Legislator pushes on expat towns, facilities

This news has been read 6325 times!

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 7: Member of the Parliamentary Finance and Economic Affairs Committee Hamoud Al-Hamdan affirmed the essence of establishing workers cities to accommodate over 200,000 people. He added the cities should be built in the outskirts while making provision for all services such as security, health facilities and commercial complexes. In a press release, Al-Hamdan said there is no need to reduce the number of expatriates since jobs are available for them in Kuwait.

He stressed the country can still accommodate the current number of expatriates if the workers cities are increased. He indicated about one million expatriate workers are for domestic purposes, and reducing the number will not solve the problem given that individuals and institutions need their services. He called for specialized companies to ensure that trained workers are recruited according to agreements signed between concerned parties.

Statistics indicate that Kuwaitis constitute 31.7 percent of the population while expatriates make up 68.3 percent of which Asians are the majority representing 62 percent followed by Arabs with 33.5 percent, Africans form 2.8 percent, while Europeans, Americans and Australians form 1.7 percent, and Illegal residents (Bedouns) cover 3 percent of the population, he noted.

Breakdown of the nationalities shows that Indians top the chart with 28 percent (707,000) followed by Egyptians with 20 percent (500,000) and Bangladeshis account for 8 percent (200,000). Filipinos constitute 6 percent (150,000), Syrians 5.6 percent (142,000), Pakistanis 5.1 percent (128,000), Saudis 5 percent (127,000), Sri Lankan 4.7 percent (116,000) and Jordanians 2.3 percent (56,000). Iranians are in the 10th place with 2 percent (46,000), Lebanese 1.8 percent (45,000), Iraqis 0.7 percent (17,000) while expatriates from various nationalities represent 8.5 percent (213,000) and remaining 2 percent are Arab nationals constituting 49,000 of the population.

He urged the Government and Manpower Restructuring Project to amend the defective population structure by integrating the volume of expatriates to reduce the rate of marginal workers. He suggested scientific planning for manpower by training the percentage of national manpower in the labor market and private sector, and improving the mechanism of recruiting expatriate workers.

By Abdul-Rahman Al-Shimmari Al-Seyassah Staff

This news has been read 6325 times!