Road Maintenance Contracts Under Fire: MP raises alarming concerns

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KUWAIT CITY, Oct 3: MP Jinan Boushahri has warned the Minister of Public Works Dr. Amani Buqamaz against signing any contracts concerning road maintenance before answering her questions about the nominated companies and whether they have local agents.

She referred to the statement made by Dr. Buqamaz on May 11, 2023, stating that she has an “out-of-the-box” plan to assign international companies without the need for local agents in Kuwait in order to maintain the roads.

The lawmaker said she had submitted parliamentary questions to Dr. Buqamaz, asking if the companies have local agents; but she has not yet received a response from the minister.

She explained that Dr. Buqamaz had invited 30 international companies to apply for the tenders on road maintenance but only six companies responded, which, according to MP Boushahri, represents the first failure of Dr. Buqamaz.

The second failure was that the companies presented price offers that were 200 percent more than the estimated amount.

The third failure, which according to MP Boushahri is a major disaster, is that five out of those six companies were discovered to already have local agents, and that the six companies have been present in the Kuwait market through contracts signed with different ministries and public institutions. In fact, some of those projects have been facing problems, while others have been reported by monitoring institutions to be dismissed from applying to the Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT).

The first of the six companies is Turkey’s Limak, which has already signed a contract with the Ministry of Public Works to establish T2 terminal at the Kuwait International Airport, and its local agent is Al-Kharafi National.

The second is China’s Gezhouba Group Company Limited, which is connected with the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW) by a contract worth KD 215 million to establish infrastructure projects in Mutlaa City, and its local agent is Universal Leaders Trading and Contracting Company.

The third company is China’s First Way, which is connected with the Ministry of Public Works by a contract worth KD 88 million to maintain roads in South Surra, as well as Damascus Street and Fifth Ring Road. Its local agent is Combined Group Contracting Company.

The fourth company is China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited, which is connected with Kuwait University (KU) by a contract worth KD 139 million to carry out the construction work in Sabah Al-Salem University. Its local agent is Al-Kharafi National.

The fifth company is the Chinese company Sinohydro, which is connected with the Ministry of Public Works by a construction contract. Its local agent is Copri Corporation.

MP Boushahri insisted that she wants Dr. Buqamaz not to justify the matter by saying the local agents of the international companies are connected to them by limited projects, which have nothing to do with the new contracts. In case the minister uses that justification, it means she is admitting to violating her commitment to assign the contracts to companies that do not have local agents.

The lawmaker said the “out-of-the-box” idea of Dr. Buqamaz was to cover the local agents in order for them to obtain the utmost benefit away from the monitoring of the National Assembly and the relevant monitoring institutions.

She addressed His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, asking if Dr. Buqamaz had informed him about the above mentioned details or if she hid the facts as she did with the people and National Assembly.

She concluded by warning that if the minister does not tell the truth about those companies and if she signed the contracts before responding to her questions, she would deal with the minister according to an “out-of-the-box” idea but under the Constitutional umbrella.

In another development,  MP Muhammad Hayef held a press conference in his diwaniya during which he affirmed that cooperation with the government is linked to the way it deals with urgent issues like the execution of the Amiri amnesty issued by the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to cover all beneficiaries, as well as the cooperation of the government in solving the issue of those convicted of participating in the tribal by-elections.

MP Hayef explained that some of the beneficiaries of the Amiri amnesty have not restored their withdrawn citizenships yet, despite the fact that a long time has passed since the issuance of the Amiri amnesty based on the recommendations of the relevant committee formed by the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and headed by the former Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid and former National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim.

He wondered why most of the beneficiaries of the amnesty who have been convicted of storing weapons and attempting to collapse the ruling regime have been released but those convicted of minor crimes such as sharing posts on social media have not yet been freed.

MP Hayef stressed the need for the government to finalise this issue before the start of the upcoming parliamentary session scheduled on October 31, 2023.

He said the amnesty is aimed to address the consequences of the political positions taken in 2012 including the collection of donations for Syrian citizens, despite the fact that the donations have been collected clearly and under the supervision and with the permission of the government.

The current government adopted an unprecedented attitude in terms of punishing those convicted of participating in by-elections with the toughest penalty, i.e., two-year imprisonment. No politician in any other country is or has been punished in this manner. They just pay fines or perform public services for a specific period of time. It is crystal clear that the government displayed an abusive attitude in this regard. It is not unacceptable that those convicted of participating in by-elections should be detained in the same place with criminals convicted of trafficking in drugs and other crimes, especially since those convicted of participating in by-elections include respectable figures including politicians, MPs and academic figures.

The lawmaker wondered why those convicted of criminal crimes such as drug trafficking are released after three months of jail time and then monitored by electronic tagging, while those convicted of participating in by-elections and the prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.

He said the selective way of executing the Amiri amnesty distorts and defames the amnesty.

MP Hayef concluded by stressing that it is easy to file a no-cooperation request but he wishes for the cooperation to continue not only to accomplish the popular bills but also the government’s commitments in all fields.

In addition, MP Dawoud Marafie submitted parliamentary questions to the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Oil and State Minister for Economic and Investment Affairs Saad Al-Barrak, asking for a copy of the recent decision to form the Supreme Council for Environment.

He asked if the term of the decision has run out, and why a new decision has not been issued yet to form the new Supreme Council for Environment.

MP Marafie asked why the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil is tasked to form the Supreme Council for Environment, which is in violation of article 4 of the environment protection law No. 42/2014, which has assigned the Prime Minister or the First Deputy Prime Minister to form such a committee.

He asked if any authorization was issued to pass the assignment from the Prime Minister or the First Deputy Prime Minister to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Oil.

MP Marafie said he wanted a copy of the annual plan stated by the Supreme Council for Environment to determine the tasks for Environment Public Authority for the year 2023, asking which of those tasks have been accomplished till date.

The lawmaker also wanted to know the criteria followed to appoint the deputy chairman of Environment Public Authority as the Acting Chairman, and what procedures have been executed to appoint the original chairman of the Environment Public Authority.

He said wanted a report on the salaries, allowances and bonus provided to the current acting chairman of Environment Public Authority from January 1, 2023 to date.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff

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