Plan to establish 4 permanent wastewater ‘treatment’ plants

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Umm Al-Haiman Plant to be expanded

Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Chairman of the Supreme Council for the Environment Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah announced that the Supreme Council for Environment has recommended the urgent transfer of industrial plots from Ashirj area to other locations, and that there is coordination on this matter with both the Public Authority for Industry and the Ministry of Communications, revealing time the State has a long-term plan to establish four permanent wastewater treatment plants, reports Al- Rai daily.

Sheikh Nasser Al-Sabah, in response to a parliamentary question by MP Riad Al-Adasani, said that the Supreme Council for the Environment is currently monitoring, following-up and coordinating, regarding the removal of debris, cleaning the area and protecting the plant sector, and procedures to remove ships anchored without a license in the State.

He explained that oil residues such as oil-contaminated soil are sent to the station for receiving hazardous waste in the Shuaiba area, as well as exported to companies recycling oil waste outside the country in accordance with the Basel Convention, pointing out that plastic waste is sent to local companies engaged in recycling plastic, as well as exported abroad through the same convention.

As for wastewater discharge, Al- Sabah pointed out that it is sent to the nearest purification station belonging to the Ministry of Public Works, while fuel oils, lubricants and bitumen are sent to the companies working in the field of recycling, as well as the hazardous waste reception station in the Shuaiba area.

He pointed out that there is a plan in the short term in agreement with the Ministry of Public Works to put up the purchase of temporary stations to treat the Ghazali sewage, which will lead to reduce waste from the marine environment. He pointed out that according to the Environmental Protection Law, all establishments were obliged to carry out their activities not to emit or leak air pollutants, beyond the permissible limits, pointing out that the Authority has established the national air quality monitoring network, which consists of 15 fixed monitoring stations belonging to the Environment Protection Agency and 13 stations belonging to the authorities.

Meanwhile, Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Services Affairs Khaled Al-Roudan issued a ministerial decision to establish a public holding company for the expansion of Umm Al-Haiman Waste Water Treatment Plant, reports Al-Rai daily. According to a source, the capital of the plant is KD 49.022 million distributed into 490,229 shares with each share valued at KD 0.100 to be paid in cash.

The government is studying two options to cover the shares of citizens through subscription, given that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) program had addressed the Ministry of Finance to give its opinion on the two alternatives, the source disclosed.

The source went on to say that the first alternative is to cover the cost in advance by deducting funds from the custody account to cover the share value put for subscription, which will be paid through the public reserve of the State once the law is issued in this regard or after transferring shares of the citizens. The second option is for the Cabinet to issue an order to transfer the authority of PPP over the shares of citizens in the project and supplementary work to Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), the source added.

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