As part of our occasional series exploring various areas of Kuwait, Kuwait Times visited Sabah Al-Salem to discover the main features of this area. Sabah Al-Salem is a suburb belonging to the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate. It is bordered by the Sixth Ring Road to the north, Adan to the south, Sabhan to the west, and Fahaheel Expressway (highway 30) to the east and southeast with population of 88,641, according to the statistical report of the public authority for civil information.

Sabah Al-Salem is a mixed one with residential, commercial, educational and entertainment facilities. It includes the well-known American United School, a stadium and sports area and will be home to the Sabah Al Salem campus of Kuwait University. The Sabah Al-Salem coop opened in 1982 and the area includes parks and playgrounds, skyscraper apartment buildings, gyms and restaurants and blocks of Kuwaiti single family homes.

Upkeep and maintenance of the area, however, are an issue.

Bader Al-Mutairi, 45 years old, told Kuwait Times that Sabah Al-Salem suffers from several issues that need to be fixed as soon as possible. "The public park needs maintenance. Families do not have any entertainment place to go on weekends. Also, the roads are not suitable and need to be repaired, as some areas do not have suitable parking spots for our cars," he said.

Mutairi added that the area's clinic needs to be 24 hours because there is great pressure on it "We must have additional health centers specialized in the area to meet with the increasing numbers of residents from citizens and expats," he added that the elderly also need a place to gather like a diwaniya or similar places.

Ahmed bin Jedi, 51 years old, said that the area of Sabah Al Salem has 13 residential blocks and was named after the 12th ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

As for his complaints, he said "Some of the waste containers in front of houses are not suitable for use and must be removed from the streets because they were damaged," he also called on the municipality to replace them with new ones, adding that the parks need to be repaired and increase the number of trees and flowers."

Abdul Rahman Al-Fadhli, 38 years old, said that block 1 is always crowded because there are many schools there and this has become a problem that disturbs the residents of the area, causing traffic congestion that remain all morning when people are trying to go to work.

Fadhli noted that many residents of the area complained about a large number of single men in some residential blocks which is a problem of safety for some families, adding that citizens stressed that the area was forgotten by the services provided by the ministries.

Massive construction of new roadways has also disrupted traffic flow and creates havoc in the morning and afterschool commutes.

All photos by Joseph Shagra

By Faten Omar