Municipality unveils 7 urgent solutions to Jleeb overcrowding crisis

As long-term solutions for the Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh area are expected to take between two and six years to materialize, the Kuwait Municipality is intensifying efforts to implement swift, urgent measures to address the area’s pressing challenges and prevent further deterioration.

According to a well-informed source, the Municipality recently completed a comprehensive assessment of conditions in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh. The study resulted in a set of proposed solutions that cover legislative, regulatory, and organizational dimensions, reports Al-Rai daily.

On the legislative front, the proposals include drafting a new law to prohibit the housing of bachelors in designated residential areas.

This would grant the Municipality the authority to take direct administrative action to evict violators and cut off utility services to non-compliant properties.

Amendments to Municipal Law No. 33 of 2016 are also underway to allow for immediate issuance of violations and to require landlords or contractors to address infractions within six months.

From an organizational perspective, the Municipality plans to build six labor cities and 12 worker housing complexes capable of accommodating up to 400,000 people.

However, given the timeline for these developments, officials are prioritizing seven urgent, short-term solutions designed to alleviate overcrowding, reduce security risks, and lower the high concentration of bachelor residents.

These short-term measures include prohibiting the rental of residential units for non-family purposes.

Permitting the establishment of workers’ housing within industrial zones; allowing worker accommodations within agricultural land holdings; granting storage permit approvals that include housing for workers on major project sites and offering grace periods to property owners with violations, allowing time to rectify legal status once co-ownership records are updated — particularly crucial given current challenges in identifying ownership.

This is in addition to linking laborers to specific sites of government or private projects through coordination with the Public Authority for Manpower and implementing targeted repairs to the area’s most affected infrastructure.

These measures represent the Municipality’s immediate response to ongoing issues in the Jleeb area, while laying the groundwork for more comprehensive, long-term urban and residential restructuring.