measures against them.

Overcoming obstacles

Dr Khaled Mahdi, the Supreme Planning and Development Council Secretary General, praised the cooperation shown by government bodies in overcoming various obstacles hindering development projects.

Also speaking on the meeting, Ahmad Al-Manfouhi, Kuwait Municipality Director, stressed that holding the municipal council's reform and development workshop reflects cooperation amongst various government bodies.

Manfouhi added that municipality teams had worked during and outside official working hours to overcome all obstacles and that all government bodies were satisfied especially since some projects had been delayed since 2001.

Further, Manfouhi added some projects had been delayed because of some other government bodies and stressed that, so far, no municipality officials would be  dismissed because of the delay, especially since the cabinet closely follows up the performance of officials in various government bodies.

Combining efforts

Osama Al-Otaibi, head of the Municipal Council's reform and development committee, said that this was the third workshop held on the state's development projects. He added that the first workshop discussed 30 projects that were followed up in the second workshop while the third workshop was dedicated to discussing five projects. Otaibi also urged all government bodies to cooperate and combine efforts to facilitate the execution of all development projects as scheduled.

The meeting was attended by government bodies executing the development plan projects, planning and municipality officials.