Assembly To Discuss Residency, Price Hikes In Jan 9-10

Speaker Ahmed Al-Saadoun has invited the government and MPs to parliamentary sessions scheduled for Jan 9-10, 2024. The following items are on the agenda for both sessions:

– Vote on the minutes of the previous session;

– Parliamentary queries;

– Amiri Speech delivered on Oct 31, 2023;

– Reports of the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee about the bills on reforming the constituencies, and amending the National Assembly Law and Penal Code number 16/1960;

– Report of the Interior and Defense Affairs Committee on the proposed amendment of the Foreigners Residency Law; – Report of the fact-finding committee tasked to investigate the armament deals (Eurofighter and Caracal helicopters);

– Report of the Oil and Energy Committee on the proposal to establish a national shareholding company for advanced petrochemical industries;

– Reports of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee on these proposals — amend the law on establishing the Public Institution for Social Security to grant zero-interest loans to retirees, increase the cost of living allowance, transform Kuwait Airways Corporation into a shareholding national company, and exempt the heirs of borrowers who obtained loans from Kuwait Credit Bank from repaying the remaining installments upon the death of the borrower;

- Reports on the proposal to amend the Traffic and Police laws from the House Interior and Defense Affairs Committee;

- A report on the bills on granting social, civil, and career rights to Bedouns submitted by the Illegal Residents Affairs Committee;

– Report of the Human Resources Development Committee on the proposed amendment of Civil Service Commission Law number 15/1979, – Report of the Public Funds Protection Committee on the proposed amendment of the Public Funds Protection Law;

– Report of the Health, Social, and Labor Affairs Committee on the proposed amendment of the Cooperative Societies Law;

– Report of the Family, Women and Children Affairs Committee on the proposal to grant rights to the children of Kuwaiti women married to non- Kuwaitis;

– Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee on the military cooperation treaty between Kuwait and Turkey;

– Request of several MPs to discuss the strategic alternative to the salary scale with the government; – Request to discuss the factors leading to price hikes;

– Request to discuss the procedures and criteria adopted to fill up vacant supervisory posts;

– Request to form a fact-finding committee to investigate the Dhaman Hospital issue and violations recorded by the State Audit Bureau.

Hamad Al-Elyan, chairman of the Education, Culture and Guidance Affairs Committee, has revealed that the committee, along with members of the Technical Office, will visit Qatar on Friday to examine the educational sector there. In the four-day official visit, he said he will meet with senior officials from the Qatari Ministry of Education to discuss Qatar's education strategy, which ranks it first in the Arab world and fourth in the world based on internationally accredited indexes.

The visit is aimed at transferring Qatari education experience to Kuwait, while the committee will use it to prepare its reports on the relevant bills. The committee will discuss these reports with the senior officials at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in preparation for the session scheduled for April 30, 2024, to vote on the bills related to the local educational sector.

In the meantime, MP Saud Al-Asfour sent inquiries to the Ministry of Electricity, Water and Renewable Energy and acting Minister of Public Works, Jassem Al-Ostad, regarding a statement made by Ahmed Beshara, former Secretary General of the Sustainable Peaceful Nuclear Energy Committee, in 2010: "By 2022, Kuwait will have four nuclear reactors with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts per hour for peaceful purposes."

In 2010, Kuwait and Japan signed an agreement to cooperate on the development of nuclear energy and to promote the export of nuclear energy as part of the State's economic strategy.” The necessary steps are being taken to float tenders and allocate sites for the project. He added Kuwait signed a treaty on nuclear cooperation with France in April 2010 to allow ARIVA Company to export nuclear energy to Kuwait. In light of the above, the lawmaker wants to know the progress made by the committee since its establishment up to date, whether Kuwait has benefited from the agreements Kuwait signed with Japan and France in 2010, and whether the ministry has plans to build nuclear energy plants.

He requested details, including the terms and schedule of the establishment, if yes. On Dec 3, 2023, MP Majed Al-Mutairi requested information about the fire incident at the gathering center of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) from Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Oil, Economic and Investment Affairs Saad Al-Barrak. He inquired if the incident resulted in death or injuries, the period and cost needed to repair the damages and put the center back to full operation if a factfinding committee was formed to investigate the incident, a copy of the committee’s report if the answer is ‘yes’, if the incident occurred in an area that belongs to a contracting company, copy of the contract if the answer is ‘yes’, measures taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, and the department at the Ministry of Oil tasked to ensure strict compliance with the safety and security regulations.

During a meeting with the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA), MP Hamad Al-Elyan requested copies of all decisions issued by the KDIPA regarding the Abdally Economic Project. He said KDIPA has taken the necessary steps to float the tender for the project as per circular number 1/2023 regarding public tenders issued by the Ministry of Finance, specifically the stipulation on obligating the foreign investor to establish and manage infrastructure and enterprises in the project site for a term of 50 years. In addition, he confirmed that the project is covered by Partnership Projects Law number 116/2014.

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff

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