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Privatising the railway

9 August 2005, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Chowdhoury Mohibul Hassan London, UK
9 August 2005, 18:00 PM
For years Bangladesh Railway had been perceived as the cheapest transport service provider in the country. It had contributed enormously in the economy as one of the biggest employer in the public sector. For years it suffered from lack of investment, which ultimately led the Railway into becoming one of the biggest losing ventures of the government. Perhaps saying it a 'venture' would be wrong as for long the Railway had been taken as a 'service provider' rather than a commercial venture. And as a 'service provider' our railway is far away from providing any decent service to its users rather it is a provider of 'jobs' and one of the biggest 'absorber' of public money. Policymakers must ask themselves if we ought to keep it as it is or do 'something' about it, and that 'something' cannot only be making the railway a 'corporation' but 'privatising' parts of its operations.

Recently, our finance minister agreeing with the donor agencies, said plans are under way to make the railway a 'corporation'. Needless to say, given the timing of his statement and opposition from the Transport Minister, we are not going to see any significant change being made in the foreseeable future.

On the other hand, we have the unionist politicians who are ready to mobilise thousands of people against any attempt to make the Railway a corporation.

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As for me, I simply cannot understand the logic behind keeping this massively losing sector in government hand. In my view not only the losing concerns, even the profit making ventures of the public sector must be privatised. Those who oppose it, are either doing so on pure political grounds, or they lack the very basic understanding of free market economy.

They must know that in capitalism government is there to play a 'referee's' part, not to engage in the 'game' itself, they are there to regulate the economy in the right direction not to operate it. When the government starts taking part, it destroys the natural balance of the market place, creates unfair advantages for the inefficiently run public sector. I wonder when will they realise it.