Decision to ‘stop investment’ in sports facilities to cost KD 150m
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Committee to submit recommendation to minister
KUWAIT CITY, March 8: The Technical Committee that has been formed to study the issue of licenses for state-owned sports establishments and facilities in private and model housing areas said the decision to stop investment in these areas will cost the state 150 million dinars if cases are to be filed by investors due to existing contracts, reports Al-Qabas daily. The committee meeting, chaired by the Director-General of the Kuwait Municipality, Eng Ahmed Al-Manfouhi, agreed small projects will be harmed due to the failure to complete the construction and investment procedures, while the members of the committee decided to submit a recommendation to the minister of Municipality to stop work on decision No. 56 of 2022 and leave the situation as it is, saying there is no need for the committee to continue to set conditions, controls and procedures for issuance of investment licenses
At the beginning those attending the meeting discussed the issue of determining the activities through which investment in sports bodies will be carried out. The persons representing the sports bodies stated that there were no complaints received by the Sports Authority due to the presence of undesirable activities. Therefore, we recommend the continuation of organized activities as they were being carried out prior to the competent authorities taking the decisions. With regard to determining the controls for issuing licenses, representatives of sports authorities indicated that these controls were mentioned in the list of investment controls issued by the Board of Directors of the Public Sports Authority and approved by the Fatwa and Legislation Department. The representative of the Public Sports Authority, Saqr Al-Mulla, presented a copy of a letter issued by the Fatwa and Legislation Department dated May 24, 2021 regarding a draft decision to amend some provisions of Resolution No. 2 of 2019 regarding the controls of land use and state-owned sports facilities.
Meeting
Those present during the meeting, including representatives of sports bodies, members of the committee (Public Sports Authority, the Kuwait Olympic Committee, the Kuwait Football Association, the Al-Arabi Sports Club and the Al-Tadamun Sports Club) made a number of recommendations, including “there is no need for the committee’s work to continue in future meetings to set the conditions and procedures for issuing investment licenses in lands and sports facilities in private and model housing areas, and called for the suspension of this decision, suspension of Ministerial Decision No. 56 of 2022, and keeping the situation in tact as it is for the following reasons: The suspension decision will cost the treasury more than 150 million dinars, because of cases that will be filed by investors due to existing contracts, which were awarded in accordance with the rule of law and investment decisions; small projects will be affected due to the failure to complete construction and investment procedures; all awards and contracts that have obtained prior approvals from the Municipality and all relevant authorities, will accordingly have an untouchable legal basis; the investment decision and its controls were in accordance with the rule of law and the approval of the Fatwa and Legislation Department; disruption of investment will harm public money by not collecting the percentage from the Public Authority for Sports (5%) of the total investment returns in sports bodies.
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