‘Citizens to be exempted from infrastructure fees’

KUWAIT CITY, June 30: The Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel has revealed that a total of 14,148 visas and work permits have been granted by the Public Manpower Authority (PAM) to small business owners (SMEs) between 2016 and 2018, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In her reply to a parliamentary question submitted by MP Abdullah Al-Kandari said 70,196 visas were issued for expatriates to work in small projects, and 3,666 were canceled. The number of complaints submitted to PAM by entrepreneurs during the same period was 3,102 complaints.

In response to measures taken by PAM against the workers’ complaints she said a complaint is sent to Labor Disputes Department and a date is set for the investigation and the complaint is discussed between the parties. The decision to resolve the dispute is determined according to the investigation.

Meanwhile, the estimated cost of government-parliamentary consensus on exempting citizens from paying infrastructure fees for new housing cities will range between 25 and 31 million dinars in the southern city of Sabah Al-Ahmad housing only, which is allocated to housing applications, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting informed sources.

The sources added the financial cost of the proposal, which was approved by the Housing Committee of the National Assembly last weekend, with the government blessing, was estimated in comparison to the cost of infrastructure of the Mutla’a housing project where the cost of infrastructure is 315 million dinars, indicating but the figures may move slightly up or down, according to the new contracts of the South Sabah Al Ahmad city.

According to the sources, if the decision is implemented and the exemption is effectively applied to the owners of the plots in the ‘South Sabah Al Ahmad’, the total number of beneficiaries is estimated to be 20,000 registered citizens as of from 2015 and beyond out of 26,805 who can benefit from the exemption.

Furthermore, the electricity and water bills of governmental institutions increased more than three times during fiscal 2019/2020 compared to the last fiscal year – 2018/2019, reports Al-Rai daily quoting sources.

Sources revealed the total water and electricity consumption in the Ministry of Finance increased by more than three times, indicating that the estimated cost in the budget for the current fiscal year reached more than KD 2 million compared to KD 627,000 in the budget for last fiscal year.

Sources said the cost of the ministry’s water consumption in the current fiscal year reached KD 511,900 compared to KD 145,000 in the last fiscal year, attributing this to the increase of water charges from 800 fils per 1,000 gallons to KD 4 per 1,000 gallons.