Ministerial Council greenlights Central Agency for Public Tenders board formation

The Board of Directors of the Central Tenders Agency is expected to begin its meetings soon, after a hiatus of about five months due to the expiration of the decree of the previous board members.

Government operations have picked up speed through rounds of decisions and procedures aimed at boosting progress and overcoming stagnation across multiple areas.

In its weekly meeting chaired by His Highness Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister, the Council of Ministers approved a draft decree forming the Board of Directors of the Central Agency for Public Tenders and submitted it to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The council also approved two draft decrees abolishing Law No. (40) of 1966 regarding the chosen ones and the decree establishing the National Security Service, and submitted them to His Highness the Amir.

Issam Al-Roumi, the head of the Audit Bureau, took the legal oath before the Council of Ministers in preparation for assuming the duties and powers of his new position.

The cabinet reviewed the visual presentation submitted by the Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, Dr. Noura Muhammad Al-Mashaan, regarding the railway connection project between Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The presentation covered the stages and recommendations included in the project, stressing its importance in organizing and activating sustainable railway connectivity and enhancing trade and economic growth between the two brotherly countries.

Informed sources indicated to Al-Rai newspaper that the Board of Directors of the Central Tenders Agency is expected to begin its meetings soon, after a hiatus of about five months due to the expiration of the decree of the previous board members.

The sources reported that the new council “is awaiting about 2,100 accumulated requests from government agencies to discuss and decide on, in order to move the wheel of work in the ministries, agencies, and institutions affiliated with the agency.”

They stated that the General Secretariat will provide the members of the new Board of Directors with a detailed presentation regarding the mechanism of work of all the agency’s departments, to form a general idea of the nature of the work of those departments and their tasks. They expect that the Board of Directors will hold its first meeting next week after the decree is published in the Official Gazette.

It is likely that the council will hold daily meetings during the first weeks of its work to complete the accumulated requests. They indicated that the tender mechanism will give priority to tenders that cannot tolerate delay, in accordance with the recommendations of public authorities and the estimates of the members of the Agency’s Board of Directors.

It is noteworthy that the Board of Directors of the Central Tenders Agency held its last meeting on January four of last year, before the expiration of the decree of its members on January 7 of the same month.

On the other hand, Al-Rai learned that the redistribution of agencies affiliated with the current ministers will include the entry and exit of some agencies from one minister to another. It is expected that the list of agencies affiliated with the Minister of Trade and Industry, Minister of Transportation, Engineer Omar Al-Omar, will include the Public Authority for Industry, the Insurance Unit, the Silk Authority, and the Protection Agency. Competition and the Capital Markets Authority will also be included, along with the Planning and Statistics Departments.

It’s noted that the National Fund for the Development and Care of Small Enterprises will return to the list of entities affiliated with the Minister of Commerce, while the Kuwait Ports Corporation and the General Administration of Customs will be withdrawn from it.

The day after in-depth talks between Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya and a Chinese government delegation that focused on implementing huge development projects in the country, Dr. Noura Al-Mashaan, the Minister of Public Works and Minister of Municipality, accompanied by the Chinese delegation, made an inspection visit.

The visit covered the ports of Mubarak Al-Kabeer on Boubyan Island, Shuaiba, Shuwaikh, and Doha, and included in-depth technical and field discussions. The discussions focused on the importance of strengthening construction and economic relations related to the implementation of huge development projects in the country.

According to circulated information, the Board of Directors of the Tenders Authority is expected to include the following names: Issam Daoud Ahmed Al Marzouq as Chairman, along with Haifa Fahd Hamoud Al-Jarallah, Dr. Abdullah Muhammad Abdullah Dhiyab, Dr. Abdullah Ahmed Haji Al-Khayyat Al-Azmi, Ahmed Ali Ahmed Qasim, Osama Khaled Abdullah Boodai, and Taiba Youssef Mubarak Al-Qabandi.