KUWAIT: The Ministry of Interior's Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Major General Abdullah Al-Muhanna finally put an end to rumors about the ministry's intention to increase fees collected from expatriates, which speculated that the payments would increase by 'astronomical figures.' Instead, he declared that a proposal had been made to increase the fees collected from expats to issue a driver's license to KD 100, as opposed to the rumored KD 500 figure. "The goal behind the increase is to make sure that only those who deserve and can afford (buying a car) gets a driver's license," he explained.

Muhanna also said that the fee increases include increasing the payments collected for renewing vehicle registration from KD 5 to KD 20, in addition to a onetime KD 10 fee on registering the first vehicle, KD 50 on registering a second and KD 100 on registering a third owned by the same expat.

Furthermore, Muhanna said that the proposal includes imposing 'ascending fees' on expats' vehicles that gradually increase by the double the older a vehicle was. "This measure is meant to reduce the use of worn out vehicles and limiting vehicle ownership to expats' who can afford new ones," he underlined, explaining that according to current fees, some expats could purchase a worn out vehicle for a low as KD 150.

Responding to a question about traffic violation fines, Muhanna said that the proposal suggests doubling the fines collected for major violations such as speeding and driving through red lights from KD 50 to KD 100. "KD 30 fines will be doubled to KD 60 and KD 5 fines will be made KD 15," he added.

Moreover, Muhanna denied that expats are being prejudicially targeted by such proposals. "We currently have over 1.8 million vehicles in Kuwait and most of them are owned by expats, who are a majority of the population, which called for new measures to regulate things," he explained. - Al-Rai