Many state-owned companies are faced with a major problem. If the companies make a considerable amount of profit, it becomes a problem for some people. They say that the companies are making a profit by selling services to the people.
If the revenue generated by the companies decrease, then people will say that the government is bankrupting the companies. No one will say that the profits decreased because the companies reduced the price of services to provide services at an affordable cost to the people.
MTCC is generally involved in conducting construction projects. If the company increases the price of the projects, then the state budget will be drained, and the people will be affected as a result.
MWSC will face the same problems as well. If they are purely focused on making profits, then the price of the services will increase, and it will be the people who will be affected. As for STO, the main trade of STO is fuel. If they increase just few Laari they can make a huge profit, but that will increase the price of electricity. The price of transport and the recurrent expenditure for fishermen will increase as well.
Since STO was formed it was a company who main target was to serve the people and not to make huge profits. In 2014 they got a huge profit. The company was forced to make this profit because the company’s debt was at 200 million dollars and the company had to be saved. Once the company got rid of the debts, they changed their policies.
BML makes a lot of profit. As a result even if you use the cash card, a service charge needs to be paid. A price needs to be paid for each transaction. If state run companies have profit oriented policies like this then they can also generate profit.
President Yameen have said that the government companies should not focus on generating huge profits but should focus on providing services to the people at an affordable rate. Government companies work based on this policy.
The government companies are the main pillars of the country’s economy. The economy will develop when the quality of the services provided to the people increases. Hence, instead of blaming the companies when they do not make huge profits, it is important to talk about what is most beneficial for the public.
State run companies are at a crossroads
