KUWAIT CITY, Dec 27: Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipal Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar spoke of the need to take legal procedures to ban the smoking of shisha in all public places, including restaurants and cafes.  He was speaking at the 12th meeting of the Higher Committee for Planning at Kuwait Municipality on Monday.
Head of Follow Up Office Abdulkareem Al-Zaid said the committee suggested that the Technical Office of the municipality study the feasibility of banning shisha smoking completely, as it is a negative phenomenon in the society.
He said the committee, after studying all decisions and laws issued in this regard, called on authorities to increase the penalty for smoking shisha in public places. It also instructed the municipality representative in the committee to take steps to ban the smoking of shisha in public places.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the Ministry of Public Works avowed that conflict between the ministry and the contractor managing the new National Assembly building project will be referred to the courts, indicating the project will be stalled until a court verdict has been issued, reports Al-Moustaqbal daily.
The project had commenced in September 2008 and was supposed to have ended in two years at a total cost of 30 million dinars. However, the source stressed that only 65 percent of the project covering 70 thousand square/meters area has been implemented so far.
The source held that the ministry holds the contractor accountable for delays in implementation of the project due to numerous change orders in that regard. “A committee from the Experts Administration will be assigned to identify the parts implemented and then file a report on the project’s status to the court”, added the source.