Ports Unit Says Most Audit Remarks Have Been Fixed

TDT | Manama

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Most of the points raised by the National Audit Office on Bahrain’s ports and maritime affairs were matters for improvement, not breaches, Bader Hood Al Mahmood said, as he also rejected claims that revenue had not been properly collected.

During Parliament’s session on Tuesday, The Undersecretary for Ports and Maritime Affairs at the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications said the directorate had studied all remarks in the report, acted on them, and taken part in the joint committee’s work on the issues raised.

‘The remarks in the National Audit Office reports are, in many cases, opportunities to improve and are not necessarily violations,’ Al Mahmood said. He added that most of what was raised on ports and maritime affairs ‘falls within this improvement framework’.

He denied there had been any slackness in collecting revenue, saying the sector had moved almost all of its services online. Around 95pc of operations, he said, are carried out through digital platforms, including e-payment systems linked to the relevant state bodies, helping ensure revenue is collected in an accurate and orderly way.

He said fees for all services are taken electronically through linked systems tied to government services, which, he said, has helped make financial management clearer and more efficient.

Al Mahmood added that more than 95pc of the remarks in the report had been dealt with and fully resolved, above all those tied to revenue, through changes made to systems and procedures in the recent period.

He said work would continue to improve standards and strengthen systems in line with the best ways of working, with the aim of raising efficiency and good governance across the ports and maritime sector.