Northern Shuwaikh Ghost Town … A Hotbed For Stray Dogs, Cats

 The headquarters of public benefit associations and civil society institutions in the Shuwaikh area, which was evacuated in mid-2013, at the request of the Kuwait Municipality, has been transformed into a dumpsite and become a hotbed for stray dogs, cats and rodents. To add insult to injury the demolition of these buildings and turning them into dismal ruins distort the cultural landscape of the area, and nobody seems to be interested in paying attention to this fact.
The story began in 2000 when the Municipality set out to remove some public benefit associations from that area based on a decision No 23/452/14/2000 which was issued on Sept 20, 2000, which stipulated in the first clause approval of organizing the northern Shuwaikh area and creating 65 plots of land with an area of 32,500 square meters, in addition to a request to terminate the contracts signed with the public benefit associations located in this area.

The public benefit societies in that area were given more than one deadline to evacuate, the last of which was in 2013, but some of these societies continued to operate until the electricity was cut off about 4 years ago, and the Municipality based its decision on the fact that there are public benefit organizations and associations that exploit sites in the Shuwaikh area while they already have permanent headquarters in other regions.

The international human rights advisor, Anwar Al-Rasheed, says the northern Shuwaikh region has become deserted and ugly, and it is indeed a city of ghosts — the region that housed Human Rights Association and some public benefit associations. The former vice-president of the Association of Accountants and Auditors, Abdullatif Al-Ahmad, indicated that the association was evacuated years ago, and until now the association’s meetings are taking place in the Chamber of Commerce and Industry until the building of the association is completed in Salmiya.

Al-Ahmad stated that the history of building the Kuwaiti Association of Accountants and Auditors dates back to the beginning of the 1970s and with great regret the historical aspect of construction was not taken into consideration and a decision was issued to evacuate the public benefit societies from the northern Shuwaikh area despite the costs incurred by these societies in establishing and these societies. He indicate the public benefit associations were supposed to continue the activities in North Shuwaikh until each association received a new headquarters, but what happened is that electricity to the associations was cut off years ago.

He stressed on the state’s failure to exploit the northern Shuwaikh area until now because the area is still in ruins once again confirming the clear failure from the concerned authorities to pay attention to the cultural appearance of Kuwait.

 

SOURCE ARABTIMES KUWAIT

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