Plans afoot to ‘Kuwaitise’ contract workers

Cairo: Kuwait’s Ministry of Public Works plans to allocate 25 per cent of jobs in its new contracts to citizens as state institutions in the country are seeking to provide more jobs to nationals as part of the “Kuwaitisation” policy. Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s total population of 4.8 million.

The Ministry of Public Works will soon launch a programme on its electronic portal to “Kuwaitise” 25 per cent of the workers required in the contracts to be sealed by the ministry in the coming period, Al Anba newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources..

The step comes to implement recommendations made by a Kuwaitisation committee set up by Minister of Public Works Rana Al Fares, the sources added.

A permanent follow-up team will be formed to ensure compliance.

“The selection of the national labour will be guided by a manpower data base featuring information on ages and specialties of the job seekers,” a source said.

The employment plan offers incentives for the Kuwaiti job hunters in a way that has recently attracted an increasing number of them, the sources said without details.

In recent months, there have been increasing calls in Kuwait for curbing foreigners’ employment to redress demographic imbalance amid accusations that migrant workers have strained the Gulf country’s infrastructure facilities.