Closing violating stores and deporting their workers; evicting 'all bachelors'

KUWAIT: Government officials plan to meet next week to set a plan for procedures to be followed on closing violating stores in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, fining homeowners who lease houses to bachelors in private residential areas as well as those owning buildings that lack safety conditions, informed sources said. The meeting will be held to prepare for implementing a government resolution on taking comprehensive measures to remove all violations in Jleeb by mid-November, said the sources, adding that the meeting will group elements from Kuwait Municipality, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as the Public Authority for Manpower. In addition to the fines and closure of violating stores, the plan calls for canceling the residency visas of those working in said stores and deporting them, said the sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "This plan will result in evicting all bachelors from Jleeb whose presence is starting to pose social and security threats as well as becoming a center for illegal residents," the sources explained.

Crisis management
Head of Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS) Wejdan Al-Oqab said the society has proposed a number of suggestions to be prepared for catastrophes and crisis management, including flooding expected with the beginning of the rainy season. "The state should have a special plan for this," she said, highlighting the significance of building a national center for this purpose including elements from various government bodies and NGOs. KEPS member Dr Ra'fat Mesak said that the society warned against building flood barriers to the east of King Fahd Expressway because the collapse of any of them would lead to a sudden flow of millions of cubic meters of water to adjacent residential areas and stop traffic. "Instead, we should control rainwater movement by building smaller dams and rainwater collection reservoirs to slow the flow of floodwaters," he explained, adding that accumulated water could be used as a blessing.

Investment opportunities
The Public Authority for Housing Welfare announced that offering of investment opportunities in Sabah Al-Ahmad City for public bidding is going according to schedule and that the final assessment of the bids will be made by the end of the month to sign the contract with the winning investor. In other news, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's consumer protection sector announced closing a moneychanger in Ahmadi for making illegal remittance transactions.

By A Saleh