Ministry spreads awareness about new power tariffs

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW) yesterday organized an awareness campaign at Al-Hamra Tower to introduce the new power consumption tariffs to the public by distributing brochures explaining the new procedures. Eqbal Al-Tayyar, MEW technical control manager and the head of GCC power conservation campaign, said that the campaign's purpose is to introduce the new five-fils tariff for commercial sector consumers (shops and markets), noting that Kuwait was the last GCC state to increase power tariffs. Tayyar added that the new charges would reduce electricity consumption and help reduce emissions. She added that Al-Hamra's shift to using LED lamps would help reduce power consumption as well as temperatures within the complex, especially after changing over 5,000 lamps.

E-licenses

Minister of Awqaf and Islamic affairs and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Mohammad Al-Jabri yesterday launched the electronic construction license issuance system in Hawally governorate, to be the second after Mubarak Al-Kabeer. Speaking to reporters at a special ceremony held in the presence of Kuwait Municipality Director Ahmed Al-Manfouhi, Jabri said the new system aims at issuing construction licenses within hours compared to extremely long periods in the past.

Jabri added that the new system would be launched in the Capital governorate on July 4 before expanding the system in Ahmadi, Farwaniya and Jahra respectively before the end of the year. He added that the service actually began on May 2, but the official launch was postponed until 22 licenses had already been issued. Manfouhi said municipality officials managed to launch the second phase of the project and stressed that the new system includes issuing various types of licenses. "The new system helps in issuing licenses that used to take 2-3 months within two hours," he underlined.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi