ShareBlackout reported in Maidan Hawally
KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Industry (PAI) finished renewing lease contracts for investors within the free trade zone in Shuwaikh, pending procedures to transfer authority over the area to Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA) to be run and developed on par with international standards. KDIPA will restructure the zone's commercial, service and investment licenses, in addition to licensing some restaurants, travel agencies and hot beverage bars as stipulated in ministerial decision number 575/2013, which allows including publicity, ads, interior design, postal services, shipping, navigation, a hotel, and hotel apartments in no more than two percent of the free zone's total area.
Notably, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry had presented a memo to the free zone's committee on Jan 10, 2016 titled 'Free Zones in a Changing World,' explaining that the main purpose of free zones should remain economically developmental and that they should be able to attract investors.
KD 2.2 billion
A government document released yesterday showed that the oil sector had signed 586 contracts during the fiscal year 2016-2017 of a total value of KD 2.2 billion. The document also showed that the total number of contracts including commissions was 211, with a total value of KD 1.3 million. The document showed that Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) had the lion's share of the contracts, signing 321 contracts of a total value of KD 92 million, 171 of them including commissions.
The document showed that Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) came second by signing 123 contracts of a total value of KD 1.8 billion, followed by Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) with 86 contracts of a total value of KD 281 million, followed by Kuwait Oil Tankers Company (KOTC) with 18 contracts worth KD 18.5 million, the Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) with 17 contracts worth KD 12.6 million, the Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) with 12 contracts of a total value of KD 3.3 million and finally Kuwait Gulf Oil Company (KGOC) with seven contracts with a total value of KD 3.8 million.
Jobs rejected
Recruitment and budgets manager at the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Aisha Al-Mutawwa said all citizens undergraduate or graduate degrees in accounting, law and engineering who had registered for employment had been nominated for jobs in state departments. Mutawwa added that more citizens had started studying and specializing in engineering, information technology, accounting, law and other technical fields. She added that some citizens had been rejecting the jobs they get nominated to (2,083 rejections in one month), which had been delaying CSC plans.
Blackout
A blackout was reported in some residential and investment blocks in Maidan Hawally yesterday morning, said informed sources, noting that emergency services were notified and emergency teams were working on resolving the problem at the time this report was made.
Meanwhile, the renewable energy resources development committee held its 13th meeting yesterday at the Ministry of Electricity and Water's (MEW) headquarters in South Surra. The meeting was presided by MEW Undersecretary Mohammed Boshehri. The committee aims to list and document all renewable energy uses in response to HH the Amir's announcement that Kuwait plans to produce 15 percent of Kuwait's total energy production from renewable resources.
The head of the technical committee Dr Salah Al-Modhi made a presentation showing the percentage of current and future related projects. Col Hamad Al-Kharraz made a presentation on a project to use solar power at border posts to reduce pressure on the main power grid and cut operational costs of generating electricity.
No permission
Kuwait Municipality issued warning notices to around 130 camps pitched without prior permissions and licenses in various desert areas, said informed sources, noting that the municipality will start issuing licenses from today through the municipality's website. The sources added that special inspection teams had toured various desert areas that had not been allocated for camping and where camps were unlawfully pitched, warning the owners to remove them within 24 hours.
By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi
