Reform to strengthen SOEs

THE State-owned enterprises (SOE) reform programme will enable the establishment of a board appointment and selection system that will ensure credible and capable people are managing these companies, State Enterprises Minister Sasindran Muthuvel says.
“We will have knowledge, experience, gender balance and above all, integrity,” he said.
“These boards will be measured on their performance and contribution. We have never had these measures before.
“People want me to remove boards and appoint boards. This is not proper. We must have a credible process for carrying out these appointments. I will not continue to allow these companies to be torn apart by the incompetent, knee jerk reactions of the past,” Muthuvel said.
He said the reform programme would also strengthen the procurement procedures and approval processes of major projects and investments.
He said this would ensure that investments, acquisitions and divestments would not be considered by the National Executive Council until they had been rigorously tested by the respective SOE boards, Kumul Consolidated Holdings and endorsed by the minister responsible.
Muthuvel also indicated his support for a consolidation of the country’s mobile phone network in order to expand and improve service to the people.
“No communications company in the world operates like this. The advice received from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade funded technical assistance, agrees that networks are to be integrated among other activities.
“The NEC submission that I will eventually endorse for Cabinet consideration, will seek to integrate the networks (of the two major operators in the country).
“I want our people to enjoy reliable, affordable, accessible services. I want the subscriber base to grow.”
Muthuvel said he had tasked the teams at Kumul Telikom Holdings and Kumul Consolidated Holdings to work out how they could fund and deliver this critical project.