ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Home | 3 Business | 17 Sport | 26 GCC achieves South Korea Doha prepares aspirations of plans major to stage Asian citizens, says investment in Youth Athletics foreign minister. Qatar. from May 8. TUESDAY 28 APRIL 2015 • 9 Rajab 1436 • Volume 20 Number 6414 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 PM meets GCC undersecretaries Plan to privatise New rules on bus services DOHA: The government is con- sidering privatising bus trans- port services, the Minister of sponsorship Transport H E Jassim Seif Ahmed Al Sulaiti has said. He, however, added that no time frame has been set for the plan. “Currently, taxi transport serv- likely this year ices are semi-privatised, and the government is considering pri- vatising bus transport services, while rail and metro services Qatari quota in pvt sector may be hiked remain under state authority. There is as yet no timeline in DOHA: The new sponsor- health and safety on companies’ place for privatising public bus ship and exit permit rules can premises. If any violations are transport, but we believe the pri- be expected sometime this year, discovered, firms are blacklisted Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with undersecretaries vatisation will bring efficiency says Minister of Labour and and cannot receive visas until the of GCC interior ministries on the occasion of their meeting for the preparation of the 16th consultative meeting and improved quality of service to Social Affairs. H E Dr Abdullah violations are resolved. of interior ministers to be held in Doha. passengers,” the Oxford Business bin Saleh Mubarak Al Khulaifi About the summer timings for Group’s The Report Qatar 2015 said changes to the ‘kafala’ (spon- site workers that are effective quoted the minister as saying. sorship) system, which covers the every year from mid-June until “Looking at regional practices entry and departure of foreign August-end, the minister said and travel behaviour in Qatar, we nationals, fall under the purview that last year some 50 companies are seeking to achieve a 20 per- of the Ministry of Interior. were penalised for violating this Device to help emergency cent share for public transport in “Our ministry’s only input con- regulation. The labour relations the longer term,” he added. cerning labour is that residency department has installed kiosks The Minister said the new port will be contract-based. Once the which are interactive and work- in Al Ruwais will open in January contract expires, the labourer will ers can file complaints in seven vehicles cross signals next year while a general cargo be free to change employers or languages. and “roll-on, roll-off” facilities leave the country,” said Al Khulaifi. There is a proposal to raise DOHA: A new electronic sys- receives signals from the emer- Ashghal had begun installing the at Hamad Port in Mesaieed will In an interview to The Report Qatar the quota of jobs for Qataris in tem has been implemented at gency vehicle unit. These devices system in last April. open by the third quarter of this 2015 by Oxford Business Group, Al the private sector to 25 percent intersections across the city request green light pre-emption Intersections at busy roads and year. The latter will cater to non- Khulaifi said that if during a con- from an existing 20, the minis- that allows emergency vehicles hundreds of meters ahead the nearby hospitals have been given containerised goods and the import tract an employee wants to leave, ter said. to pass through easily by turn- arrival of the emergency vehicle. priority. “Drivers of emergency of vehicles and construction equip- he can apply online through the The proposal is inspired by the ing the traffic lights green. These devices also work on stop- vehicles have received training ment. THE PENINSULA Ministry of Interior and within 72 success to date of Qatarisation in The Emergency Vehicle Pre- ping cross streets traffic in front on how to use this new system hours he will be given an exit permit. the private sector, particularly Emption System (EVPS) has of the approaching emergency and cases that require its use. A “These changes have yet to be banking, financial services and already been activated at 30 inter- vehicle. committee was formed as well Gulf ministers to implemented and are currently industrial sectors. sections in different areas of the Drivers of ambulance or civil including members of Ashghal, awaiting the approval of the Qatarisation has been in place city in the first phase of the ini- defence car will press a button the General Directorate of Civil discuss Yemen Shura (Advisory) Council, which for over a decade, said the min- tiative. Fifteen ambulances and 10 on the remote control to open Defence, and Hamad Medical I expect to be granted sometime ister. The figure approved by the civil defence vehicles are equipped the traffic light on their way and Corporation. This committee RIYADH: Gulf foreign minis- in 2015.” Cabinet is a 20 percent minimum, with remote controller devices that thus, ease the traffic flow ahead of monitors the use of the system, ters will meet this week with About the wage protection sys- which more than two-thirds of can control traffic lights. them. Then the rest of the traf- evaluates it, and makes recom- focus on the war in Yemen, tem (WPS), the proposed online private companies have exceeded. In the second phase of the fic signals in the intersection will mendations and suggestions aim- where a Saudi-led coalition has salary payment mode for low- The minister admitted that project, the smart system will turn red before opening the way ing at improving its performance,” been bombing rebels for the income workers, the minister clari- they faced a dilemma as regards be installed at 50 more intersec- for the emergency vehicles. The said Al Sada. past month, the bloc’s chief said. fied that a fine of QR2,000 ($548) to changing the perception of tions, said Aziz Al Sada, Head of system works through sensors Lt Col Jamal Jaafar Al Ajmi, Thursday’s meeting in Riyadh will be imposed on companies for Qataris towards private sector Safety Operations and Traffic installed in both the vehicles and Assistant Director of the opera- would cover “issues vital to the delaying payments per worker per employment since the substantial Control in the Roads Maintenance the traffic lights. tions department at the General operations of the GCC and devel- day. He hinted that the WPS will increases in the government’s pay Department at Ashghal address- Ashghal is responsible for Directorate for Civil Defense and opments in the region, including be rolled out gradually and cover all scheme. He, however, said that ing a press conference. It will help implementation and development Brendon David Morris, Executive the crisis in Yemen,” said GCC companies in the country within a despite that the ministry has been reduce response time to emergen- of the EVPS, in coordination with Director of the HMC Ambulance Secretary General Abdullatif year after its launch. quite successful in getting nation- cies and enhance traffic safety. Hamad Medical Corporation Service were also present at the Zayani. It comes ahead of a lead- Some 300 inspectors of his min- als into the private sector. The EVPS is a GPS based sys- (HMC) and the General press conference. ers’ summit on May 5. AFP istry randomly inspect housing, THE PENINSULA tem on the traffic lights which Directorate of Civil Defence. THE PENINSULA See also page 6 INSIDE Science centre in flames Page 9 Israel blamed for Gaza school attacks Iran’s sectarian UNITED NATIONS: A United Nations inquiry blamed the Israeli military for seven attacks on UN schools in Gaza that were used as shel- project poses danger ters during the 2014 war. “I deplore the fact that at least 44 Palestinians By Dr Faisal Al were killed as a result of Israeli actions and at least 227 injured at United Qassem Nations premises being used as emergency shelters,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a letter to the UN Security Council. Saudi economy in See also page 7 relation to oil and Four dead in Saudi building collapse Yemen crises By Dr Jasim Hussain RIYADH: Four workers were killed, 14 injured and at least three were still trapped after a convention centre collapsed during con- Fighting corruption struction in Saudi Arabia yesterday, the Red Crescent said. in the Gulf Medics were initially told that about 50 workers were caught under concrete in the site at a university in Qassim, northwest of the capital By Dr Ibrahim Al Riyadh. AFP Sheikh Fire at the Experimentarium, a science centre in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen, yesterday. Unified fund mobilisation a challenge for Nepali diaspora DOHA: For the 400,000-strong Rough and have been destroyed in the quake. Qatar Red Crescent in its relief walking distance from the city Nepali expatriate community in unconfirmed So it is likely that a meeting Toll passes 4,000 work in quake-affected areas of headquarters of Gorkha district. Qatar launching a unified fund estimates sug- of representatives of some of the Nepal. It was a model village and sent mobilisation drive to aid the quake- gest that there major community groupings may KATHMANDU: Hundreds “It is important because the many Gorkhas to the British and hit back home is a challenging job may be around be convened in a bid to concoct a of thousands of Nepalis volunteers will be able to help the Indian armies.