Kuwait: Financing can go without regulation

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KUWAIT: The Speaker of the Parliament recently noted that the projected methods to finance the mega projects of the development plan do not necessarily need to be a draft law first, reported Al-Qabas. Speaking at a ghabqa held by the Independent Kuwait Assembly, speaker Jassem Al-Khurafi explained that the Parliament is still waiting for the Cabinet to provide their vision on how to finance the development plan.

The feel within the Cabinet is that it is still too early to reach an agreement on the best possible method for financing the projects. This could leave the Parliament waiting for an answer until well after the Eid Al-Fitr holidays. This statement comes as the Cabinet works on finalizing their preparations to present their results of a potential financing draft law to HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nassir Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. So far, it's believed that the draft law will insist on having the government finance the projects through local banks in a process that will be supervised by the Central Bank of KuwaitCentral Bank of Kuwait, reported Al-Watan.

The weekly meeting, which was scheduled to take place on Monday afternoon, was expected to feature a demonstration by the Minister of Finance, Moustafa Al-Shamali, on the insolvency fund. An agreement on the supreme council of the environment's decision to cancel all commercial and factory licenses in Al-Ashairej for environmental reasons was also expected to be discussed. The Minister of Education, Dr Moudhy Al-Hmoud, was prepared to provide a project for increasing the salaries of teachers while the Inte
rior Minister, Sheikh Jaber Al-Khalid, was scheduled to give a report on the results of his recent tour to Bahrain.

In other news, the Parliament's committee to study the negative effects of foreign phenomena in Kuwait was expected to meet with HH the Prime Minister yesterday in order to discuss national unity. The meeting was announced by committee spokesperson, MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, reported Al-Rai
The meeting was held as per the committee's request and addressed some TV shows broadcast by private satellite stations that they considered damaging to national unity.

The panel's members will request that HH the Prime Minister step in and enforce the law against TV channels that attack our country's national unity," Al-Tabtabaei said. It was expected that the recent uproar as a result of a radio show that made negative remarks about the rulers of Gulf states was also mentioned during the meeting.

On a separate topic, MP Dr Faisal Al-Mislem revealed intentions to present a draft law at the beginning of the upcoming parliament term regarding the valuation of citizens' homes on blocks 5 and 10 of Khaitan. The draft law would also give citizens priority when applying to own property on blocks 3 and 4 of the same area, which the Cabinet previously announced would be sold in an auction.

Al-Mislem explained that the Cabinet's decision to place properties on blocks 3 and 4 blocks in Khaitan in a public auction would not help end the housing problems that citizens in the area are suffering from. He pointed out that relocating citizens and giving them priority to own houses on those blocks would help solve the problem.

© Kuwait Times 2010