ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Oil jumps 3pc after hitting five-year low Business | 17 Tuesday 2 December 2014 • 10 Safar 1436 • Volume 19 Number 6267 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 PM meets Ghana president Saudi court Chamber says jails 45 no nationality for Jeddah flooding curbs on visas JEDDAH: A Saudi court has jailed 45 people including gov- ernment officials in connection with deadly flooding five years Move to help private businesses ago in Jeddah, reports said yesterday. DOHA: The government has The 2009 floods killed 123 peo- eased visa restrictions for com- QCB debt panel likely ple, left thousands homeless and panies and is allowing them provoked unprecedented outrage to recruit workers from coun- DOHA: The Qatar Central in the kingdom’s second-largest tries of their choice, says Qatar Bank (QCB) might soon set city. Custodian of the Two Holy Chamber (QC). up a committee with mem- Mosques King Abdullah bin In other words, nationality- bers from local banks to help Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia wise quota system in issuing resolve financial difficulties sought legal action against offi- work visas may not be in force faced by some local contract- cials and contractors for alleged any more. ing companies. Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with the President corruption, mismanagement of The move aims to remove hin- The panel might likely help of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, at the Ritz-Carlton yesterday. real estate and land planning that drances facing private businesses reschedule the debt of some of exacerbated the inundation. in their smooth operation and the ailing contracting firms. The Arab News said a court their ability to play a greater role Rashid Al Athba, a member convicted 45 people who were sen- in the national economy. of the Board of Directors of tenced to various jail terms. It did The Chamber said the Qatar Chamber, representa- not give details of the sentences. Recruitment Committee at the tive body of the private sector, No heavy trucks on Doha They were also fined more than Ministry of Labor and Social said yesterday: “This will be a SR14m ($3.73m) in total, the Affairs which clears work visas joint committee with the QCB report said. It provided no names for companies is now taking a and the local banking industry but said the defendants included lenient view of visa requests. represented on it”. roads from December 15 “high-ranking officials... aca- A welcome development is that demics, engineers, businessmen the Committee has a representa- DOHA: No heavy trucks will has been launched to improve the south and Lusail in the north. and foreign workers”. They were tive of the Chamber on it now to seriously,” Al Athba said. be allowed to enter Doha from traffic flow in Doha and divert The new road will also reduce charged with offences including ensure that the private sector’s “When the panel is convinced December 15 without the traffic incoming transit traffic between traffic flow to and from Al Khor, bribery, forgery, misuse of public manpower needs are not ignored. a firm needs that many workers police’s permission after a tem- the north and south of the coun- Al Shamal, and Dukhan pass- money, engaging in illegal busi- “Since then the Committee has and from so and so nationality, its porary bypass road dedicated to try out of the city, said Jalal Yousif ing through the Industrial Area, ness and money laundering, Arab been able to solve the woes of the visa requests are approved.” them was opened yesterday. Salehi, Director of Infrastructure Mesaieed and the south. Hence, News said. companies related to work visas Al Athba said this is part of the All trucks will use a Temporary Affairs at Ashghal. The announce- this will dramatically ease conges- The inability of Jeddah’s infra- and the nationality of workers,” government’s plans to remove all Truck Route (TTR) on the Salwa ments were made at a press meet tion on Doha’s main streets that structure to drain off flood waters said Rashid Al Athba, a member hurdles in the way of the private — Lusail road stretching 41km, at Ashghal headquarters yester- served as a main route for heavy and uncontrolled construction in of QC’s board. sector and help it develop and which was opened by Public day after which media persons vehicles and trucks, he said. and around the Red Sea city were He is the man who repre- play a much widened role in eco- Works Authority yesterday. were shown the new road. “The TTR is one of the most blamed at the time for the high sents the private sector on the nomic development. Brig Mohammed AbdulRahman According to Salehi, the TTR important projects executed by number of victims. Recruitment Committee. He told He said The Emir, H H Sheikh Marafia, Director of Traffic and is connects Salwa Road west of the authority’s Road Projects A huge rainstorm sparked the Al Sharq that now the commit- Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Road Safety, said an awareness the Industrial Area with Lusail Department to reduce traffic con- flash floods which overwhelmed tee takes a lenient view of a com- in his address to the Advisory campaign has been launched to Development. The TTR also gestion by diverting transit traffic Jeddah’s limited infrastructure. pany’s requests for the number Council early last month, prom- keep heavy trucks outside the merges with the 23km Salwa — out of Doha until the completion More than 11,000 people joined of workers for different jobs and ised a more proactive role for the city and reduce traffic congestion. Mesaieed (Route 55) that opened of the Orbital Express way and a Facebook page to protest over their nationality. private sector in national devel- Traffic patrols will book trucks last year, forming a temporary Truck Road, which is expected to the floods, charging that the city “Our presence in the opment and, as expected, it was plying in Doha without permission. rural road stretching 64km west be complete in 2017,” he said. government and contractors were Committee has made it take the coming true. THE PENINSULA “The fine for the violation is of Doha city to reduce traffic con- THE PENINSULA at fault. problems of the private sector Continued on page 6 QR500,” he said. The new TTR gestion between Mesaieed in the Continued on page 6 AFP Umbrella Revolution New stadium design DOHA: The Supreme Hopes high as UN Committee for Delivery and Legacy will today unveil the design of Qatar Foundation Stadium, one of the proposed climate talks begin venues for the 2022 Fifa World Cup tournament, and the health LIMA: About 190 governments Greenland’s ice that would raise and fitness area surrounding it. met in Lima yesterday amid sea levels. QNA hopes that a UN deal to slow “The window for action climate change is within reach is rapidly closing,” Rajendra for 2015 despite warnings that Pachauri, head of the UN’s Population rises time is fast running out to keep Intergovernmental Panel on global warming within safe Climate Change, told delegates. to 2.26 million limits. His panel says it is 95 percent Cooperation between China probable that man-made emis- DOHA: Over 53,000 people, and the United States, the top sions are the main cause of mostly newly-recruited work- two greenhouse gas emitters, warming. ers, entered Qatar last month, and a decision by the European The talks have a new sense of taking the population to over Union to cut its emissions have hope for a deal, despite falling 2.26 million. given a new sense of momentum oil prices that complicate a shift The population stood at to United Nations talks that have to renewable energy, after the 2,269,672 by November-end, failed to produce agreement on a United States last month agreed with three-fourths (1.69 million) global deal in two decades. to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per- comprising men, official figures “We’ve received some very cent below 2005 levels and China released yesterday suggest. A policeman clashes with pro-democracy protesters during an operation to clear an occupied road near the positive signals,” Peruvian agreed to set a cap on its soaring In 11 months, the population government headquarters in the Admiralty district of Hong Kong yesterday. Police unleashed pepper spray Environment Minister Manuel emissions by around 2030. has surged by more than 224,000. and baton-charged students who tried to storm the government headquarters as tensions soared in the third Pulgar Vidal told delegates at the The European Union also aims In other words, some 224,433 peo- month of pro-democracy protests. See also page 12 opening of the Dec 1 to 12 talks to cut emissions by 40 percent ple have entered the country since in a tent city at a military head- below 1990 levels. That means January this year. quarters in Lima. that nations accounting for more The growth so far this year has Delegates are due to work out than half of world emissions have been 8.4 percent, statistics issued elements of a deal to combat cli- set goals. by the Ministry of Development mate change, for a summit in “We need more countries to Planning and Statistics reflect. Palestinian woman stabs Israeli Paris in a year’s time, as part of come forward” with plans for The population as on December a goal of limiting average world cuts, said Elina Bardram of the 31 was 2.04 million (2,045,239) JERUSALEM: A Palestinian Palestinian woman in a wave of major crossroads in the Gush temperatures to 2 degrees above European Commission.