3,000 rally against privatization

3,000 rally against privatization

BANGKOK (AFP): Three thousand employees of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) rallied at Government House yesterday to protest plans by the cabinet to privatize the state agency.

"We don't want the cabinet to cancel the privatization of EGAT but we want it to suspend (the action) until we are sure that it will not increase the price of electricity," said Thammayouph Southivavichai, president of the EGAT labor union.

The union would propose to the government that a plan to sell two of the agency's power plants be suspended and that a joint committee be set up to study the potential effects of the plan on electricity prices, he said.

Other proposals would reject plans to limit EGAT's foreign borrowing and to block the agency from building a new power plant for five years.

Prime Minister's Office Minister Rakkait Sukthana said he planned to propose to the cabinet that the privatization go ahead under provisions agreed to in principle by the EGAT employees' association.