KUWAIT CITY, Sept 8: A government report revealed that the estimated electricity and water bills of 36 ministries and government agencies in the general budget of the State for the current fiscal year increased by 12 percent or KD13.511 million. The estimated budget for electricity and water bills in the previous fiscal year was KD112.255 million, which increased to KD125.766 million in the current budget -- KD96.159 million for electricity and KD29.597 million for water.

Sources stressed the need for government agencies and ministries to rationalize their electricity and water consumption, which has been increasing annually while energy production remains scarce; prompting the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy to resort to power cuts this summer. In addition, the electricity price is the highest for the government sector compared to other residential sectors at 25 fils per kilowatt per hour, compared to five fils per kilowatt per hour in the industrial and agricultural sectors.

The price of 1,000 gallons of water in the government sector is also the highest -- KD4 per month, compared to KD1.250 in the industrial and agricultural sectors. Sources called for the formation of committees to rationalize electricity and water consumption in each building in coordination with the ministry. They pointed out that a single building belonging to a government agency can be controlled by raising awareness among employees and ensuring their commitment to administrative decisions on rationalizing consumption in all parts of the buildings, especially during summer.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Ministry of Health announced that one of its systems has experienced a technical error early Sunday morning. The Ministry said, in a press statement, that protection measures have been activated, systems have been disconnected, and the level of the failure is being assessed. The Ministry also confirmed that the procedures are to divert some of its works to paper transactions until the problem is resolved.

By Mohammad Ghanem
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff and Agencies