Manama: Kuwait is taking a tougher stance against people barbecuing on beaches, pledging that violators will have to pay 10,000 Kuwaiti Dinars.
“The environment law does not criminalise the activity of barbecuing per se, but it does criminalise the impact and pollution resulting from any activity that harms the surrounding environment,” Mohammad Al Enezi, the assistant undersecretary for technical affairs at the Environment Public Authority, said quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Rai on Wednesday.
“The type of violation and the financial penalty are determined by the extent of the pollution incident resulting from the barbecue activity.”
The authorities had initially imposed KD100 fines for breaking the rules on barbecuing outside the designated locations.
However, faced with the growing phenomenon of Kuwaitis and expatriates, mainly from Arab and Asian countries, barbecuing nonchalantly and without any regard for cleanliness at the beach and in public parks and gardens, Kuwait’s Municipal Council in 2012 increased the fines to up to KD 1,000.
The authorities at the time attributed the ten-fold increase to the fact some citizens and residents were not deterred by the soft penalties.
Offenders had to pay the fines within two weeks to ensure their case was not referred to a court of law.
Despite the dramatic increase, several expatriates continued to hold barbecue gatherings and in 2014, Kuwaiti officials warned that expatriates would be deported if they are caught barbecuing in non-allocated places.
