Must read for ministers
the touristic projects company has gently apologized for the lack of decent or even ‘half-decent’ toilets in the mubarakiya area, arguing that the issue does not fall within its jurisdiction. however, in a letter it sent to the al-qabas daily, in response to our article and our appeal to cover this shameful scenario in an important tourist facility in the heart of the capital, which has continued since its establishment until today, the company has said it is in the final stages of providing or buying (whatever you may call it) through a contracting company self-service bathrooms from a global organization that has developed this type of bathrooms for india, in tens of thousands of its cities which complaint of serious shortage of public toilets.
the company added these toilets will be installed in areas where the company is active or rather provides services and that mubarakiya is not the area of its activity and this is true.
my contacts with the public utilities company did not have a satisfactory outcome. one of the senior officials told me the company is interested in providing bathrooms inside the facilities that it currently manages, such as the parking lots but the mubarakiya market or the heart of the capital is the sole responsibility of the kuwait municipality.
more than one party, including my reader friend saud al-arfaj, contacted and expressed their desire to provide hundreds of self-cleaning toilets at their expense and even take care of them, provided the kuwait municipality or any other authority determines the suitable places and supplies these toilets with electricity and water.
the issue is very important for everyone, especially for women because many people refrain from going to the market area because of the severe shortage in this necessary service.
many people were embarrassed after taking their foreign guests to those beautiful areas that are worth a visit. almost everyone is surprised that there is not even a clean washbasin for washing hands.
isn’t this a complete moral, civil and cultural disaster? how can a state that has spent 270 million dinars to establish the jaber al ahmad cultural center on the outskirts of the capital ignore spending a little portion of that amount to build clean bathrooms in the heart of the capital?
how have we built some of the world’s finest museums outside the capital, providing them with the best bathrooms while forgetting the heart of the capital? how did we spend tens of millions of dinars on building a race track in the heart of the desert, providing it with dozens of bathrooms, and ignoring that in the heart of the state?
i am not against these civilized projects, of course, but i wonder how different governments for many decades have forgotten this issue and this extreme shortage of necessary service.
i think at least one minister reads my column in al-qabas newspaper, before going for the cabinet meetings. why does not this minister move and raise this issue as ‘urgent matter’ on the agenda, or at least whisper in the ears of his highness the prime minister about the subject of our article? is it not shameful that this situation continues without anyone bearing the responsibility to provide a solution to the black spot on civilization?
