News
CEB restructuring lacks transparency, unions allege
View(s):- Govt. proposals include selling shares, PPP and privatisation
By Niranjala Ariyawansha
As part of its plans to restructure the Ceylon Electricity Board, the Government is studying several proposals ranging from selling shares of more than 18 institutions in the stock market and forging public-private partnerships (PPP) to converting them to private limited companies, trade unions said.
They said this was revealed by Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera during a discussion with all CEB trade unions on March 12 at the ministry premises.
Union leaders said they called on the minister to set up a ‘Reform Office’ as a first step towards the restructuring of the CEB, but the minister was not responsive.
They pointed out that the proper procedure adopted by many countries which had restructured utility services was to set up a ‘Reform Office’ first so that stockholders could meet and express their opinions before preparing a final report.
The CEB Engineers Union (CEBEU) which took part in the talks alleged that the restructuring process was being carried out in a non-transparent manner.
“The main stakeholders are the CEB and its employees. The restructuring process is being carried forward based on a report prepared by a government-appointed committee, ignoring the CEB and its 24,250 employees. No member of that committee has any knowledge of reforms,” CEBEU Joint Secretary Isuru Kasthuriratne said.
Trade unions leaders insisted that they had the right to know what was going on. The minister had said that once the restructuring plan was prepared, employees would be granted an opportunity to express their opinions.
Meanwhile, authoritative CEB sources told the Sunday Times the minister only on two occasions had brief discussions with the CEB senior management.
“Apart from that, no proper discussion about restructuring has been held even with the CEB’s top management. Is it possible to talk about restructuring of such a large institution in half an hour? Experts on the subject are there within the CEB, but we actually do not know what the government is going to do with restructuring,” a source said.
The CEB sources said a draft proposal had been submitted by the top management of the CEB, the Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka (IESL), and a few other professional bodies but no proper consultation had taken place so far.
A CEBEU spokesman said that despite these concerns, the union was conducting an extensive study on power sector reforms in other countries with a view to submitting a proposal soon.
Meanwhile, the minister held talks with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and USAID about two weeks ago regarding the restructuring process. The nine-member Government-appointed committee which includes the former CEB Chairman M.C. Ferdinando, handed over its report to the minister in November last year.
Based on the report, a cabinet paper has been prepared under 13 guidelines and is to be presented to the cabinet soon, the union representatives quoted the minister as saying.
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