‘Increased fees to boost investment in Kingdom’
Manama : The recently introduced or increased fees aim to boost investment in the country, according to Cabinet Affairs Minister Mohammed Al Mutawa.
He stressed that “the Kingdom’s prosperity and citizens’ interests are the government’s priority”.
The statements were made on the sidelines of a proposal submitted by the MP’s that prohibits the Government from introducing new fees or increasing the existing ones without reaching a consensus with the Parliament.
Speaking about the proposal, MP Ali Bufarsen had said that the motive behind submitting the proposal is to oblige the government to commit to its action plan (Government Action Plan, GAP) which was passed by MPs two years back and didn’t include the “introduction of any new fees or increasing the existing ones”.
Meanwhile, MP Mohsen Al Bakri expressed his rejection to the proposal, saying “it should be mandatory and the government shouldn’t be given the choice of introducing new fees or increasing them”.
“This proposal won’t help monitoring the government’s performance. We demand forming a specialised committee to supervise it. This committee should be permanent and periodically elected,” Al Bakri added.
Al Mutawa confirmed that GAP is progressing according to the scheme discussed with MPs two years ago, adding that “the government’s scheme doesn’t harm citizens and comes in consensus with the Legislative Authority”.
In reply to MP Ahmed Qarata’s accusations to the government, Shura Council and Representatives Council Affairs Minister Ghanem Al Buainain confirmed that “the government is constitutionally obliged to complete 50pc of its 4-year action plan by May 2017”.
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