KUWAIT: This file photo shows Al-Sawaber Complex (right) in Kuwait City.

KUWAIT: A Municipal Council committee tasked with following up with the structural plan for the Sawaber area will discuss during its next meeting recommendations with regards to the municipality's vision for the area and how it is going to be used. Committee Chairman Ali Al-Mousa said members will discuss the possibility of issuing a decision by the Municipal Council to privatize the area located in the heart of Kuwait City. A decision would also be needed to find a quick solution for the problems of residents still living in the complex and who have not evacuated their apartments yet, according to Mousa. The committee also seeks to coordinate with the Finance Ministry and government bodies on the possibility of putting up the site for investment, he added.

There are plans to demolish all buildings that constitute the Sawaber residential compound and turn the wide area it inhabits either into a touristic destination or a financial center. The Cabinet had issued a decree last year for the removal of all residents of the complex by March 2016. Most tenants have evacuated since then, but there have been conflicting reports that some of them still refuse to accept financial compensations or alternative homes located in Northwest Sulaibikhat to leave their properties.

Built in 1981 with designs by famed architect and urban planner Arthur Erickson, Al-Sawaber represents a distinct architectural, economic and cultural period in Kuwaiti history. It is one of the first high density complexes in the country. Located on approximately 245,000 square meters of prime real estate property in the heart of Kuwait's financial district, the complex includes 33 buildings and more than 520 residential apartments.

New locations

The Justice Ministry asked lawyers and all litigants to go to family courts in their new locations designated by the ministry from Feb 1. The courts will start receiving lawyers and the public at various departments in the new locations, as the family appeals court in Mubarak Al-Kabeer will more from the Ahmadi Courts Complex to block 2 in Sabah Al-Salem. The Ahmadi family appeals court will move from Sabahiya to Mahboula, while courts in Hawally will move to block 34 in Hawally near Qadisiya Sports Club.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi