Kuwait’s Manpower and Government Restructuring Program (MGRP) and HumanSoft Company signed on Monday a 685,000 Kuwaiti Dinar (KD) contract to appoint 1,000 Kuwaiti in the private sector by March 2006. While commending the company’s acceptance to face the challenging contract that only three firms have come forward to it, MGRP’s Secretary¬General Dr. Waleed Al¬Wuhaib explained that the company would have the role of training, qualifying and employing Kuwaitis in the private sector. He hoped that all three companies would have their own contracts to provide 3,000 jobs, but the regulations stipulate that no direct contract are allowed unless through bids. He said the Public Institution for Social Security (PISS) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) have pointed out MGRP’s success in attracting Kuwaitis to work in the private sector, especially when knowing that 7,500 were appointed in the private sector in 2004 and 1,300 in 2003. MGRP, he added, has saved Kuwait’s government no less than KD 75 million in salaries and other expenses for those Kuwaitis working in the private sector. In addition, in statements to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Al¬Wuhaib said the program has a committee that reviews and analyzes all contracts related to achieving the objectives. He pointed out that MGRP was currently planning to propose a self¬development plan to turn into a public authority and increasing the percentage of Kuwaitis in the private sector to exceed 50 percent. HumanSoft’s Board Chairman and Managing¬Director Fahad Al¬Othman said the bid is a challenge, to be faced by the company’s subsidiary Tawteen Placement and Recruitment Services, that has no precedents in the region. Unemployment, he added, can develop into a serious social problem if it was not handled properly through establishing the proper apparatus by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. He added that Kuwait has sufficient capital and resources, but inflation, increasing prices and stock¬exchange adventures will continue unless new investment opportunities are utilized.

Source: http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticlePrintPage.aspx?id=1570126