DEALING with corruption remains a continuing battle in the Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA) five years after Sheikh Yousef Al Abdullah Al-Sabah, its director-general was first appointed to get rid of it. Mr Al-Sabah admitted corruption was still rife in the KPA ports, but progress had been made. He said he had worked with the Anti-Corruption Authority by providing data and documents related to KPA work, contracts and relations.

'One of the most serious problems is absenteeism among employees that even reaches 90 per cent,' he said at the time of his appointment.

Looking to a brighter future, the KPA chief announced development projects are in progress, under Kuwait's development plan 'Kuwait Vision 2035 New Kuwait'.

About this, he said 'We hope that KPA's profits will exceed KWD56 million (US$183.9 million) in 2020-2021.

'By combating corruption and working with all our capabilities, we were able to achieve these profits and recover many of our properties and money,'

'We have come a great way, about 80 per cent in retrieving our properties, and we are still on with our fight against corruption in the courts. Being as transparent as we can be, we acknowledge this problem and admit that we are fighting it, because with corruption, development cannot not be achieved,' said Mr Al-Sabah.

SeaNews Turkey