Bill to amend law on SMEs

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KUWAIT CITY, May 17: MP Ahmed Al-Hamad has submitted a bill amending National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Law number 98/ 2013 as follows:

■ Article Five, Clause Three: owners of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) must work full time in their businesses. In case, they decide to engage in business while keeping their jobs in the public sector; they must request for leave of seven years maximum.

■ Article 10, Paragraph Four: certain parts of new residential areas, central markets and cooperative societies should be allocated for SMEs through the coordinated efforts of the Board of Directors of the SMEs Fund and Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW).

■ Article 18 bis, Paragraph 16: The deficit of SMEs is determined annually.

■ Article 25: the SMEs Fund shall grant loans equal to 80 percent of the total cost of setting up the enterprise. This loan plus two percent shall be payable within 15 years, which can be extended according to a decision of the Board of Directors. The interest shall cover the administrative expenses of the SMEs Fund and loans are granted in according to the Islamic Sharia. The beneficiary is given a grace period ranging from one to six years, which can be extended after conducting a study on the conditions of the enterprise.

■ Article 30, Paragraph Three: a portion of the production of SMEs; in addition to public tenders valued at less than KD75,000 floated by ministries, their subsidiaries and other public institutions are allocated for SMEs.

■ Article 30, Paragraph 11: the SMEs Fund provides fire insurance for the beneficiaries, health insurance for the workers, banking facilities and financial guarantee to SMEs dealing with ministries and public institutions as well as training for the beneficiaries and their workers. The fund shall pay the loan in case the SMEs shutdown for reasons beyond the control of owners.

On the other hand, MP Khalid Al-Otaibi said the attempt of National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim to drag women into the political dispute when he announced his plan to submit a bill to give more chances for women to become members of the Assembly is a way of distorting facts and misleading the people. “Everyone knows that before and after every political crisis; the democratic experience of Kuwait, particularly the Elections Law, is being targeted in a bid to bring a parliament which lacks legislation and monitoring capabilities. After the one-man-four votes system, they pushed for the implementation of the one-man-onevote system.

No one knows what is coming. The objective behind the proposal to amend the Election Law is to eliminate the opposition and make cracks in the solid bloc that is keen on protecting the rights of citizens. If they are really concerned about women, they must submit bills which address vital issues like housing, health, education and family,” he added.

Meanwhile, MP Osama Al-Menawer asked State Minister for Municipality and Information Technology Affairs Rana Al-Fares to provide him with a copy of the contract on consultative services, executing and supervising the meteorology and navigation at Kuwait International Airport in cooperation with a local engineering consultancy firm. He wants to know the reasons behind the variation orders, cost of such orders, if the company carried out its tasks on time, if the company submitted recommendations which were disregarded later due to pressure from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, justification for contracting with the company through a local mediator instead of direct contracting, and procedures followed in specifying the value of the contract at KD 10 million.

Al-Menawer also forwarded queries to Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Nazaha Enhancement Jamal Al-Jalawi about the report of the Central Agency for Public Tenders on the tender for designing, manufacturing, supplying, installing, operating, maintaining and providing training services for the Advanced Service Movement Guidance and Control System (ASMGCS) and Registration Data Directory Services (RDDS) for the runways at Kuwait International Airport. He wants to know the total value of the tender, if the relevant financial and administrative regulations were followed, measures taken for the pre-qualification of participating companies, and amendments made to the tender since it was floated till date. In addition, Al-Ghanim recently met European Union (EU) Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans who is currently on official visit to Kuwait. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff

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