Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan asked his ministry to produce suitable solutions to the strains of the power supplies
Friday, June 25th, 2010Kuwait Minister of Electricity and Water Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan said Monday the Cabinet asked his ministry to produce suitable solutions to the strains of the power supplies in this exceptionally hot summer.
“The Cabinet sought during its weekly meeting last night a clear-cut mechanism for addressing this problem,” the minister told reporters here.
“It approved the formation of a government panel to enforce the procedures of the rationing drive at all state departments,” he disclosed.
The panel, chaired by the minister includes representatives of all state departments with ranks not below assistant undersecretary.
“The Ministry has not enforced the programmed cuts even in last week when the power load reached its peak and the temperature hit a record high for this time of the year,” Al-Shuraiaan said.
“Programmed cuts are used only as a weapon of final resort when the normal power generating sources fail to meet the soaring demand.
“The power consumption in Kuwait topped 99 percent of the supplies last week,” he noted.
Highlighting the importance of the role of media in the rationing drive, the minister said: “rationing is a national issue that necessitates collective efforts by everybody to reach the desired targets.” He urged all citizens and expatriates to cooperate with his ministry in the rationing drive in order to fend off the programmed cuts and conserve the country’s energy and water resources.
Meanwhile, Dr Bader Al-Shuraiaan might be subjected to a political grilling if he fails to resolve the power crisis, reports Al-Seyassah daily lawmaker Al-Saifi Mubarak Al-Saifi.
Contending that the crisis will not end through the reshuffling of assistant undersecretaries and managers in the ministry, Al-Saifi appealed to the minister to quickly take the necessary steps to address the crisis and prevent the recurrence of the recent power outage in many areas in the country; otherwise, the lawmakers have no option but to submit a grilling request against Al-Shuraiaan.
In the meantime, Al-Shuraiaan announced on Monday the launch of service centre number (152) and the hotline (1870-000) for ministry-related complaints and queries.
The hotline will provide residents with a substitute line to those assigned to specific areas, the minister told KUNA.
Al-Shuraiaan had made the announcement public during a National Assembly session yesterday, stressing the government’s commitment towards solving the electricity blackout problem and facing the extreme temperature rise in the country.