Infrastructure and Reforms Stifled in Only Gulf State Where Voters Matter
- Kuwait’s political paralysis delays efforts to move beyond oil
- Proposal’s billed as latest chance to catch up with neighbors
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Winter is coming and residents in one of the world’s richest nations are bracing themselves. Last year, heavy rain flooded parts of Kuwait City. Speed boats zipped along palm tree-lined avenues past half-submerged cars, prompting talk of ineffective drains and corruption in road-surfacing contracts.
Despite public outrage, many streets are yet to be fixed. Instead, the government spent much of the year pondering plans to build a massive new conurbation called “Silk City,” the centerpiece of a 15-year plan to diversify away from oil, which has been endlessly delayed while existing infrastructure projects fall by the wayside. Even civil servants have given up.