The identity of those responsible for the crisis at the Mishref sewage plant should be revealed within the next week, according to an official working with the committee established by the cabinet to investigate the issue.

The insider revealed that the committee members recently held an extensive, six-hour meeting with senior management officials from the plant, which saw comprehensive discussions of the problems, as well as detailing the activities of all the staff present at the plant when the crisis first developed.

The committee also held a separate meeting with the local consultants responsible for the Mishref plant, who presented the committee members with a detailed explanation of the technical problems that led to the crisis there.

The official also revealed that the committee members have reached agreement on several critical points which clearly indicate that a number of bodies were responsible for the crisis, reported Al-Watan. He added that it will take another week to submit its final report in which it will give details of who among the three parties involved - the Ministry of Public Works, the project contractor and the project consultant - was primarily responsible for the crisis and should be referred for prosecution.

On a related issue, Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, the head of the Voluntary Work Committee, praised the work of the 'Sinyar' Kuwaiti diving team, which helped in tackling the crisis, during a visit to the team's headquarters.

Hussein Al-Qallaf, the head of the team, explained that the barrage balloon put in place to prevent sewage waters from flooding back into the plant had been equipped with 10-ton pressure belts which would help to prevent any further flooding for more than a month, helping the maintenance workers to conduct their operations to fix the problem there.

Kuwaittimes