Affected employees to be notified starting from Nov 1

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 16: Ministry of Public Works has completed lists of names of expatriates to be laid off in the second phase of its plan, which includes 33 percent of the total number of employees in the ministry and Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport, while the same percentage was covered within the first phase, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The daily quoting sources revealed that the second phase lists have witnessed some amendments, following recent decisions to exclude three groups and migrate them to the last phase, and they include: holders of several contracts; “engagement by services”, drivers and service handlers.

The sources expected the services of 140 to 160 expatriates will be terminated, given that the total number of the expatriate workforce before approval of the first phase last June was about 500 employees in the Ministry of Public Works and Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport.

Disclosure
They indicated the disclosure will be approved as soon as possible, and the affected persons will be notified of the termination of their services - starting from Nov 1, while the warning period will be in effect until the first of next February.

On the other hand, sources mentioned that the Ministry of Public Works has signed a contract for the Administrative and Financial Affairs building, which the ministry is currently implementing for the benefit of its Interior Ministry counterpart, despite the expiration of its building permit granted earlier by Kuwait Municipality.

According to a document obtained in this regard, building permit for the project was renewed on October 9, 2017 at a fee of 150 dinars and its validity expired two years after issuance, in accordance with the municipality’s rules governing this matter. They pointed out that when trying to renew the license again, the ministry discovered that the first version of it was done without placing civil numbers for the land according to what is currently in force in the information system, so the ministry was asked to review civil information.

In turn, the ministry asked the project consultant to do it, due to the fact that the license was issued in his name at the beginning. The same sources indicated that problems between the ministry and the consultant caused delay in the renewal process, indicating the contract signed by the former minister Dr Jenan Bushehri on Nov 18 was supposed to start a month after its signing, but nothing is happening so far.

This makes one wonder about the ministry signing a contract without making sure that all related documents were completed. They pointed out that the project, which is worth 49 million dinars, faced many obstacles and was delayed in its completion, as it was Dr Jenan Bushehri supposed to be signed in 2017.