KUWAIT: Minister of Commerce and Industry, Acting Minister of Information Khaled Al-Roudhan stressed that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) is committed to insuring the availability of supply goods in Kuwait Supply Company's warehouses, so that they can be delivered to co-op societies and distributed to citizens according to schedule. Roudhan clarified that occasional shortages in some items might happen due to several reasons, mainly co-op societies' failure to pay off the company's overdue payments. He added that the company stopped delivering supplies on April 16, 2017, and then resumed it on April 18 when the late dues were paid.

Responding to an inquiry filed by MP Osama Al-Shaheen, Roudhan added that the second reason the shortage might happen is due to the transporter's failure to respect the time schedule set for transporting goods. He gave an example with Bayan Co-op Society's transporter, noting that he has contracts with over 15 co-ops, which sometimes causes delays in delivery.

Housing projects

The Pubic Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) and a Korean construction company with whom it signed a contract to build the South Saad Al-Abdullah residential project have yet to finish determining the final number of housing plots to be built and distributed to citizens there. The project will be executed in a way that allows distribution of houses in phases over a period of two years, during which the total number of units is expected to exceed 25,000, informed sources said. A contract was also signed with the project's consultant last month, the sources said, adding that preparations for the second phase are currently in progress with the Republic of Korea.

Job positions

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) is expected soon to approve the allocation of new job positions for the Ministry of Health (MOH), informed sources said. The ministry had urged CSC to allocate 3,000 new job opportunities to cover up shortages that had been in effect for two years, the sources added.

By A Saleh