In any other country a state-owned printing press would be churning out humongous amount of printed material to meet the needs of both the government and private sector. Sadly, in Kuwait, the government printing press built at great expense with cutting-edge machinery and occupying a large tract of prime land in Shuwaikh, is much like a white elephant that consumes much and lies idle most of the time.
Recently, the Deputy Director of the Government Printing Department at the Ministry of Information, Mahmoud Mandani, was quoted as saying that the government printing press is the best compared to many of the private printing presses in Kuwait and the Gulf. However, he added that much needs to be done to benefit from the government printing machinery, some of which are collecting dust and the periodic maintenance itself costs the ministry much money. He noted that even some of the machinery purchased just two years ago, and which were intended to save the government money and time, have yet to be used.
The ministry is keen to make use of its existing resources, and is looking to cut costs by recycling much of the waste paper produced daily in the printing process, said Mr. Mandani. But, as with most other government work, in order to make use of the waste paper, the printing press would have to first get approval from the ministry of finance and then find a suitable company specialized in waste paper management and have it approved before signing a contract to recycle the waste.
Remember, all this bureaucratic hassle is just to recycle waste paper, so imagine the amount of bureaucracy and convoluted red-tape that would be involved if the printing press needed to update its machinery, to make repairs, or, heaven forbid, buy new equipment. Shortcomings have led to the press languishing and not achieving its full capabilities. In order to make the press more efficient and capable of competing with the private sector for obtaining at least the government’s own printing orders, several changes have to be made, said Mr. Madani.
For starters, the deputy-director pointed out that the printing press needs an online presence to facilitate government correspondence, as well as to create awareness of the printing press and its capabilities in the market. Highlighting some of the other negative aspects of the government facility, he revealed that the operations- section in the current printing press is working in an old-fashioned manner which is not commensurate with the current technological developments. This, he said, must be rectified through specialized training, especially in improving the quality of printing and reducing cost, as well as making deliveries on time. He added that other sections that need improvement include financial affairs, warehouses and management of the printing press.
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