Kuwait: 35 Wedding Halls Shut Down for Non-Compliance
According to informed sources, about 35 wedding halls currently managed by the Ministry of Social Affairs have been closed due to the absence of maintenance and service contracts, according to reports.
They explained that one of the reasons for the ministry’s desire to return the management of the halls to cooperative societies and their owners is to lift the financial burden on the shoulders of the ministry, especially with the 20 per cent reduction in the budgets allocated to government agencies, and the cancellation of tenders for the maintenance of halls nationwide by the Central Agency for Public Tenders.
The Minister of Social Affairs Mai Al-Baghli sent a letter to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, in which she referred to the two decisions of the Council of Ministers related to approving the ministry’s request to manage and maintaining wedding halls and setting regulations for their establishment, in coordination with Kuwait Municipality and the Ministry of Finance, and regarding the approval of the conversion of the halls from private state properties to public state properties that are affiliated to the ministry.
Al-Baghli said the ministry has prepared its plan to withdraw the 70 halls, which were established by donors or cooperative societies. She revealed that the ministry had maintained, restored and furnished 20 halls that were withdrawn from its budget, in implementation of the decisions of the Council of Ministers.
The minister highlighted the previous Cabinet decision to reduce the budgets of government agencies by 20 per cent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, due to which the issuance of tenders for maintenance of the halls was cancelled. This led to a review of the ministry’s plan to withdraw the halls due to the high cost of contracts for their restoration, maintenance, furnishing and supervision, in addition to the closure of 35 halls run by the ministry due to the lack of maintenance and service contracts. This prompted the ministry to consider a request by some cooperative societies and donors to return the halls to them for maintenance and management and to remove the financial burden from the shoulders of the ministry.
She revealed that the Union of Consumer Cooperative Societies expressed its desire for the cooperative societies to take over the management of the halls that were withdrawn, as this has a direct impact on serving shareholders and addressing the negative effects resulting from the management of the halls by the ministry, as well as the management of wedding halls provided by some donors who do not have the ability to manage them.
Al-Baghli called for returning the halls to donors and cooperative societies in accordance with three controls, which she hopes will be approved. These controls are:
- Returning the halls to the cooperative societies that established them. In the event that they do not wish to accept them, they shall be presented to other cooperative societies.
- Returning the halls to the donors who established them. In the event that they do not wish to accept them, they will be presented to cooperative societies for management.
- Complying with the controls and conditions decided by the Ministry of Social Affairs regarding its tight control and supervision of those halls.
