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Min 08º Max 17º FREE www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 17075 - FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016 The saga of Pakistan mourns Resurgent Cavaliers’ impounded as investigators crush Knicks 126-94; cars in Kuwait4 seek16 answers LeBron,43 Irving shine See Page 2 Local FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2016 Kuwait welcomes Saudi monarch KUWAIT: The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia arrived in Kuwait yesterday - starting a scheduled official visit during which he would hold talks with His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Fahad Bin Khaled Bin Mohammad Al-Saud, Prince Bin Abdulaziz was welcomed at the airport by His Mansour Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Highness the Amir, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad Bin Fahad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, senior sheikhs, Talal Bin Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Dr. Deputy Chief of the National Guards Sheikh Meshaal Al- Mansour Bin Met’eb Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness Sheikh Nasser Al- Fahad Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Turki Bin Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al-Saud, Prince Sattam Bin Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Saud Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Khaled Bin Turki Minister of the Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Nasser Sabah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Husam Bin Abdulaziz Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Al-Saud, Prince Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Sattam Bin Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al- Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Sultan Sabah, Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Sheikh Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Mansour Bin Megren Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Mohammad Bin Minister of Amiri Diwan Affairs Sheikh Ali Jarrah Al-Sabah, Abdulrahman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Deputy Premier and Finance Minister and Acting Oil Abdulaziz Bin Nayef Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Minister Anas Al-Saleh, ministers, governors, senior State Abdullah Bin Bandar Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince officials, ranking chiefs of the Army, the Police, the Saud Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Prince Nayef National Guards and the fire department. Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Prince Rakan The Saudi King arrived to formal reception ceremony Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. during which the National Anthems of the two brotherly The official Saudi delegation comprised State countries were played. The eminent guest proceeded, Minister Dr Ibrahim Bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of with company of His Highness the Amir, to display the Commerce and Investment Dr Majed Bin Abdullah Al- Guards of Honor from units of the Kuwait Army. The King Gasabi, Minister of Information and Culture Dr Adel Bin shook hands with the attending senior State officials and Zaid Al-Tarifi, Head of the Royal Diwan Khaled Bin His Highness the Amir welcomed similarly officials Abdulrahman Al-Issa, State Minister for External Trade accompanying King Salman. The mission of honor Dr Nezar Bin Obaid Madani and senior Royal Court. The accompanying the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Saudi and Kuwaiti leaders and official proceeded to was chaired by the Deputy Premier and Interior Minister, Bayan Palace where the eminent guests were accorded Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah. with a display by the cavaliers, popular troupes, along King Salman is accompanied by Prince Khaled Bin with a 21-gun salute. — KUNA FRIDAY 09 DECEMBER 2016 Local The saga of an impounded car in Kuwait FRIDAY 09 DECEMBER 2016 Local KUWAIT: File photos shows local authorities including baladiya and interior ministry forces confiscating abandoned cars in Kuwait. Abandoned cars are a reoccurring problem and several hundreds are collected each year. By Ben Garcia car registration. Then I had to go to the traffic department office in Salmiya,” Jon explained. “After clearing the fines, I in Shuwaikh, near the Al-Sabah Hospital complex, to pick up went back to Hateen to clear the paperwork and get a clear- ust covered, abandoned cars are common across a form to cancel the ownership of the car.” ance paper to take to Amghara. Then I went to Amghara Kuwait. Locals and expats alike may leave their cars Jon returned to Jabriya to cancel his ownership but the and took my car from the impound lot.” Dfor months on end when they travel. Some never traffic police there wouldn’t accept the form because he Since the car doesn’t run and he had no way to transport come back and some simply fail to sell the car off or drop at had fines still with the car registered by the baladiya. it, Jon eventually sold it to a scrap dealer in Amghara for KD the Amghara scrap yard. So he had to return to Hateen to clear his fines with the 30. But he wasn’t finished yet. To close the deal, he had to As a consequence, the collection of abandoned cars is a baladiya. The fines included KD 100 for the abandoned go back to the place where the car was registered, in this regular activity of the Municipality in cooperation with the vehicle, KD 30 for the towing and KD 1 for each day the car case, Farwaniya traffic department, and cancel his registra- newly-formed Kuwait Environment Police (KEP). To give just is impounded (a total of 24 days) for a grand total of KD 154. tion. a few examples, the baladiya confiscated 54 abandoned cars Jon also had to pay various ministry stamps to process his The lack of clear information, organization and English from Bneid Al Gar in September and another such campaign paperwork in the traffic department. language services make dealing with such issues incredibly in November in Shuwaikh netted tens more such vehicles. “But to pay the fines, I had to go to the main baladiya difficult especially for non-Arabic speaking expats. If you are among those whose car is confiscated, howev- er, be prepared for a lengthy process to either get it back or pay off the fines and relinquish ownership. Kuwait Times recently spoke with an expat who we’ll call Jon. He doesn’t speak Arabic and despite living in Kuwait for many years is not familiar with how the system of aban- doned or impounded cars work. Jon first understood he had a problem when he realized his vehicle had been taken from the ‘empty’ lot near his apartment building in Maidan Hawally where it had been parked for several months. The car no longer worked and hadn’t been moved for months. Where did it go? Locating the impounded car was Jon’s first challenge. First, Jon went to the nearest baladiya office in Salmiya. “I went to Salmiya baladia to take back my car but every per- son I approached and inquired there have no idea whether I am in the right office or not,” Jon said. There was no record of his car there and an officer at the baladiya suggested he check in Jnoub Surra. But Jnoub Surra is a large area comprised of many neighborhoods. Located between the Fifth and Sixth ring roads, it includes Hateen, Al-Sadeeq, Al-Salam, South Surra and Shuhada areas. Ultimately, after asking several people, Jon found the baladiya office in block three of Hateen, on the second floor of the post office. In Hateen, he was told that his car was now being held in Amghara, south Amghara to be exact, near Jahra. He had to go to the impound yard in Amghara and confirm that his car was in fact there. “So I started the work to pay the fines and settle the paperwork for my car. I went to the traffic department in Jabriya (near the blood bank) in order to get the ‘daftar’ or FRIDAY 09 DECEMBER 2016 Local Living hand to mouth in Kuwait Kuwaiti woman who married non-Kuwaiti now stuck in financial nightmare By Nawara Fattahova Um Abdullah has four sons and one daughter. "One of my sons passed away from heart disease in Egypt. As he was not a n an affluent country like Kuwait with a cradle-to-grave Kuwaiti, he moved to Egypt and got married there, before he welfare system for its citizens, it's hard to imagine there are fell sick and died. His daughter lives with me as her mother has Idestitute Kuwaitis living in abject poverty. Such is the case disowned her. I borrowed money to pay for my son's medical of a Kuwaiti mother of five children, who was married to an treatment for a month and a half, as he was in a coma. With Arab national who died in 2009. Her financial constraints even the help of wasta, my granddaughter got her residency, but I forced her to offer her kidney for sale, but this extreme step had to pay the fines for the past year and half when she didn't didn't work out in the end. have an iqama," said Um Abdullah. Um Abdullah, a 60-year-old retired Kuwaiti, is now facing "Another of my sons is married and has five children. He eviction from her flat after not paying the rent for the past lives in an apartment and earns KD 300 per month. Another three months. She was also evicted from her previous apart- son was sentenced to prison for five years, and after a year and ment for the same reason last year, and had to live in her car half, he received an Amiri pardon, but was deported," she for two weeks with her daughter.

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