‘Silk City’ Dream Stifled in Only Gulf State Where Voters Matter - Bloomberg

‘Silk City’ Dream Stifled in Only Gulf State Where Voters Matter - Bloomberg:

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.

“Maybe it’ll work in 2050,” said Abdullah Mohammed, who’s employed at the information ministry. First, “everything has to change.”