KUWAIT CITY, Dec 13: His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al- Jaber Al-Sabah confirmed that the government will conduct a presentation on its program as per Article 98 of the Constitution. He also pointed out that this is the first time for the government to have a program with specific projects, cost and timetable. He said the government is hoping that the completion of its program will lead to prosperity for the citizens. He then assigned Minister of Finance Abdulwahab Al-Rashead to present the program on behalf of the government. Al-Rashead confirmed that the program represents the vision of the government for the 17th parliamentary term. He disclosed the program consists of diverse points; including the political axis, which is important for the implementation of reforms. He affirmed the program is flexible with clear governance procedures as reflected in the tasks of two ministerial committees.

In addition, Secretary General of the Higher Council for Planning and Development Dr Khalid Mahdi stressed that the program is in line with the Kuwait 2035 vision on transforming the country into an international financial and commercial center. He added the objectives include protecting public institutions and the legislative structure; cover the rising demand for housing, health care and education; inflation rate; and generate job opportunities. He went on to say that the perception on corruption remains below expectations, while the business environment is not attractive enough for investors.

He revealed the goals is to address 40 percent of housing demands, provide fair salary scale, develop health services, allocate more land for housing projects, improve non-oil revenues, provide 30,000 jobs in the next four years, stop the overlapping of functions among public institutions, empower women such that 30 percent of public positions are occupied by women, switch from paper-based to digital transactions, implement partnership projects, increase the use of renewable energy, establish railways and completion of Abdullah Port.

Factors

He believes the factors of success include wise governance, cooperation between the executive and legislative authorities, preventing conflict of interests and ensuring transparency. He added the program consists of 10 main points covering various fields -- political reform, governance, security and justice, society, education, health care, economy, youth and sport, entertainment and infrastructure. He said four objectives will be realized in the first 100 days of the government; affirming that by the end of the year, 17 out of 84 goals will be achieved and then 80 by the beginning of the fourth year.

Following are details of the main points of the government’s program:

Political reform: development of democracy, addressing residency and nationality issues, establishment of an independent institution to manage elections and solve the problems of Bedouns;

Governance: establishment of a council for public strategies, monitoring the performance of public institutions and specifying standards for evaluating services; Security and justice: curbing the spread of drugs, developing the skills of female police, solving the traffic problem, combating visa trading and establishment of the national council for disasters and crises;

Society: national reconciliation, amnesty, strengthening the national fabric, activating the role of the National Council for Human Rights and improving the cooperative sector; Housing: establishment of an institution that will organize the allocation of land for housing projects, improve the housing welfare mechanism to cover the rising demand for housing, sustainable real estate financing, stop the transformation of private houses into investment residential buildings, prevent fraudulent mortgages, and specify the national model for distributing subsidies

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff