Authority provides residence for citizens who sold their houses

Minister Khaled Al-Roudhan

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry's (MoCI) subsidized supplies department suspended the provision of supplies to bedoons (stateless residents) with expired ration cards. It said having valid cards issued by the Central System for the Remedy of Situations of Illegal Residents (CARIRS) is mandatory to resume the supplies, said informed sources, noting that some bedoons renewed their cards lately after updating their information. However, the sources remarked that the majority of bedoons still refuse to renew their cards out of protest that CARIRS has been registering their names under citizenships they do not belong to on renewal.

The sources expected Minister Khaled Al-Roudhan to find a way out of this dilemma and decide to temporarily provide them with the supplies until the problem is resolved. Notably, around 100,000 bedoons or stateless people get subsidized supplies after paying the same prices paid by citizens and GCC nationals.

Housing welfare

In implementation of law number 2/2015 and its amendments of law number 47/1993 pertaining to housing welfare for citizens who had sold their houses, Director of the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) Bader Al-Weqayyan stressed that the authority is committed to provide citizens who had sold their houses and fully paid off their loans to the credit bank with suitable alternative housing.

Weqayyan yesterday explained that the housing authority had signed a contract in March to build, execute and maintain 509 government-provided houses and the needed infrastructure including roads, parking spaces, public facilities and power stations in East Taima with a total value of KD 46 million. He added that construction in the project - located over a total area of 372,945 sq m - is due to commence on June 10, 2018 and end on Dec 8, 2020 and include 300-sq-m two-storey houses. Weqayyan added that a similar project is due to be executed over 1,200,000 sq m in east Sabah Al-Ahmad including 1,180 houses.

Minimum GPA

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Anas Al-Saleh said that the Civil Service Commission (CSC) decided during a meeting held on March 15, 2018 to mandate having a minimum 'very good' GPA for non-Kuwaiti doctors, pharmacists, assistant medical staff and nurses. Saleh added that in a following meeting held on April 23, 2018 and upon a request made by the Ministry of Health (MoH) to provide enough medical staff for new medical projects including Jahra, Amiri and Salwa Al-Sabah stem cell hospitals, CSC decided reducing the minimum GPA to 'Good' only for assistant medical staff and nurses.

Human Development Index

Kuwait was ranked 56th out of 189 countries in the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI), which places Kuwait amongst the top 58 countries worldwide with very high HDI rates. The report ranked UAE on top of Arab countries at 34th worldwide, followed by Qatar in the 37th position, Saudi Arabia 39th, Bahrain 43rd and Oman 48th.

In addition, the report showed that Lebanon is ranked sixth amongst Arab countries and 80th worldwide, followed by Algeria which was ranked seventh and 85th, Jordan 8 and 98, Tunisia 9 and 95 and Libya 10 and 108. The report also showed that the list of countries with medium HDI levels include Egypt, which came in 11th and 115th, followed by Palestine which was ranked 12 and 119, Iraq 13 and 120 and Morocco 14 and 123.

Countries with low HDI include Syria, which came in at 15th and 155th, followed by Mauritania at 16 and 159, Sudan 17 and 167 and Yemen at 18 and 178. On the other hand, the index included Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland and Germany on the top of the list and Niger, Central African Republic and South Sudan at the bottom.

Ministries' budgets

Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf said that his ministry will soon arrange separate meetings with various ministers and their concerned undersecretaries to discuss their assessment of their ministries' 2019-2010 budgets.

'Create a Smile'

Kuwait Food Bank launched a new initiative under the title of 'Create a Smile' designed to help needy families and help orphans pay their school fees for the new school year. Manager Salem Al-Hamar stressed that the bank prioritizes helping students and fully cooperates with benevolent people to support needy families and help them cover their children's needs including tuition and other monthly expenses. He added that the bank also provides these families with monthly food supplies.

By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi