KUWAIT: Al-Koot Mall during the early morning hours. - Photo by Ibrahim Alhasawi (KUNA)

KUWAIT: Kuwaitization of jobs at the oil sector reached 85 percent, Minister of Oil and Minister of Electricity and Water Bakheet Al-Rasheedi has confirmed. Responding to inquiries about claims that indemnities of a number of Kuwaiti employees at Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries were canceled, the minister explained that new funds were added to pay the indemnity which is given once the subscription ends in accordance with the social security law.

Asked about the reason for failure to hire newly graduated Kuwaitis and citizens with experience in positions that were instead given to expatriates, the minister only noted that KPC and its subsidiaries have annual employment plan for fresh graduates.

Retirement

Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipality Affairs Hussam Al-Roumi asked for a list of supervisors who spent 32 years in service at the public works ministry; a step considered the first to refer long-serving employees to retirement. The list may also include employees who do not hold supervisory roles, according to sources familiar with the news.

Meanwhile, minister Roumi said that the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport is working on completing Abdullah Port - Wafra Road which is expected to be ready in November 2019. He added that the ministry is considering requirements to build a ministries' complex at Sabah Al-Ahmad City.

Bedoons' pilgrimage

The hajj affairs department at the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has received 1,300 applications from bedoons (stateless) to perform pilgrimage this year. The department's director Mohammad Al-Mutairi noted in a statement that the applications may drop to 1,000 in case of withdrawal or cancellation. People who performed hajj last year will not be accepted this year, which is a practice followed in order to allow others who did not perform pilgrimage before to go, he explained. A bedoon pilgrim will be requested to pay KD 400 or a little more, while the ministry will pay KD 500 for him or her, he said.

 

By A Saleh