Sri Lanka should urgently form holding company to monitor and administer SOEs – Mangala Yapa
Sri Lanka should urgently form a holding company to monitor and administer State-owned enterprises, said State and Enterprises Reform Unit (SOERU) Board Member Mangala Yapa at the Advocata Institute hosted Business Dialogue event here yesterday.
He said that the holding company scheme is already in the act and what is needed is the implementation of it. This will help to lay guidelines for State-owned enterprises about better management and most importantly publish accounts at least once a year. “This is not happening now,” Yapa said.
He said that no one is responsible for monitoring SOE and it is the Minister that does it.
“A Minister should be there only to lay principles and guidelines; he should not be implementing things.”
In previous years we have seen politicians loading these State-owned enterprises with staff from their constituencies. He said that is the reason why Lanka IOC is making a profit while Sri Lanka State Petroleum Corporation is making losses while engaging in the same service.
Meanwhile, Tresync Australia CEO Imran Furkan commenting on the transport sector said that there are huge amounts of leakages and due to this, the government is not getting the required revenue. He said that this is mainly seen in the State bus transport system where most of the conductors don’t give the correct collection to the government.
“There was a plan to overcome this by going digital but the transport sector opposed it,” he said.
He also said that the current route permit system is not something that goes well with the transport sector because it limits competition. “Due to this no new person/company can launch a bus service. The State should do away with this system and give it to a private company to manage it and issue permits.”
The next Business Dialogue series event will be held in Kandy in August.
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