‘Heavy fines for those who encroach upon land or erect illegal structures’

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Municipality has powers to implement law: Al-Manfouhi

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 15: There is no escape from paying the fines. The law is applied on everyone who violates the rules and regulations in force, says the Kuwait Municipality according to Al-Rai daily. The daily quoting Municipal sources said the law is now applied on all who encroach upon even one meter of government land or builds anything without obtaining a licence.

The Building Violations Committee formed by a decision issued by the Director- General of the Kuwait Municipality, Engr Ahmad Al-Manfouhi, says it will leave no stone unturned to monitor building violations in investment or private housing, as it embarks on an exceptional campaign which Engr Al-Manfouhi personally follows and has until now demolished several violations (illegal constructions) in the Capital and the Farwaniya Governorates.

Some of these, according to sources, were removed by the concerned parties while the others had to be executed by force when some of the persons refused. The head of the Emergency Team of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate Municipality branch and member of the Building Violations Committee, Nasser Al-Hajri, told the daily the violators of the Municipality laws face a fine between 800 and 1,000 dinars, in addition to a fine to the property owner which is between 50 to 500 dinars per square meter if the violation is committed in the private housing and from 1,000 to 5,000 dinars per square meter in investment housing and the like, in addition to removing or correcting the situation.

He explained, if the owner refuses to implement the Municipal order, he/ she will be subjected to another fine, in addition to the above, the fine 10 dinars per day for private housing, and 100 dinars per day for investment housing and the like until the ruling is executed.

He added that one of the powers bestowed in the Kuwait Municipality is to force the owner to implement the provisions, by cutting off the electricity and water supply from the violating property for which a final ruling is issued, stressing that “these procedures are carried out by the Municipality in accordance with the legal texts within its Law 33 of 2016.”

He indicated the committee is also working to complete the legal procedures related to violations of building regulations, issued by a final ruling or for which a report of violation was previously issued by the supervisory bodies in the branches of the governorates, leading to the removal of the violation in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the relevant supervisory body at the Municipality branch (legal protection), by issuing a notification to implement the ruling of removal, then filing a violation report to refrain from implementing the ruling.

For his part, the head of the Violation Removal Department in the Capital Governorate branch, a member of the Building Violations Committee, Engr Abdullah Jaber, explained that “the commitment of real estate owners to the building regulations and regulations in force in the municipality keeps them from issuing violations against them, and the legal procedures that follow, may result in placing a block on the real estate, which means cutting the power supply and prevent the issuance of licence until the violations are remedied.

He pointed out that the rate of violations in recent times is somewhat less than the previous one, especially with good awareness of real estate owners, and their follow-up of the implementation of the provisions recently issued against many real estate, and the legal procedures that have been taken that led to the removal and demolition, and indicated that one the owners (investment property) in Farwaniya governorate willingly offered to amend and correct the construction violations in his property, as the Building Regulations Department was approached that there was an increase in the building area over the licensee to create an eighth and a ninth floor and the situation was amended at the expense of the owner in coordination with the technical team in the Building Violations Committee.

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