Panel exempts citizens from paying accrued utilities bills
KUWAIT CITY: The National Assembly's Legislative Affairs Committee has
given its approval to exempt citizens from paying their accumulated electricity
and water consumption bills, sources told Al-Seyassah. The committee said
although citizens should pay the electricity and water fees, which is subsidised
by the government, the concerned government departments had failed to collect
these bills on time causing the dues to increase to an extent that citizens are
now unable to pay. The committee urged the government to implement a new
strategy to collect these bills from citizens on time to ensure they don't
accumulate again. After approving a suggestion to exempt citizens from paying
the accumulated electricity and water consumption bills, members of the
committee decided to put the suggestion in a law and leave details on the amount
and period of exemption to a special technical committee. Members of the
committee also decided to adjust the amount already paid by some citizens for
the exemption period against their future consumption.
Further encouragement not to pay your bills. If every now and again, your bills are wiped because you haven't paid them, then why would anyone in the right mind pay anything for electricity and water? Amazing.
Funnily enough, the same edition of the Arab Times features a school children's walkathon aimed at conserving water and electricity and titled 'My rights and obligation towards best life (sic)'. Why conserve water & electricity if it's free? No wonder, Kuwait is a world leader in electricity and water consumption per capita. And, of course Kuwait is one of the world's poorest areas in terms of water resources, with virtually no renewable fresh-water supplies. This article back in 1994 is a little dated but shows Kuwait having the lowest annual renewable water supply in the region... and I don't think this will have changed much. What a shame we can't make more use of the rains that caused flooding the week before last!
Here's an article from earlier this year referring to water rationing in Kuwait.
Oh, and by the way, it seems as though making internet telephone calls are illegal in Kuwait... news to me! According to the Kuwait Times (and also reported in the Arab Times)...
As if the phone companies (effectively a duopoly with the 2 mobile phone companies, or cartel when you include the Ministry who control land-lines) don't screw you enough already, charging for all incoming mobile calls, and if you happen to live in a new residential area you can't even get a residential line, 15 months and we're still waiting... so I can't even use internet telephony if I wanted to, and have to rely on a flaky GPRS conncetion through the mobile phone to get internet / email access. Satellite TV providers have yet to get their act together either. Showtime can only do satellite download and you still have to use GPRS for the upload, which will only compound the problems using GPRS. Orbit has been promising 2-way internet access since I subscribed in July, but each time I ask when it will be available I get the typical "don't know" brush-off. Yeah, yeah, I know, I chose to live in a new area to avoid exorbitant rent... you get what you pay for.Asian held
A Pakistani was arrested at Khaitan on charges of selling international
calls at 50 fils a minute using a computer. The Pakistani was well known in the
Kheitan area for this operation. He was apprehended when one of the security men
approached him for a call. Net phone cards where found in his person which is
illegal in Kuwait.
1 comment:
Thanks for your comment.
I guess there are a number of reasons for the bad driving - certainly it's the worst I've seen anywhere in the world. Saudi's pretty bad, but there at least it's only the men (gee, that's going to offend woman drivers!). I think it boils down to the combination of too much money and too little sense. If a young Kuwaiti male get's a Porche at 18, if the police are unwilling to stop him because he's got wasta meaning it's a fruitless attempt to do anything as he'll get off, or worse get the policeman into trouble... police are going to go for the easy targets. If I have to fulfill my quota I'll pull over a few trucks driven by poor Indians/Bangladeshis/etc., and if they don't have the right ID / driver's licence / residency status, etc. there's potentially something extra in it for me. [Don't have any evidence for this, so don't quote me!]
Before I came to Kuwait I was well aware of the stereotype (& this conveyed to me from other Arabs) that Kuwaitis are aggressive / arrogant etc., so I knew what to expect. But it is a generalisation, rightly or wrongly, and I wouldn't want to tar everyone with the same brush. I'm sure that there are many Kuwaitis out there that don't live up to the stereotype, but you're probably not going to see them (or be bumped into by them) around Marina Mall.
Dare I say it, if you want to see more authentic or traditional Arab hospitality, look elsewhere in the Middle East. In the Gulf, Bahrain or Oman should give provide a different experience.
Post a Comment