Government to reduce state firms to 50

Government to reduce state firms to 50

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to reduce the number of
state enterprises to 50 from 155 at present, through mergers,
State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri
Abeng said on Thursday.

"After the restructuring program, it would be ideal to have
only a maximum of 50 state firms, 30 of which will be retained at
their current structure," the state minister said during a media
conference.

"There would be merged companies, holding companies and the 30
companies that will remain under their old structure."

He said each holding company would have four to five business
units under its umbrella.

The government announced last May that it would consolidate
155 state enterprises into some 15 holding companies, but later
reduced the number to just 10.

He added, however, that the final decision on the proposed
state company restructuring would be taken by the new government.

Tanri, however, suggested that his ministry be abolished and a
state company supervisory agency be set up to oversee all state
businesses.

"A ministry would only invite political intervention into the
management," Tanri warned.

He added that his concept of the state company restructuring
program had been elaborated on in 18 volumes of books due for
further studying by the new government. (03)