ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Tuesday 28 May 2013 18 Rajab 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5713 Price: QR2 Barwa Bank to Asif wins Asian manage ABT 6-Red snooker sukuk title in Doha Business | 17 Sport | 27 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Labour law Metro stations work in full swing may cover more sectors Plan to expand scope of law DOHA: There are indications approved by the Advisory Council that the scope of the labour yesterday. law might be expanded to bring One pertained to allowing the within its ambit workers from Ministry of Economy and Finance sectors in which the government to set up two shareholding does not have full ownership. companies that would launch The Advisory Council yesterday Islamic bonds. approved a draft law that seeks to These would be companies with amend provisions of two article huge capital base. of the labour law (Number 14 of The other draft law seeks to 2004). govern the sale and purchase of The articles in question are locally produced petrochemical number 3 and number 37. products. The above draft law seeks to It is interesting to note that the alter clause 1 of Article 3 of the draft law that seeks to empower labour law. the Ministry of Economy and The clause says that Finance to establish two publicly- workers from of the ministries, traded companies to float Islamic Work in progress on one of the metro stations in the heart of Doha as part of the Qatar rail and metro project. Report on page 6 government authorities, bonds, known as sukuk, would corporations, companies set up by also be authorised to transfer land the government or in companies and real estate as well as movable in which Qatar Petroleum (QP) assets belonging to the state to has a stake are not covered by the the two companies. labour law. By extension, the two $5.5bn island to house World Cup fans Workers, according to clause 1 companies would be authorised of Article 3, from oil companies, to carry out sale, purchase and DOHA: Qatar unveiled plans Demand for residences and Oryx Island will cost QR20bn to launch a $4.9bn mixed-use Golf joint ventures in petrol and provide guarantees on behalf of yesterday to build a $5.5 bil- hotel rooms are expected to ($5.5 billion) to build, he said, City project in its coastal Lusail petrochemicals sectors and others the government. lion island off the coast of Doha increase in the state as projects adding that the project was only city development, which will who are regulated by special laws The liabilities on account of the with floating hotels to house for the World Cup tournament go in the conceptual phase. house 4,000 residential units and are also not to be covered by the above ownership not exceeding soccer fans expected to flock to onstream. Al Subaie said that the com- a golf course. The company has labour law. $4bn, which is the proposed the country for the World Cup Qatar, the world’s top liquefied pany had agreed to sell one mil- no plans to issue any bonds this However, the amendment to capital of the two companies in 2022. natural gas exporter, has allo- lion square metres of land to the year, he added. the draft law suggested to the together, would also be shared by Plans for Oryx Island, which cated 40 percent of its budget to 2022 Supreme Committee to build In its second year, Cityscape above clause says that workers both firms. would feature luxury villas, a 2016 to infrastructure projects. Lusail Stadium, where the clos- Qatar 2013, saw nearly 100 com- from companies owned by the The draft law seeks to vest water park and five floating hotels “We anticipate that there will ing match of the tournament will panies in the real estate and con- government would not be covered enormous powers in the Minister using cruise ships, were unveiled be a short-term demand for hotel take place. struction sectors from countries, by the labour law. of Economy and Finance. by Qatari developer Barwa Real rooms, so maybe it is not wise to A price has not been agreed including Turkey, Egypt, Qatar, Experts feel the proposed It authorises him to sign Estate, part-owned by Qatar’s offer all these hotel rooms for only upon, he added. the UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, amendment in the draft law that agreements or any other sovereign wealth fund. a short time,” Al Subaie said. Barwa, which is Qatar’s larg- Belgium, Portugal, Bahrain, the was yesterday approved by the documents on behalf of the two The hotels would be able to “Oryx Island can accommodate est listed property developer, has UK, Oman and Lebanon. Sheikh Advisory Council suggests that proposed companies and take house as many as 25,000 soccer 20,000 to 25,000 people. Cruise properties in France, Switzerland Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed some sectors that are so far not measures he deems fit to make fans, Barwa’s Chief Executive ships can be docked for one week, and the UK and focuses on retail, Al Thani, Chairman of Qatar covered by the labour law might sure that the law is effectively Abdulla Al Subaie said on the two weeks. office, hospitality and residential Chamber, officially opened the be brought within its scope. implemented. sidelines of Cityscape Qatar 2013, “It can be mobilised and demo- developments. expo. AGENCIES Two other draft laws were THE PENINSULA a real estate expo in Doha. bilised for a short time,” he added. Last year it announced plans See also page 6 Fresh violence kills 70 in Iraq Schoolboy dies Bahrain bans links after hit by with Hezbollah reversing bus DUBAI: Shia-majority “Terrorist Nasrallah has DOHA: A Bahrain yesterday banned declared war on his nation,” 12-year-old stu- opposition groups from having Sheikh Khaled wrote on his dent of the DPS contact with Lebanon’s Twitter account. Modern Indian Hezbollah, a day after the “Stopping him and rescuing School died in foreign minister of the Sunni- Lebanon from his grip is a Messaied on ruled kingdom branded national and religious duty for Sunday evening the Shia group’s head as all of us,” he said, as Hezbollah’s after he was hit “terrorist”. involvement in the Syria conflict by a bus. “Political associations are deepened. The driver prohibited from having any form Last month Bahrain decided was reversing of contact with the Hezbollah,” to list Hezbollah as a “terrorist the vehicle when Justice Minister Sheikh Khaled organisation”, following a the mishap occurred. Protesters in a Baghdad suburb yesterday. Attacks in the capital and northern Iraq killed about 70 people, the bin Ali Al Khalifa said in a recommendation by parliament Shawn Allen Abraham (pictured) latest in a wave of violence that has raised fears of a return to sectarian conflict in the country. ministerial decree. boycotted by the opposition. was in the sixth standard, the Full report on page 7 A second clause in the Nasrallah is a popular Principal of the school, Asna Nafees, decree says the Iran and Syria- figure among the Shias of the said, describing the incident as highly backed group is a “terrorist kingdom. tragic. organisation.” But the opposition in the The accident took place when Alarms at petrol stations Tributes to Villaggio victims The decision appears aimed kingdom which has been the boy was returning at around DOHA: The Civil Defence has asked all petrol and DOHA: Friends, well-wishers and family mem- at opposition groups, mostly battling for democracy, insists 7.30pm after buying something from service stations in the country to install alarm bers of the Villaggio Mall fire victims will gather Shias, who dominated anti- its political agenda is Bahraini, a provision store near his home in systems that are linked to its central operation at Aspire Park later this afternoon and observe regime protests in February and not linked to Iran, or other Messaied, some 32km south of Doha. room and is functional round-the-clock. a minute of silence in the memory of the dead on 2011 before a crackdown a Shia sides. The boy’s family comes from Adoor in The proposed link would enable firefighting and the first anniversary of the tragic inferno that month later. Despite the 2011 crackdown the southern Indian state of Kerala. rescue teams from the Civil Defence to rush to a killed 19 people, 13 of them children. Foreign Minister Sheikh on protests, Shias continue Shawn was rushed for emergency petrol station in the eventuality of any untoward One of the organiser of the remembrance event Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa to demonstrate in villages, medical care but succumbed to incident such as fire or leakage. Many petrol sta- told The Peninsula yesterday that parents of some on Sunday branded Hezbollah triggering frequent clashes with injuries. tions in Doha city, in its sprawling suburbs as well children who perished in the fire in an illegal nurs- chief Hassan Nasrallah as a police. Nafees said she and some of her as other parts of the country were built years ago ery in the mall will also be present. “terrorist”, in remarks a day Eighty people have been colleagues from the school attended a but rapid urbanisation has brought some of them “We want to remind the mall administration and after Nasrallah vowed to keep killed since protests erupted, condolence meeting near the mortu- closer to residential areas, putting public safety at society in general about the tragic incident that up the fight alongside regime according to the International ary of Hamad Medical Corporation risk, sources said.