File Photo: Professor Adel Al-Henayyan performs the operation at Mubarak Hospital. —KUNA photos

KUWAIT: Urology consultant, Kuwait University medicine professor and the head of the urology syndicate Dr Adel Al-Henayyan said impotence rates were increasing amongst men in Kuwait to 75 percent amongst men older than 60, 30 percent amongst men older than 40 and 20 percent amongst men younger than 40. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Kuwait's annual men's health conference, Henayyan stressed that impotence is closely related to chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and smoking. He added that 85 of diabetic patients in Kuwait suffer from impotence.

Business environment

As part of its 2018-2019 development plan, the government has finally launched a special program to provide a suitable private sector business environment through disentangling various government bodies' mixed liabilities and enabling the private sector to lead various public projects, said informed sources. The process paves the way for shifting the management of government projects to the private sector under the government's supervision to protect public funds, the sources added.

The program targets projects of basic significance for development, be they executed by the private sector, through the public private partnership program, or by establishing public shareholding companies, in addition to simplifying the process of issuing licenses for both local and foreign investors and providing a unified e-portal for all businesses at a total cost of KD 277,652,000, the sources explained

Moreover, the sources noted that official documents show that the program for preparing the business environment focuses on overcoming obstacles faced by the private sector, reduction of procedures and paperwork and reliance on electronic processing with the aim of empowering the private sector and creating more job opportunities for citizens.

The sources also elaborated that the five main projects sought in the 2018-2019 fiscal year include building, operating and maintaining the infrastructure at Shadadiya industrial area, labor cities in south Jahra, building and developing free zones, the national lab complex and mobile labs to examine food items. Notably, Kuwait's position deteriorated to 173rd out of 190 countries on the international Starting Business Index, which calls for more efforts to attract more direct national and international investments.

Three companies

Kuwait Authority for Partnership Projects is currently coordinating between various government bodies to accelerate and accomplish three major projects including the Kabd waste processing plant, expanding Um Al-Haiman sewage plant and the Jahra labor cities, pending the establishment of three companies (one for each) and offering 50 percent of shares of each for public bidding amongst citizens as stipulated in law number 116/2014 pertaining build-operate-transfer projects.

The first two projects are expected to be offered for public bidding before June, sources said, adding that it would be up to citizens whether they bid or not, but stressed that the fact that foreign investors and banks will invest means that these bodies have thoroughly studied all possible risks in these projects and decided to take part, indicating how safe it is to invest in them.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi and A Saleh