KUWAIT CITY, April 12, (KUNA): The Kuwaiti Ministry of Public Works’ (MPW) maintenance engineering sector has an annual budget of KD 55 million (approximately $191.2 million), an official said here Monday.
The budget is mainly spent on the maintenance and renovation of public utilities and installations, Assistant Undersecretary of the Maintenance Engineering Sector Fadhel Al-Ajmi addressed an open gathering at the ministry.
Contracts
There are 61 maintenance contracts for roads, highways, health, buildings and construction as well as infrastructure deals, he said, adding that there are also 30 contracts being in the process of awarding and inking.
The main task of the sector is to carry out periodical maintenance works for public utilities and facilities, he added.
The sector is responsible for the maintenance and renovation of all governmental buildings, implementation of small construction works and erection of rainwater and sewage networks, he noted.
For his part, Chief Maintenance Engineer at the Ministry Shareeda Al-Azmi said the sector is fully responsible for the maintenance of roads, pavement and sewage networks.
He listed the key maintenance contracts by the sector as a contract worth KD 7 million for the repaving of Al-Abdalli Road and another contract valued at KD 6 million for the repaving of Al-Salmi Road.
Meanwhile, the Second Public Works conference due on April 20, to be held under the patronage of H.H. the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah will be marked this year by its special preparations, Director of the Public Relations Department Hamid Bushahri said here Monday.
Bushahri said that the recommendations made by the first conference held in 2007 included the biennial holding of this specialized gathering and earmarking an award for distinction in the field of public works. This award will be given to the most distinctive project according to the engineering criteria along with taking architectural, economic, traffic and environmental matters into account, he added.
He also said that the first conference recommended the permanent coordination among all ministries and bodies in order to put the development plans into effect along with accelerating the announcement of bids for the development projects and implementing the subway project to link the capital city to other governorates.
Seminars
There were three seminars preceding the conference with the first one held under the theme “Traffic Jams and Public Transport” and recommending the establishment of an independent body for transportation in Kuwait that is to organize and supervise the transport sector, Bushahri explained.
He also said that this seminar recommended the setting of a time limit for implementing recommendations made by the cabinet’s traffic jams committee after revising and activating the traffic law aiming at reducing the current traffic chaos and decreasing accidents.
Bushahri went on to say that the seminar recommended a streamlining of the movement of cabs in what helps traffic on roads along with setting up compulsory side parking lots on the pavements similar to those allocated for buses and developing the systems used in the parking lots of private cars.
The first seminar was concluded by a recommendation on supporting the public transport projects and accelerating the train project as a solution to the traffic jams and in preparation for being linked to the Gulf Cooperation Council network of trains.
It also urged various institutions to provide buses to transport employees and students and to work to develop the research centers of the transport sector and linking them to development projects.