KUWAIT: A public sector employee is required to obtain permission from the state department where he is employed in addition to 'security approval' from the Interior Ministry before he or she can transfer to work in the private sector, according to a new condition announced yesterday.

The new directive issued by the Public Authority for Manpower yesterday stipulates new conditions for workers under article 17 visas wishing to transfer to article 18 visas, who in that case would need to receive clearance from their employer as well as the Interior Ministry, the authority's spokesperson and public relations director Aseel Al-Mazyad said yesterday.

Environmental violations down

According to recent statistics issued by the Environment Public Authority (EPA), the total number of environmental violations dropped by over 86 percent. Statistics also showed that 178 environmental violations were cited in 2017 compared to over 1,300 in 2016. The statistics reviewed during a seminar titled 'Students and Environment Protection Law' organized for public school students explained that smoking in public areas dropped from 1,073 cases in 2016 to only 150 in 2017. The statistics also showed that littering violations dropped from 144 to only 21, engineering and environmental violations dropped from 133 to only five and violations concerning obtaining licenses prior to any construction project, even expansions, dropped from 47 to only two. EPA credited the drop to awareness campaigns it launched over the past two years.

By A Saleh