Privatisation Commission likely to get new name, broader mandate
Saturday, 26 September 2009
Kayes M Sohel
The government might rename the privatisation commission (PC) as 'Industrial Reforms Commission' in a move to bring dynamism in activities of the organisation.
It is one among a raft of proposals sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday last for consideration to revitalise the commission that remained virtually idle for nearly three years.
The latest move came at a time when the present government still remains unclear on the issue of privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) as the draft industrial policy has reportedly put on hold the divestment process for the time being.
"The commission has put forward the proposals to the prime minister for consideration to make the closed and loss-making SoEs operationally sound and financially viable," said Mirza Abdul Jalil, chairman of the PC, told the FE.
Name of the commission should be changed as the PC activities should not be confined in selling and buying only, Jalil said in a letter to the PM.
To broaden its activities, which have not been done before, the commission should go for a strict monitoring of the performances of the sold-out enterprises, as most buyers flout the official instructions on resumption of production in their factories, the letter said.
Generally, the highest bidders are awarded with the ownership of SoEs, but the new entrepreneurs are not properly monitored by the PC to see whether they run the factories or not.
Conditions such as experience and success in running industry should be incorporated in the existing privatisation policy before selecting bidders to ensure better management of the sold out SoEs, the letter said.
Loss-making, closed and loan-defaulted SoEs and land related legal complexities have put the PC in trouble to hand over the already listed SoEs to the private sector, it added.
A taskforce comprising experts drawn from relevant organisation should be formed in line with privatisation policy to formulate a strategy for expediting the divestment process and industrial reformation.
The PC should be involved with the committee promoting public and private investment to make industrialisation faster in the country.
From the early eighties, the government started transferring the SoEs to the private sector for the purpose of reducing fiscal burden substantially by offloading, mainly, the loss-making ones. The privatisation process, however, gathered pace in the early nineties.
It could not make any headway in the task of disposing of at least 38 SoEs as it found no bidder for a number of SoEs over the last three years.
According to the commission, 74 SoEs in the areas of textiles, jute, fisheries, food processing, engineering, chemicals, tannery, sugar, and forest have been privatised since 1993.
Eastern Industries Ltd was the last SoE privatised by the PC in 2007. Earlier, it had made an unsuccessful attempt to privatise the largely state-owned Rupali Bank during the rule of the BNP-led four party alliance government.
The government might rename the privatisation commission (PC) as 'Industrial Reforms Commission' in a move to bring dynamism in activities of the organisation.
It is one among a raft of proposals sent to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Thursday last for consideration to revitalise the commission that remained virtually idle for nearly three years.
The latest move came at a time when the present government still remains unclear on the issue of privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) as the draft industrial policy has reportedly put on hold the divestment process for the time being.
"The commission has put forward the proposals to the prime minister for consideration to make the closed and loss-making SoEs operationally sound and financially viable," said Mirza Abdul Jalil, chairman of the PC, told the FE.
Name of the commission should be changed as the PC activities should not be confined in selling and buying only, Jalil said in a letter to the PM.
To broaden its activities, which have not been done before, the commission should go for a strict monitoring of the performances of the sold-out enterprises, as most buyers flout the official instructions on resumption of production in their factories, the letter said.
Generally, the highest bidders are awarded with the ownership of SoEs, but the new entrepreneurs are not properly monitored by the PC to see whether they run the factories or not.
Conditions such as experience and success in running industry should be incorporated in the existing privatisation policy before selecting bidders to ensure better management of the sold out SoEs, the letter said.
Loss-making, closed and loan-defaulted SoEs and land related legal complexities have put the PC in trouble to hand over the already listed SoEs to the private sector, it added.
A taskforce comprising experts drawn from relevant organisation should be formed in line with privatisation policy to formulate a strategy for expediting the divestment process and industrial reformation.
The PC should be involved with the committee promoting public and private investment to make industrialisation faster in the country.
From the early eighties, the government started transferring the SoEs to the private sector for the purpose of reducing fiscal burden substantially by offloading, mainly, the loss-making ones. The privatisation process, however, gathered pace in the early nineties.
It could not make any headway in the task of disposing of at least 38 SoEs as it found no bidder for a number of SoEs over the last three years.
According to the commission, 74 SoEs in the areas of textiles, jute, fisheries, food processing, engineering, chemicals, tannery, sugar, and forest have been privatised since 1993.
Eastern Industries Ltd was the last SoE privatised by the PC in 2007. Earlier, it had made an unsuccessful attempt to privatise the largely state-owned Rupali Bank during the rule of the BNP-led four party alliance government.