KUWAIT: Minister of Health and Minister of Finance Mustafa Al-Shimali reassured citizens and expatriates about the health situation in the country after detecting meningitis cases recently. “Only six infection cases have been registered so far, including four in 2011 and two in 2012,” the minister told reporters during an inspection visit to Farwaniya Hospital Thursday afternoon. “This number is far below the international prevalence rate of the disease, which starts from ten infection cases for each 100,000 people,” he pointed out.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 4, (KUNA): Ministry of Public Works announced on Sunday that the new passenger terminal at Kuwait Internatio-nal Airport will be completed by September 2016, indicating that the estimated cost is about KD 900 million.

Acting Director of Advisers to the Ministry Eng Faisal Majeed Al-Ostath told Kuwait News Agency that the design phase and document preparations will be ready by March 2012.

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 8: The Cabinet has reportedly instructed the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to restrict the granting of work permits to expatriates in the public and private sectors, reports Al-Jarida daily.

Ministeria

50,000 Expats On Visit Fail To Leave Country
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 9: Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor approved a set of regulations to govern the transfer of work permits among workers completing three years with their sponsors, reports Al-Qabas daily.
The daily quoting informed sources added the ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Labor Jamal Al-Dosari approved a policy to prevent employees who decline to notify their sponsors of their intention-three months before leaving their jobs-from transferring their residence permits, even if they have completed three years with their current sponsors.

The cooperative societies have greatly contributed to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor’s efforts to prevent price hikes, especially now that the holy month of Ramadan is just around the corner, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily quoting Undersecretary Mohammad Al-Kandari. Speaking at the launching of the Ramadan Commodities Fair in Adan and Qusour Cooperative Society recently, Al-Kandari revealed the special discounts on basic commodities offered by the cooperatives have gone a long way in thwarting the attempt of some greedy traders to take advantage of the occasion to gain higher profits at the expense of the consumers.

Calculations indicate that the holy month of Ramadan would most probably start next Monday, August 1, and there is no forecast of dusty weather for the month of fast, meteorologist Dr. Saleh Al-Ujairi told KUNA on Monday.

Al-Ujairi pointed out that the new crescent is actually born on Saturday, but would only be visible on Sunday evening.

While the crescent would be visible for 19 minutes in Kuwait, and between 21 and 26 minutes in other Gulf countries, it would be visible for over an hour in some non-Islamic countries in other parts of the world.

Kuwait’s Minister of Electricity and Water has announced that the country has enough power to see its residents through summer, following reports that an expansion of the electricity distribution network is in the pipeline.

“We have sufficient surplus power that ranges between 600 and 700 megawatts,” said Meshaan Al-Otaibi, assistant undersecretary of the MEW. “This means we will have sufficient power for this summer.”

KUWAIT: The Engineering Sector in the Ministry of Public Works revealed that it is currently preparing to have four projects ready for tender.

The four projects are related to the improvement and development of regional roads as part of the ministry’s plan to improve and modernize road network in Kuwait according to international specifications, with 550 kilometers in length at the estimated cost of one billion and 700 million Kuwaiti dinars. In a related issue, the Director of office of Public relations (PR) in the Ministry of Public Works Hameed Yousef BuShahri detailed the ministry’s major achievements during the first half (H1) of this year.

DUBAI – Kuwait government is working on plans to introduce residency caps on expatriates to slash their number in the country to 45 percent of the total population, local daily Gulf News reported on Sunday.

“The government will suggest imposing a cap of six years on unskilled labourers, eight years on semi-skilled employees, ten years on semi-skilled employees who are with their families and 12 years on skilled employees. Foreigners with rare expertise will be given an open stay,” Annahar daily quoted a source as saying, the report said.