The Privatisation Commission is wrestling to wriggle out of a four-year long inertia by taking on some unorthodox projects.
Failing to make a fresh list of state-owned enterprises (SoEs) for divestment since 2009, it has decided to keep close watch on the entities to make them sound and efficient, and thus, help increase revenue income for the government.
“I am trying my best to revive the commission,” Mirza Abdul Jalil, chairman of the commission, told the Dhaka Tribune recently.
Under the new projects launched a year back, state assets before and fter the independent body’s establishment have come under its lens.
The commission is currently inspecting around 227 SoEs that were privatised before institutional arrangements were in place, and another 75 privatised after its establishment.
The commission has also initiated a project to lease out unused land under different public organisations to private investors. It identified 1,288 acres of unused land at 39 SoEs, of which six were found in full operation, nine partially and the rest closed.
The commission proposed to set up 257 industrial units on the unused or additional land. Once the proposal is implemented, Tk50bn will be invested over two years, creating employment for 50,000 people.
Over the years, the commission, created for smooth transfer of loss-making public sector entities to the private sector, has not succeeded in divestment, mainly due to non-cooperation of different ministries and legal wrangles, officials said.
The commission chairman said lack of coordination among various public sector agencies stand in the way of the divestment process.
“The decade-old privatisation rules need to be amended to make the commission active. Otherwise, it will remain a toothless tiger,” Jalil said.
Putting emphasis on transferring loss-making state enterprises to the private sector for profit, he said: "It is very important for industrialisation, economic growth and employment creation."
Indifference among the government high-ups and non-cooperation of different ministries has been blamed for the failure to make a fresh list since 2009, when 26 SoEs were listed for privatisation, according to Jalil.
On the failure to privatise the 26 SoEs since 2009, Jalil said: "The valuation of the properties, movable and immovable, is so unrealistic that prospective entrepreneurs find it unattractive. The commission invited bids on several occasions, but the response was very poor.”
Particle Engineering Board was the last SoE to be privatised by the commission in 2009. Earlier, it had made an unsuccessful attempt to privatise the largely state-owned Rupali Bank during the 2001-06 tenure of the BNP-led four party alliance.
In late 2009, a body drawing representatives from different ministries was formed to identify SoEs suitable for privatisation. But there has been no progress to this effect.
In 2010, a committee, headed by the principal secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office, was supposed to be formed at the PM’s directive to make a fresh list for the divestment process. But the order has gone unheeded to date.
Nearly three years ago, 12 SoEs under the jute and textile ministry were listed for divestment and sent to the cabinet committee on economic affairs for its nod. But the SoEs are still waiting for the nod.
Sources said the ministry of textiles has recently made a move to sell the unused land of 12 SoEs, but the finance ministry viewed not to sell the land without consulting the commission.
To create more employment opportunities by improving operations, production, management and utilisation efficiency, the government constituted the Privatisation Board in 1993, which was later converted into a commission in 2000.
In 1980s, the government started transferring SoEs to the private sector for the purpose of reducing fiscal burden substantially by offloading the loss-making ones. The privatisation process gathered pace in the early 90s.
According to the commission, 75 SoEs, such as textiles, jute, fisheries, food processing, engineering, chemicals, tannery, sugar and forestry, have been privatised since 1993 – 54 through bids and the rest by offloading shares.
