Kuwait- Road tolls aim to develop traffic system

(MENAFN- Arab Times) KUWAIT CITY, Oct 9, (Agencies): Assistant Undersecretary of the Roads Department at the Public Works Ministry Eng. Ahmad Al-Hassan said Monday that the study of imposing fees for usage of some roads aims at developing the road traffic system. In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper 'Al- Rai', Al-Hassan noted that there will be different alternative roads free of charge.

On the new roads projects, Al-Hassan confirmed that the plan includes a number of roads that will be open and completing the west part of Jamal Abdulnasser road, which will be delivered during the first quarter of next year. He pointed out that 26 road projects will be implemented in the near future.

In this regard, he referred to a five-year agreement to be assigned to the consultant who developed the city of Abu Dhabi to follow up the projects. Minister of Public Works Abdulrahman Al-Mutawa referred a proposal to the Cabinet in July 2017 to charge toll for the use of Sheikh Jaber Causeway and Doha Conjunction after they are completed. In his letter to the Cabinet, he explained that the ministry has prepared a study in this regard.

The study highlighted the countries in Gulf, Asia and Europe regions that charge toll for the use of similar causeways. This will in turn benefit the state financially and cover the expenses of managing and maintaining the causeways. It is worth mentioning that MP Safa Al-Hashem was among the first to call for charging toll from expatriate road users in order to reduce the traffic congestion experienced on most of the roads in Kuwait.

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