KUWAIT: As part of its policy to replace expatriate workers in the public sector with national manpower, the Civil Service Commission's (CSC) halted appointment of expats at the education ministry until it implements CSC instructions with regards to the jobs 'Kuwaitization' policy. High-ranking educational sources said CSC halted the procedures of appointing 35 social and psychological workers who completed appointment and medical tests, adding the commission refused to proceed with their appointment completely, adding that this move put the ministry and those involved in a bad situation. The sources said the ministry suffers from a severe shortage in social and psychological workers in schools, and that is why it resorted to locally hire those who meet the conditions, because nationals are shunning such jobs due to a lack of incentives. The ministry had informed the commission that it cannot implement the replacement policy at the present time over a lack of replacements and asked for two academic years to find national replacements.

Gas stations

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) plans to expand gas stations by restructuring some of them in a way that achieves competitiveness with other stations. Sources said the strategy aims at building 19 advanced petrol pumps in new cities in strategic locations. Meanwhile, sources said plans are being made to allocate 10 stations for small and medium projects in a move to support citizens' projects that are financed by the national fund to care for small and medium businesses.

By A Saleh