KATHMANDU, Aug 9: Nepali Congress (NC) President Gagan Kumar Thapa has urged Prime Minister Balen Shah to take bold and potentially difficult decisions to reform loss-making public enterprises instead of highlighting marginal improvements as achievements.
Speaking at a meeting of the Nepali Congress Working Committee, Thapa recalled the decisions taken by the government led by then Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala in 1991 to reform state-owned industries, saying the government at the time took political risks despite facing criticism.
According to Thapa, the government then collected around Rs 12 billion in revenue while spending nearly Rs 1 billion simply to cover losses of public enterprises.
He said the government at the time operated industries producing goods including textiles, cigarettes, matches, tyres and shoes, but decided to transfer loss-making industries to the private sector based on the view that the government should focus on sectors such as education, health and infrastructure rather than running industries.
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“He faced criticism, but he took the risk and said the government should not run those loss-making industries and that they should be transferred to the private sector,” Thapa said.
Referring to claims by the current government that some public enterprises are performing well, Thapa said their actual financial performance should be assessed rather than relying on isolated indicators.
He claimed that around Rs 600 billion has been invested in 44 public enterprises, but they have failed to generate the expected returns. Their accumulated losses, he said, exceed Rs 65 billion.
Thapa argued that the government should make clear decisions about the future of public enterprises rather than continuing to cover their losses with taxpayers’ money.
“What I expect from the prime minister now is that he should take the kind of risk we took in 1991. Why has a prime minister who received such a strong popular mandate not taken that risk?” Thapa said.
He also accused the prime minister of trying to build a narrative that previous governments had failed while his government was delivering a turnaround.
Thapa particularly questioned the government’s presentation of an increase in the daily sales of the Dairy Development Corporation (DDC) from Rs 6 million to Rs 9 million as an achievement.
An increase in sales, he said, does not necessarily mean an increase in profit. He argued that rising operational and structural costs at the DDC meant that higher sales alone could not be taken as evidence of an improved financial position.
Thapa also questioned claims that the DDC had reduced its outstanding payments to milk-producing farmers. Although the government has said the arrears fell from Rs 750 million to Rs 350 million, Thapa claimed the reduction resulted from funds provided by the Ministry of Finance rather than income generated by the corporation.
“This did not happen through earnings; the Ministry of Finance provided the money,” he said.
