Saleh Al shaibany -
saleh_shaibany@yahoo.com -
Oman was the first country in the region to start privatisation process in 1993 when it announced plans to privatise power plants for the generation of electricity.
Currently, the government is reviving the process with the privatisation of state-owned companies in a bold plan to give the private sector a greater role in the economy.
At the moment, there are over 60 state-owned companies to be off-loaded to the private sector.
At a time the Ministry of Finance is trying to balance the fiscal budget, privatisation of the cash draining government agencies and services will lead to cost saving and greater attention to customer satisfaction.
The government is against merging civil ministries and their agencies to save costs as the action can lead to job losses.
These public organisations and agencies are duplicating services and employ more than 20,000 people.
The government will now take the smart option of selling off these agencies and public authorities to the private sector.
The action will not only streamline the government but also save thousands of jobs. The costs will be transferred to the private sector.
The government will save perks and generous allowances such as cars, petrol, maintenance of buildings and travel expenses. The government’s privatisation plans will have a second advantage.
It will expand the economy of the private companies.
The shift from the public to private management will cut down monopoly and open up competition to result in an array of improvements to local businesses.
But privatising should not be seen just as a political ideology but an economical gain for it will have profound benefits.
The government is aiming to roll the wheel of decision much faster, too.
The good news is that everything is changing now. There is a genuine commitment and the willingness to relinquish control and it will work this time. It is about the standard of good management and cutting down on wastefulness.
The government is determined to boost accountability.
With a range of diversity of what can be privatised is at government’s disposal, off-loading public assets to the private sector will not be uniform. Under the current plans, the fundamentals that serve each privatisation will be different.
The only common ground is to save cost from the government’s point of view and increase efficiency of services.
Critics would say that the quality of services of the privatised organisations would suffer. That is not necessarily true.
This time, the government will go through set of standards that are recognised internationally.
It will invite bids from international companies having experience in managing public utilities.
If the government had successfully sold electricity generation to the private sector 30 years ago, it can repeat the same but with greater clarity.
Since then, it has saved the government hundreds of millions of rials in electricity generation.
Three decades later, these companies have given no reasons for the government to reverse its decisions.
Yet, the practice has never been repeated or any attempt made since then.
One reason could be that the government then did not want to lose control by selling off its most prized assets. With lower oil prices, it is a different ball game.
Privatisation is a clear cut answer.
From postal services, transportation and utility services such as electricity and water to sport facilities.
It will create long-term economical benefits in earnings, productivity and sustain the level of job generation.
Most importantly, it will reduce bureaucracy as there will be less government contracts with more private companies competing with each other.
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