Manama: Apartment residents in Kuwait who hang clothes out to dry face up to KD300 in fines under a new campaign launched by the municipal authorities.
The campaign is in line with Article Four of the regulations governing hygiene, the authorities explained as the emergency team of the capital Kuwait City began its campaign against laundry and carpets on clotheslines and racks in balconies on main roads.
“The fine for hanging out laundry will be between KD100 and KD 300,” Zaid Al Enezi, the head of the team, said, quoted by Kuwaiti daily Al Qabas on Monday.
“The team has started its campaign by raising awareness and warning residents against breaking the rules based on a ministerial decision issued in 2008. So far, 12 apartments have been warned that they would have to pay fines if they insisted on drying their laundry out on balconies.”
Al Enezi said that future campaigns would be carried out in cooperation with the Environment Public Authority, in charge of “visual pollution.”
Authorities in several cities and regions in Gulf countries have been pushing for strict regulations about hanging out laundry and imposed fines on violators.
In Bahrain, complaints from residents that the sight of underwear and lingerie was “provocative, disrespectful and embarrassing” prompted the Southern Governorate in July last year to introduce a ban on drying laundry on balconies and rooftops.
