Minister warns against privatization delay

Minister warns against privatization delay

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi warned on
Wednesday that the country could not afford the luxury of
delaying the privatization program as it was competing with time
to meet a difficult target.

But he said that his office was willing to meet with the House
of Representatives (DPR) to discuss the privatization program
amid mounting calls from legislators for a delay.

"About the delay, of course it can be discussed again with the
DPR," he was quoted by Antara as saying, following a meeting
between senior economic ministers and Vice President Hamzah Haz.

Laksamana said that, to achieve the 2002 privatization target,
the government should work hard and have the courage to take
breakthrough measures.

He added that market momentum was crucial to ensure a
successful sale of state assets.

The government plans to raise around Rp 6.5 trillion (about
US$650 million) in privatization proceeds this year in a bid to
help plug the 2002 state budget deficit. The House has actually
approved this target.

The privatization program is also one of the country's key
economic reform programs essential to help revive the confidence
of investors and donors in the ailing economy.

Laksamana's office is shortly expected to issue a list of the
state-owned enterprises that are to be privatized this year.

Last year, the government only raised around Rp 3.5 trillion
in privatization proceeds, much lower than the Rp 6.5 trillion
target, due to massive protests from various quarters.

And now, opposition to the government privatization program
intensifies again.

Some legislators want the government to delay the
privatization program until a law governing the program has been
passed by the House to help ensure maximum benefit to the state
and avoid corruption in the process.

The government has proposed a draft of the law to the House
but the latter had yet to debate it.

There have been suggestions that the past sales of state
assets have not been conducted properly causing the country to be
unable to gain optimum proceeds.

Elsewhere, a group of employees of state-owned cement maker PT
Semen Gresik held a rally at Laksamana's office on Wednesday to
pressure the government to drop plans to sell a 51 percent stake
in the company to the Mexican cement giant Cemex SA de CV.

The protesters argue that if the government proceeds with the
privatization program, it would no longer have control over the
supply of domestic cement, raising concerns of a possible sharp
hike in cement prices.

Earlier on Tuesday, thousands of employees held a strike for
similar reasons. The strike caused publicly listed Semen Gresik
to suffer some Rp 1.8 billion in losses.

The employees plan to strike again if the government does not
drop the planned sale.

The Semen Gresik sale plan was supposed to be completed late
last year, but opposition from various quarters forced the
government to delay. The government now expects to be able to
complete the divestment program in March this year.