KUWAIT CITY, Nov 26: The resignation of the Minister of Public Works, Amani Bouqmaz, from her position to escape the two interrogations submitted against her by MPs Daoud Marafi and Mubarak Al-Tasha, and supported by other MPs, raised questions about the political responsibility of the minister resigning from her position, and who is responsible for administrative and legal violations and the obstruction of state projects, especially related to infrastructure development and addressing road defects.

The Kuwaiti citizens have suffered for a long time, in addition to repeated ‘flooding’ of roads and tunnels during every rainy season due to the malfunctioning of the drainage network and other chronic problems that have not found solutions, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The sources confirmed that the government’s acceptance of the resignation of the Minister of Works against the backdrop of the two interrogations submitted against her is “an implicit admission of failure to perform her duties,” stressing the necessity of working to correct the deficiencies, and holding any negligent official accountable, even if he/she leaves his/her position by resigning.

The sources touched on the topics of the last interrogation presented by Daoud Marafi, after which the minister resigned, most notably the Roads Authority, the waste of public money, the failure to implement the law, the failure to perform her duties, the failure to perform and follow up on the ministry’s work, and the damage it causes to the environment and its repercussions on the nation and citizens.

The sources indicated that the resigned minister misled the government and public opinion regarding the roads issue with her contradictory statements, as she promised, after assuming responsibility of the ministry to radically repair the roads in July 2023, but nothing was achieved, despite the announcement of the floating of tenders to international companies. The resigned minister also spoke about maintenance contracts, while the acting Minister of Public Works, Jassem Al-Ostad, revealed in his first statement that there were no maintenance contracts at all.

As it became clear from the facts, contracts were awarded in violation of the conditions, which constitutes new damage to public funds and a legal and administrative violation.

According to the interrogation submitted by Marafi, the resigned minister is responsible for the delay in the airport project based on the wishes of the contractor, “Limak Company,” with regard to the reserve item in the T2 information and communications systems, despite the agreement of the concerned parties, especially the “Government Performance Monitoring Agency, the CITRA, and Civil Aviation.” , Fatwa and Legislation Department, Kuwait University, and the Ministry of Interior, expressed their fear of the multiplicity of systems and took into account the costs of linking them, and their emphasis on unifying the system, but the Ministry of Works did not implement this.

The sources indicated that the outcome of the achievement was “zero” from the time the Minister of Works took over until her resignation from her position, and accepting her resignation without accountability opens the door for any official to continue wasting public money and taking advantage and making decisions and then canceling them, and misleading public opinion regarding projects, so whoever is safe from punishment can get out of the situation without accountability, by just throwing in the towel.

A number of mistakes were committed during the era of the resigned minister such as:

Neglecting the streets, not taking measures for the rainy season, and not enabling the Roads Authority to perform its role.

Poor planning for road maintenance and repairs, which leads to exorbitant repair costs and economic losses.

Choosing contractors randomly and randomly harms the quality of project implementation, increases their costs, harms the authority’s credibility, and causes a decline in Kuwait’s international rating in indicators of infrastructure and road quality.

Absence of a strategy and lack of vision to maintain and maintain infrastructure and the quality of roads.

Failure to perform and follow up on the ministry’s work and the damage it causes to the nation and citizens.

Delaying the completion of the new Kuwait Airport T2... and negligence and manipulation in civil aviation.

Misleading facts in the government’s action plan presented to the National Assembly.

Negligence, administrative manipulation, and the fight against competencies in civil aviation.

Shortcomings in the Roads Authority

Failure to appoint a general manager and his deputies.

Lack of technical expertise in the Authority, which caused an exaggeration in the estimated cost of the proposed projects.

Lack of a system or work procedures and lack of internal control and auditing.

Lack of staff and the Minister’s disruption of transportation.

Relying on expatriates to make decisions and conduct work.

Failure to transfer powers to the Authority.

The weak response and guidance of the executive branch and their failure to provide them with the tools that help them carry out their role.

Wasting Road Authority budgets.

Required solutions include:

Holding accountable those responsible for wasting public money and corruption

Cancellation of decisions issued without study

Issuing new corrective decisions

Accelerating development projects

Speeding up the issuance of road repair contracts and tenders

Accelerating the pace of work to meet the aspirations of citizens Working on applying the Qatari asphalt mixture that has proven successful