KUWAIT, Oct 1(Kuwait Times): Residents from different areas in the country have been suffering from disrupted landline telephone services. The Department of Maintenance at the Ministry of Telecommunication in Shuwaikh has been receiving a flood of complaints from subscribers. The dilapidated building that houses the department expresses the Ministry's miserable situation.

The condition was far worse a month ago, "Approximately 90 percent of the maintenance works were stopped for more than a year and a half. The Ministry had not hired a contractor to complete the task. This work progress suffered a setback in four governorates - Jahra, Farwaniya, Ahmadi, and Mubarak Al-Kabeer. No contractors have been operating in Hawally and Asima governorates. They still face many problems," Adel Safar, Head of the Maintenance Department told the Kuwait Times.

An area in Farwaniya, with its many streets and buildings is plagued by inadequate telecommunication services. Residents do not have access to telephone and internet connections at their homes, "Now it's been about 40 days since a truck rammed against the main cable and cut telephone and internet lines. I need both the services for work purposes, and my children also need it for their studies. It is a terrible situation. We registered a complaint with the Ministry. They have been promising us remedial me
asures for weeks. I hope it will be solved soon," complained Mahmood, a 50-year-old resident from Farwaniya.

According to a maintenance supervisor who spoke on condition of anonymity, most failures and pending works were caused as a result of the Audit Bureau of Kuwait's bids, "Another serious problem is communication with other ministries, especially the Ministry of Public Works. The infrastructure of many 'ailing' areas is shoddy. Farwaniya is an example of this. They still work on wood poles instead of laying the cables underground," he said.

There is a lack of coordination and communication between different public authorities and ministries, "All the wood poles should be removed, but this appears to be an impossible task. The problem begins when the Municipality issues building licenses. The owner then approaches us, seeking a license to be issued to operate telecommunication services, and when we tell him it's incorrect, he then uses the 'wasta' of some MP or minister, and obtains the permission from the Minister's office," stressed Adel Saf
ar.

Mahboula is another area that has been caught in telecommunication services woes, mostly owing to lack of proper infrastructure, "This area looks like a desert. It suffers from a water supply shortage and water I supplied through tankers. In this area too wood poles are used for telecommunication lines. All this needs to be changed. The problem is when some of these poles are damaged and we don't have enough supplies to replace it. Everything turns into a mess," explained Safar.

Safar is optimistic about the situation turning better, "The new contractor needs some time to start repairing all the pending maintenance works. The company also needs time to recruit workers from India and elsewhere. We expect to everything to go well during the middle of October. Also, the problem faced in Farwaniya will be solved soon," he concluded.