The Cabinet on Sunday reviewed and approved the reports on major national projects including the expatriate workers’ health insurance and purchase of the family service in private hospitals, noting that they aim to improve the quality of the services provided for the citizens and remove the obstacles facing the construction of new hospitals and health centres in the Kingdom.
The Cabinet also discussed the proposal aimed at increasing the Housing Bank’s capital from BD15 million to BD108.3 million in order to enable it to provide better housing services for the citizens.
His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has instructed all the concerned sides to speed up finalizing the development projects of some heritage sites in Muharraq such as the Shaikh Salman bin Hamad’s House and the Qaisariya Market owing to their historical and archeological significance.
Chairing the Cabinet weekly meeting in the Gudaibiya Palace, HRH Premier was also briefed on the progress of other development projects in Muharraq such as the new health centre whose technical and architectural studies have been finalized, tasking the Finance Minister and the Social Development Minster and the Acting Health Minister to follow up the execution of the project.
HRH Premier also gave directives to expedite the execution of government projects, especially the vital ones like health, housing, education and services as they are directly related to the citizens’ interests and needs.
The cabinet reviewed the service ministries’ infrastructure, housing, education and health projects and plans for the 2011-2014 period.
Deputy Premier and the Ministerial Committee for Services and Infrastructure Chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa submitted a report on the projects studied so far by the committee.
It also presented a study on the Kingdom’s needs of health centres and hospitals until 2030.
The report also contained visions and proposals to develop the Green Belt in a way that maintains the land owners’ rights and the Green zone’s specificity and requirements.
After that, the cabinet endorsed a draft law on reducing the political legibility age to 18 aiming to enhance youth political participation.
The cabinet also approved the Bahrain-Occidental Petroleum Corporation agreement on deep gas exploration and production sharing.
In a related context, the cabinet agreed to re-structure the Electricity and Water Authority (EWA) by cancelling the Central Stores Directorate and merging it with the Purchasing and Supply one.
The Cabinet also approved the consolidated balance sheet of the kingdom for the year 2010, due to be submitted to National Financial and Administrative Audit Court.
It also instructed all ministries and government departments to start implementing the government’s initiative to make the best use of the natural resources.
The Agreement on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income was also approved during the meeting.
The Cabinet also endorsed a Representatives Council proposal to support special needs’ associations.
It was also briefed on the parliament’s approval of the Bahrain Future Generations Reserve Fund’s consolidated balance sheet for 2008 and 2009.