KUWAIT: Some MPs
spoke about what some of their colleagues have said about the population
structure, calling for legislations to be discussed during the upcoming term
that will prevent bringing expat labor to the country. Parliamentary sources
said the demographic issue has no presence on the National Assembly's agenda
for next term which will start at the end of October. They said the population
issue is multifaceted with many government agencies involved, such as the
interior ministry, manpower authority, chamber of commerce and the civil
service commission, and it is impossible to make conclusive decisions in just a
few months.

The sources said
some MPs proposed solutions such as halting work permits for some
nationalities, increasing service fees, allocating a quota for each community,
in addition to imposing health insurance on every expat and an annual fee for
services. They said such proposals are made for electoral gains, but they need
extensive studies and legislative amendments because they may have negative
repercussions, especially since the public sector is still suffering from a
weakness in Kuwaitis' productivity. This made many government agencies to
retain expats, while many are employing expats on an ad hoc basis, because the
civil service commission hasn't allocated places for non-Kuwaitis.

Licenses to build

Separately,
official sources at the housing authority said the owners of land south of
Sabah Al-Ahmad City will not be given licenses to build before completing the
infrastructure of the area, the first of which is the new sewerage system that
links the city with two stations being built south of the country.

The sources said
the housing authority wants to avoid problems of hasty granting of construction
licenses in Sabah Al-Ahmad, believing companies will finish their work before
citizens build their homes, which led to the flooding of the area and damaging
homes. They said the sewer station in Um Al-Haiman, which will be ready soon,
will deal with any problem in the sewerage network, adding that the city when
complete will be named Sabah Al-Awal (Sabah I) City.

In other news,
the Commerce and Industry Ministry moved 10 experienced employees from the
supervision and consumer protection department to Sharq fish market to boost
the supervisory presence there.

By A Saleh